Boy Scout Found In Woods, ‘Perfectly Fine’ After 24 Hours

Tue., Aug. 26, 1997

From Staff And Wire Reports

A Boy Scout was found safe Monday, more than 24 hours after he became lost in the woods near Walupt Lake south of Packwood.

“He is perfectly fine, no injuries, no complaints,” said Joe Doench, chief criminal deputy with the Lewis County sheriff’s office.

David Wells, 13, of Seattle, became separated from his Seattle-based Scout group about 11:30 a.m. Sunday while the group was hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail. The Lewis County sheriff’s office was notified about 4 p.m.

Crews searched through most of the night and started again at 6 a.m. Monday. About 80 people on foot and horseback, along with a helicopter, took part in Monday’s search.

The boy was spotted by a helicopter crew about 1 p.m. near Carol Lake on the Yakama Indian Reservation, about seven miles southeast of where he was last seen on the trail, Doench said.

The boy was flown back to the search base camp at Walupt Lake and reunited with his family, which then returned to Seattle.

Doench said the boy, who had a tent, food and some survival equipment with him, spent the night at an abandoned hunting camp.

The boy’s father was part of the Scout group.

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