'CLOSE TO DEATH'

Missing Runner Reveals How He Survived for a Month in the Wilderness

Robert Schock was so weak he didn’t think he would survive the night when he was finally rescued by a trail maintenance crew.

A 39-year-old ultra-runner who was missing for a month in a national park in Washington state just barely survived by eating mushrooms and “nasty” berries, he told People magazine. On July 31, Robert Schock set off from a trailhead in North Cascades National Park with his dog Freddy on what was supposed to be a 20-mile run. He was carrying a small backpack with a dog pan but wasn’t even wearing a T-shirt because he planned to go home later that day, he told the magazine. But he hadn’t been to the park in a few years, and wildfires had rerouted the trails and altered the terrain. With no cell phone service and only an old trail map to follow, he got lost and told Freddy to find his way home. Several days later, Freddy was found on a trail, and sheriff’s deputies located Schock’s car, but Schock remained missing. On Aug. 30, he was “close to death” and so weak he didn’t think he would survive the night. He decided to scream for help “one last time.” Maintenance workers on a nearby trail heard his cries and rescued him. “Never would I have dreamt that’s the experience I was headed towards when I was going out for a run,” Schock told People. “Never did I dream that this kind of survival could even be possible.”

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Janna Brancolini

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