SURVIVAL: A TRUE STORY

For one California man, an ordinary fishing trip turned into a five-day fight for survival. Mike Vilhauer, 58, went fishing at Lower Sunset Lake in Alpine County. When he noticed he wasn’t catching any fish, he decided that he needed more bait and went for a short trip to find some grasshoppers.

Next day because of his lack of food and water, he started drinking water out of puddles, regardless of what else was in the puddle.

After trying to find a way back the whole day, Vilhauer came across a stream and began to follow it before the sun began to set. Setting up a camp of tree bark and needles, he slept for another night in the open wilderness. He was crushed to find on Friday morning that the stream came to a dead end. Exhausted and hungry, he set up camp under a large rock.

Villhauer couldn’t find anything to eat and it was raining all the time. He tried hard to build up his strength. He made his way back down the stream, drinking out of puddles along the way, and made his way back to the rock. He picked up a piece of driftwood and began writing his last words to his wife.

After five days in the wilderness, he suddenly heard a bark from behind him. It was a search dog leading one of the rescue teams that had been looking for Villhauer since Friday. Villhuer was reunited with his wife and family on Sunday night. Thankfully, he suffered no serious injuries during his ordeal, just a few scrapes and bruises.

Despite getting lost for five days, Villhauer is more than ready to plan another fishing trip, though he’ll likely take a friend next time.

Adapted from the abcnews website