Online bear-watching camera helps rescue lost Alaska hiker

A hiker who was lost in a remote Alaska national park was rescued last week after wildlife fans tuning into a live feed from a bear camera captured the distressed man on the screen mouthing the words “help me.”

The video shared by Explore.org, a multimedia company that operates web cameras for the National Park Service and other entities worldwide, shows the haggard-looking trekker trudging through a thick fog on Dumpling Mountain in Katmai National Park last Tuesday.

As he passes by a camera installed to capture the park’s world-famous brown bears, the unshaven, sopping-wet traveler looks directly into the lens and mouths the words “help me” and “lost.”

A handful of viewers watching the feed at that time left comments in an Explore.org chat room alerting the company that there was someone in distress on the rain-swept trail.

The Park Service was then swiftly notified of the emergency situation.

“The park sent a search and rescue team to find the hiker, who was caught in windy and rainy conditions with poor visibility,” Park Service spokesperson Cynthia Hernandez told The Washington Post. “Park rangers found the hiker a few hours later, unharmed, and brought the hiker back to safety.”

Video released by Explore.org captured a team of rangers walking past the “Bear Cam” on their way to save the hiker.

“Bear Cam saves hikers (sic) life!” Explore.org later announced on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Today dedicated bear cam fans alerted us to a man in distress on Dumpling Mountain. The heroic rangers @KatmaiNPS sprung into action and mounted a search saving the man.”

The name of the hiker has not been released, and it was not immediately known how he became lost, before coming across the life-saving camera situated about 2,200 feet above sea level.

The weather on Dumpling Mountain was dismal that day, with poor visibility, gusty winds, driving rain and dense fog, said Mike Fitz, former ranger, founder of Fat Bear Week and resident naturalist for Explore.org

“Webcam viewers were still watching it, to my surprise, actually, and they were paying attention, which was doubly surprising,” Fitz told USA Today.

Fitz added that the first time the lost hiker appeared on camera, he gave the thumbs-down sign and then moved on. But then he came back and asked for help.

Luckily for the hiker, despite the rain and fog obscuring much the landscape, some people were still watching the feed.

“There is someone distressed on the camera 3:30 p.m. – 3:43,” one viewer wrote in the comments section.

Fitz said he was not surprised that someone had gotten lost in Katmai National Park, which encompasses more than 4 million acres of land, is only accessible by plane or boat and has no cellphone reception.

“Even though you’re only two straight-line miles from Brooks River and the lodge in the park visitor center that happens to be there in the campground, in that situation, it can feel like a world apart,” Fritz told USA Today. “The weather often is much worse on top of the mountain… it’s just really difficult to get your bearings.”

The live feed from Katmai is especially popular during Fat Bear Week – a viral online event organized every October by park officials and nonprofit groups, in which wildlife enthusiasts vote in a March Madness-style contest among 12 of the park’s plumpest brown bears photographed at Brooks River.

The bear that packs on the most pounds by gorging on salmon ahead of the winter hibernation will be crowned the winner on Oct. 5.