Utah Scout Found Alive in Woods
Tuesday, June 21, 2005

•Search Continues for Boy Scout in Utah•Teams Search for Missing Boy Scout in Utah
KAMAS, Utah — Boy Scout officials confirmed Tuesday that a missing 11-year-old scout has been found alive in Utah, four days after he vanished.

Searchers in the area where Brennan Hawkins (search) was located said he had no major injuries; however, his status could not be confirmed. He was found just before noon near Lily Lake, about five miles northeast of the Boy Scout camp where he was last seen Friday, said Kay Godfrey, director of public relations for the Great Salt Lake Council.

"He has been found, he is alive, and he's in pretty good shape for an 11-year-old boy," Godfrey told The Associated Press. "It's a modern-day miracle that he's been found."

Rescuers said Hawkins was being transported by helicopter to a children's hospital in Salt Lake City.

The boy, who was training to be a Boy Scout, vanished from a camp in the Uinta Mountains (search) on Friday.

Emergency workers said Hawkins must have had to cross a river in order to end up where he was found.


Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said earlier that the boy's chances were good because nights had been warm, with temperatures falling only into the 50s. The area is about 100 miles northeast of Salt Lake City.

Officials said Brennan disappeared somewhere along a dirt road between the camp's artificial climbing wall and the "chow hall," where he was to meet a friend but never showed up. The East Fork of the Bear River (search) is within 100 yards of the road.

The normally ankle-deep stream was the main focus of the search and the most problematic for rescuers because it's deeper than usual in many areas — up to 15 feet deep in spots — because of a heavy mountain snow melt.

Brennan carried no food or water, and his family said he did not have a good sense of direction.

"He's probably dehydrated, sleep-deprived, definitely hungry," said Brennan's father, Toby. "With him being so young."

 

AMEN!!!

 

Gotta love that result.

 

It will be interesting to hear what he did for 3 days alone in the wilderness.

My son will be going to that same Scout camp in about a month,
so I hope they do some major reworking of the rules.

My son is only slightly older than Brennan.


phox

 

Thats some pretty rugged terrain. Im glad to see a happy ending. Last year, a family was not so lucky, never found even a trace of their son.

 

Isn't that GREAT! I gotta admit my faith was waning. Tuff kid. I wonder if he'll get a book deal like Jennifer Wilbanks? I might actually buy the kid's book.
Nat

 

Pretty scary, that would have been a long 4 days..........

 

Great ending!

There was one article that said he asked to play games on one of the rescuers phones on the way out. That was after he ate all of the Granola bars the guys had.

 

Wonderful

 

I doubt its a miracle. More like the scouts are doing their job. Altho, he needs some work on his firebuilding, trapping, and tracking skills..

 

.....and following procedures, making the right decisions about wondering off, etc.