‘I didn’t want to get eaten by a bear.’ Teen lost overnight in Blue Ridge mountains
An 18-year-old hiker got lost in Cherokee National Forest and had to spend the night in the woods, according to multiple reports.
The Carter County Rescue Squad said members searched the forest around Twisting Falls, close to the Tennessee-North Carolina border, for about 16 hours, according to WCYB. They found Ethan Blackburn on Tuesday morning, the station reports.
Rescue squad director Terry Arnold said they got a report about the missing teen at about 6 p.m. Monday, the Johnson City Press reports.
“He was with a group. They were all at the base of the falls and the last time he was seen he was at the top of the falls,” Arnold said, according to the Press.
Blackburn told WJHL he and his friends went for a hike to Twisting Falls at about 4 p.m. Monday, but he got separated from the group.
“After about 30 minutes of following upstream, it started getting dark so I found myself a cave and slept in it for 12 hours while I was soaking wet,” he said, according to WJHL.
“I had a towel over me, because my jacket doesn’t have a good to keep the heat in and I went in like a turtle,” Blackburn said, according to WCYB. “I took 30-minute naps each time because I saw bear paws and I didn’t want to get eaten by a bear.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 3:23 PM with the headline "‘I didn’t want to get eaten by a bear.’ Teen lost overnight in Blue Ridge mountains."
