Missing 70-year-old hiker found alive after week-long search on remote Michigan island
Craig Berg, who had been missing for a week on Michigan's Isle Royale, was found injured and hypothermic but alert on Saturday, concluding an intensive multi-agency search.
A 70-year-old hiker who had been missing for a week on Isle Royale, a remote island in Michigan, was rescued on Saturday, the US Coast Guard reported. Craig Berg was located with the assistance of backpackers, Michigan state police troopers and local officials.
Although Berg was found injured and suffering from hypothermia, he was reported as "alive and alert" in a statement posted to the Isle Royale national park's Facebook page. Following his location, a US Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew hoisted him from the island and flew him to Marquette regional airport in Gwinn, Michigan, roughly 140 miles away.
According to the park's statement, Berg had been missing since 5 September. He had set out on a planned nine-day solo backpacking trip across the large Lake Superior island and was due to take a ferry back to Michigan's Upper Peninsula that day, but did not return home as expected.
Berg's family reported him missing when he failed to arrive as planned, and search and rescue efforts began on 6 September. Crews initially focused on Rock Harbor, where his hike was set to end, before expanding the search to other areas, including the Greenstone Ridge trail, where a trail camera had captured an image of Berg on 30 August.
Berg's son Evan told a local television station he was happy and relieved his father had been found, saying his father was in rough shape but able to speak and had asked for food and water. The National Park Service thanked employees and partners who took part in the search.
Isle Royale is a remote national park with no roads or wheeled vehicles permitted, meaning ground search teams had to cover its roughly 200 square miles of terrain on foot through dense boreal forest and rocky ridges.
