Hiker rescued three days after falling 1,000 feet off Hawaiian mountain trail: report

A California man who reportedly fell 1,000 feet down a Hawaiian mountainside during a hike earlier this month was rescued after three days in the wilderness — in what the hiker himself called a “miracle.”

Ian Snyder, 34, had been hiking alone Dec. 4 on the Koʻolau Summit Trail when he tumbled a fifth of a mile off the side of the steep, treacherous path, according to CNN.

“It’s a miracle first and foremost,” Snyder said at a news conference last Tuesday, according to ABC.

“I’m glad to be here — incredibly glad to be here — and glad to be in mostly one piece … I never expected a day of hiking like this to go the way it did.”

Before the fall — which knocked the father-of three unconscious and left him with a shattered arm and swollen-shut eye — he’d been ably picking his way through what’s considered one of the most challenging hikes on Oahu.

“I was in good shape and able to navigate things well,” Snyder said. “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.”

It didn’t work out that way.

When Snyder woke up after the fall, he didn’t know what happened, what time it was or how long he’d been out for.

“I can’t even remember if it was daytime or nighttime the first time I came to,” Snyder said.

But he recalls being cold as he lay near the base of a waterfall. The severely-injured man dragged himself closer to the stream, then hid from the wind between two rocks, CNN said.

The stream water kept him alive, and Snyder says he never gave up hope. Still, he made his peace with God just in case.

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

His family reported him missing when he didn’t come back from the hike, ABC said.

Luckily, Snyder had posted pictures and videos on social media before he fell, which helped rescuers nail down his location using the phone’s geolocation.

First responders from Honolulu found him three days later, on Dec. 7, near the spot where he fell.

Snyder said he realized they were looking for him when he awoke to the sound of a rescue helicopter flying low nearby.

“To our disbelief, he was waving his hands to get our attention,” Honolulu fire captain Adrian Carvalho said, adding that the crew airlifted the broken man to safety.

Despite the injuries — which included chest trauma and puncture wounds on his legs — Snyder said he’s already on the mend.

“My hope is in a few weeks, I’ll be back to mostly normal,” Snyder said.

Still, he’s shocked that he lived through the ordeal.

“I couldn’t believe when people were telling me, ‘You fell a thousand feet down that cliff,’” Snyder said. “And I’m like, ‘How did I even survive?’”