Missing camper found safe after more than 5 weeks in Canada’s Northern Rockies

A Canadian man who embarked on a camping trip in the cold, wild terrain of the Northern Rockies was found safe after he was reported missing more than five weeks ago, authorities said.

Sam Benastick, 20, of the city of Kamloops, flagged down two people headed to work at Redfern Lake trail in state-run Redfern-Keily Park on Tuesday, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Madonna Saunderson said in a statement Wednesday.

The pair recognized Benastick as the subject of a missing person’s search, picked him up, and took him to a hospital to get checked out, Saunderson said.

His condition was not available.

Benastick said he camped in his car for a few days, camped on a mountainside for as many as 15 more, then moved on to a campsite he set up in a dry creek bed before making his way to the trail, Saunderson said.

Kamloops Search and Rescue, which participated in the search, wished Benastick and his family “a speedy recovery.”

Benastick was reporting missing by family Oct. 19 after he did not return from a camping trip, Kamloops Search and Rescue said.

He had last checked in with family on Oct. 8, Central Okanagan Search and Rescue, which also participated in the search, said in a statement.

Additional search and rescue help came from Fort Nelson and North Peace teams, the Canadian Rangers, and local volunteers with knowledge of the region’s trails and backwoods, Saunderson said in the RMCP statement.

“The time, effort and resources put in to locate Sam from the time of notification he was missing was beyond measure,” according to the statement.

Saunderson said the outcome was outstanding.

“Finding Sam alive is the absolute best outcome,” he said in the statement. “After all the time he was missing, it was feared that this was would not be the outcome.”

Redfern-Keily Park is about 561 miles north of Vancouver, British Columbia and about 486 miles north of Kamloops.