PORT ANGELES – Less than an hour after the Olympic National Park announced it was searching for a hiker, he was spotted by rescuers in a helicopter.
The 60-year-old hiker from Oakland, Calif., was exhausted from trekking through the park’s Bailey Range, said Barbara Maynes, park spokesperson.
James Christian Strong was picked up by helicopter from Bear Pass in the southern portion of the mountains at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, 40 minutes after the park issued a written statement announcing that a search had begun.
It was 10 days after he had begun a seven-day hike.
He had bumps and bruises, and was sore and tired, but did not need medical treatment, Maynes said.
On Wednesday afternoon and evening, Strong was trying to make arrangements to pick up a rental car he had left at the Sol Duc Hot Springs trailhead and buy a flight back to Oakland from Seattle, said his wife, Barbara Hartford, by phone.
Strong could not be reached for comment.
Strong had last been seen on Sept. 10, when he left Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort to begin a seven-day trek he expected to finish on Saturday.
Hartford had called the park to report her husband overdue on Sunday.
“The rangers were fabulous and talked to me whenever I wanted.”
She briefly spoke with her husband on the phone Wednesday afternoon, then again in the evening as he tried to find a flight to Oakland from Seattle.
She was not sure when he would make it back to Oakland.
“I was so relieved to hear his voice, Hartford said.
