California hiker rescued 3 days after nearly 1,000-foot fall off Hawaii trail

By Ashley R. Williams | CNN

A hiker from California who fell about 1,000 feet to the bottom of a mountain down a trail in Hawaii called his rescue “a miracle” after he survived three days before being found.

“I never expected a day of hiking like this to go the way it did,” Ian Snyder said at a news conference Tuesday where he thanked rescuers for saving his life.

Snyder, 34, was hiking alone on December 4 when he fell from the Koʻolau Summit Trail near the Pali Notches Trail, according to the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii.

Honolulu first responders located him on December 7 near the bottom of a waterfall.

Snyder said on the day he went missing, the trail’s peak was steep and the hike became more treacherous as he continued. “I was in good shape and able to navigate things well,” he said at the news conference.

“I looked down at Pali Highway and went, ‘Man, that’s a long way below me and I need to get down there,’ that was my plan,” the hiker said.

Snyder, a father to two sons and a daughter, said he doesn’t remember when he toppled down the trail.

“Once I came to, I had no idea what had happened, how long it had been,” Snyder said. “I had been out clearly, I can’t even remember if it was daytime or nighttime the first time I came to.”

He recalled being chilly when he woke up, and being located near a stream, he said.

Snyder, with a broken arm, said he dragged himself along to move closer to the stream and sought shelter from the wind between two rocks. He kept himself hydrated with stream water over the three days he was lost, he said.

As he hunkered down and time passed, Snyder said he made his peace with God.

“I wanted to live, so I wasn’t giving up the will to live,” he said.