Jun 12, 2008 1:48 pm US/Pacific
Missing Fresno Man Found In Yosemite National Park
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (BCN) ―
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Half-Dome in Yosemite National Park.
A 22-year-old man reported missing Sunday by a group he was hiking with in Yosemite National Park was found Wednesday with his Bible and is in "good condition," a park spokesman said Thursday.
Esmin Garmendia-Barrios, a native Honduran who lives in Fresno, was found around 2:15 p.m. about 5 miles from Washburn Point where he was last seen Sunday afternoon after he left his three friends and wandered off the trail, according to park spokesman Scott Gediman.
Garmendia-Barrios was flown to a health clinic in Yosemite. Despite not having food and wearing a T-shirt and jeans for nearly four days, he was "in very good shape," Gediman said.
The next step is to investigate why Garmendia-Barrios strayed from the trail, according to Gediman.
"Any time there's a search and rescue, it's followed by an investigation," Gediman said. "People can walk off the trails, but it's not something we recommend for people who are not familiar with the area. This was a situation where he willingly walked off the trail and was gone, so there's a lot of questions."
Around 125 searchers from Marin, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Mono, Ventura, Fresno, Santa Barbara and Sierra Madre counties as well as from the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit participated in the search. Dog teams and aerial spotters also were deployed.
Yosemite National Park has nearly 800 miles of hiking trails, according to Gediman. A couple multiple-day search and rescue missions similar to the search for Garmendia-Barrios are normally conducted each year, Gediman said.
"The most important thing of course is that he was found and he's
in good condition," Gediman said. "But the investigation will continue and we always recommend that people stay on the trails."
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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