DENVER (AP) - Lost in the mountains and soaking wet, Terry Harlon huddled under a tree one night believing he would die of hypothermia. When he woke up the next morning, he said, he knew he could last a lot longer. Harlon, 48, of Shreveport, La., survived a week in the Rocky Mountain National Park with just an apple, sunflower seeds and water before he was spotted by a search helicopter Thursday afternoon. Rescuers reached him on foot soon after and got him to safety.
With his wife and son beside him in a Denver hospital on Friday, a badly sunburned Harlon acknowledged he made mistakes when he went hiking alone last week.
He meant to follow a trail that made a loop, but instead of turning around when he encountered snow, he kept going and ultimately lost sight of the trail.
Harlon spent the next five days trying to find his way out, at times plowing through hip-deep snow that soaked his jeans, flannel shirt and microfiber jacket.
He said he went to the park about 50 miles northwest of Denver to get a sense of what Colorado was like. "I got a little more of the Colorado country than I really wanted," he said.
He lost track of the days during the ordeal, but his wife, Judy, believes it began May 25—the first day of Harlon's trip that he failed to call home. Officials say he had used an ATM in the Grand Lake area that day.
Judy Harlon called authorities when her husband wasn't on his flight home on May 28, a Sunday. Officials found his rental van Wednesday at a trailhead on the park's west side.
Harlon said the weather was so warm when he started his hike that he took off his shirt. Soon he was sleeping under spruce trees to protect himself from the cold, and snow fell one night.
At some point, he stomped "SOS" in a snow bank.
The helicopter crew spotted Harlon waving his backpack in the air about six miles from the trailhead. Harlon joked that he aimed his "glossy bald head" at the helicopter to attract the crew.
The crew dropped him Gatorade and a note reading, "Sit tight we'll be back."
Harlon was treated for low potassium and dehydration and was taken to St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver for observation.
"I really don't like to camp out, and this week has not made me like camping out," he said.
