After being at between 8,000 and 9,000 ft. elevation for 2 days, I became extremely fatigued. So much so that I knew I could not go the next 9 miles to the next water source where there would be help. I found a place of the trail that had a wide open space, so I could be spotted easily from the air. I had plenty of food plus a little Gatorade and about a half liter of water. Enough for the day if I stayed calm and stayed in the shade without physical exertion.

I spread out my blaze orange poncho and turned on my plb at approximately 10:30 AM. At about noon the helicopter flew on the other side of the ridge from where I was. After the pilot ran low on fuel and the winds picked he went away. At about 4:00PM the helicopter returned and flew on my side of the ridge. I started flashing him with my space blanket. He recognized my signal and the poncho on the ground. He circled so the ground rescue team could find me. The rescue vehicle could not get down the road because of a downed tree across the road. So the helicopter landed about 100 yards up the road and flew all of us out.