73-year-old survives 5 days lost in the wild

Eugene Jo drank water from a stream and slept among warm rocks to survive 5 days.

Eugene Jo spent his week-long ordeal cozied up to rocks heated by the daytime sun after he was separated June 22 from his hiking group in the San Gabriel Mountains, news station KCBS reported.

“He would wrap his jacket around him and the beach towel that he had with him,” said Janet Henderson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue. “He got in close next to the hot rocks because it is very hot up there and those rocks do heat up and that’s how he kept himself warm at night.”

The hiker told authorities he stayed hydrated with water from a riverbed.

He was located five days later after disappearing while hiking with a group to the 8,000-foot peak of Mount Waterman. Jo heard the voices of one of the search and rescue teams looking for him and called to them, authorities said.

“He said it took everything he had to roll over his hands and knees and yell for help and that’s when the rescuers heard him,” Henderson said.

More than 70 people were searching for him in the mountains when he was found, say authorities

Over the course of the week Jo was lost, the search effort included helicopters, scent dogs and ground crews from San Diego, Orange, San Bernardino, Ventura and Riverside counties.

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