WASHINGTON COUNTY, Utah — A father and son who were reported overdue while hiking on a southern Utah trail on Sunday survived thanks to gear that had been discarded by another hiker who had become lost.
Julian Hernandez and his 12-year-old son were in the Red Mountain area near Snow Canyon State Park on Sunday when they were reported missing. Search and rescue crews were deployed just after 7 p.m. but were unable to locate the duo due to the dark skies.
A member of the search and rescue team later discovered a boot-style footprint in the area where the two were missing, and crews used that to track the father and son. The team heard someone yelling in their direction but were unable to determine where the voice was coming from because of the echoes and darkness.
Search and rescue crew helicopter lands at command post:
As concerns grew due to cold temperatures, Hernandez and his son discovered a backpack that had been tossed into the canyon area about a month earlier by another hiker who had been lost.
"We ended up climbing through some red rocks, and we came across this backpack when we were already finding ourselves in a tough situation,” explained Hernandez.
Inside the backpack were emergency blankets and rations that the two were able to use to stay warm.
Without that bag: "Probably, I wouldn't be talking about it,” he said.
They were able to use the water, food and supplies in the pack to make it through the night after their 4-hour hike turned into a 22-hour ordeal.
That backpack was 15-year-old Levi Dittmann’s.
"I’m really glad that it could help people, because that’s what the pack was intended for,” said Dittmann.
Dittmann spent months collecting essential survival supplies in his pack and thought he wouldn’t see it again after he tossed the pack when he was stuck in the same area on Jan. 4.
Using night vision, a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter crew located the pair and hoisted them up before flying them to a command post.
Levi’s mom, Gretchen, could see the lights and helicopter circling from her home, while crews were trying to locate Hernandez and his son. Little did she know her son’s backpack would come to their rescue.
“They're looking for somebody and we were praying that they, because we know how it feels to have a child stuck up there, or anyone stuck up there,” she added.
The father and son were found safe, checked out on-site and released. Dittmann, who had previously discarded the backpack that helped the two hikers survive, was located safely on the same day he went missing, and brought down by search and rescue volunteers as well. So, it was the best possible outcome for everyone involved.
Hernandez has so much gratitude as well for the team that found them — so much so that he and his wife want to become search and rescue volunteers to help other families who find themselves in the same situation “and give back to the community, just like they did with us."
He hopes to thank Levi in person some day, tying a bow on this sweet way two families came together, thanks to a backpack.
"I’m so proud of him that he packed the stuff in there, thinking that he would need it. He thought it was for him," Gretchen said. "That it eventually helped someone else, that is such a cool story, just a God thing that you would never forget."
Snowmobiling teen, family grateful for search and rescue efforts after getting lost in northern Utah:
