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BREAKING NEWS
The Associated Press
Updated: 4:50 p.m. ET June 21, 2005KAMAS, Utah - An 11-year-old boy who vanished from a Boy Scout camp was found alive and in good condition Tuesday after an intensive four-day search of the rugged Utah wilderness.

Sheriff Dave Edmunds said Brennan Hawkins was "a little dehydrated, a little weak, but other than that, he was in very good health."

The sheriff said that after eating some food and drinking some water, the boy asked to play a video game on the cell phone of one of the volunteers who had been searching for him.

Authorities planned to take him to a hospital to be checked out.

Kay Godfrey, a spokeswoman for the Boy Scouts' Great Salt Lake Council, pronounced the boy's rescue a "modern-day miracle." free video

Brennan was found just before noon near Lily Lake, about five miles from the camp in the Uinta Mountains where he was last seen Friday. He was reunited with his parents, Toby and Jody Hawkins, and their four other children.

Brennan carried no food or water, and his family had said he did not have a good sense of direction. But the sheriff said the nights had been warm, with temperatures falling only into the 50s. The area is about 100 miles northeast of Salt Lake City.

Volunteer Forrest Nunley, a 43-year-old house painter from Salt Lake City, said he found Brennan "standing in the middle of the trail. He was all muddy and wet."

Boy saw volunteers
The boy saw some volunteer searchers on horseback, but "he didn't want to come out. He was too scared. He was a little delirious. I sat him down and gave him a little food," Nunley said.

During the search, rescuers had feared the boy had fallen into a river that was swollen by heavy snow melt. The East Fork of the Bear River is within 100 yards of the road where the boy was believed to have been walking. Deep-water rescue teams searched the river, while others combed the rugged area around it.

On Monday, rescuers found three socks and a sandal in the river, but none belonged to Brennan. The boys' parents also sifted fruitlessly through enough clothing collected from the mountains to fill the bed of a pickup.

Among the volunteer searchers was Kevin Bardsley, whose 12-year-old son, Garrett, vanished last August while camping at a nearby lake. He was never found despite a weeklong search.

"When we came off this mountain in the winter, my friends and I decided right then, if anyone came missing, we'd be there immediately," Bardsley said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The sheriff said that after eating some food and drinking some water, the boy asked to play a video game on the cell phone of one of the volunteers who had been searching for him.

It's bad enough losing scouts within the scout camp property. (I was in a fellowship called Fordell Firs and acted as staff at the campsite) Even within our campsite, there was dangers such as cliffs, uneven ground, easy access onto the property without our consent let alone the dangers of walking about a campsite (tripping over peoples tents strings)

A little boy is lucky to have survived without heat, food and shelter for 4 days. I expect he must be more forest-wise that most.

This is the second scout at this camp to go missing in two years - a 12-year-old was never found after nine days of searching last year.

The first rules that were given on every camping trip for my troop, and my Cub Scout pack before that, were these:
1) Always use the buddy system
2) Never leave the trails to take a shortcut
3) If you are lost, stay where you are.

I don't want to sound mean, but this scout was 0-for-3. I imagine that the boy who got lost last year was, too, and that makes me question whether the troop leaders, camp staff, and council leadership really spend enough time drilling safety and woods-wisdom into the heads of their charges.

And did they ever find out why he left camp?

*shakes head*

This is the second scout at this camp to go missing in two years - a 12-year-old was never found after nine days of searching last year.

The first rules that were given on every camping trip for my troop, and my Cub Scout pack before that, were these:
1) Always use the buddy system
2) Never leave the trails to take a shortcut
3) If you are lost, stay where you are.

I don't want to sound mean, but this scout was 0-for-3. I imagine that the boy who got lost last year was, too, and that makes me question whether the troop leaders, camp staff, and council leadership really spend enough time drilling safety and woods-wisdom into the heads of their charges.

One of the news shows interviewed a man who wrote a book on survival in the wild and he said that the best thing is to make sure that any kid in camp wears a whistle around his neck. Then, if the kid gets lost, he should find the nearest tree, hug it, and blow the whistle until someone finds him. Good advice.

I'm glad he was found....
But from reading some of these comments...
It makes me wonder... is the boy like... not all there mentally?
Because come on... who is going to go missing and then NOT talk to a "stranger" when they get lost and see someone?
That's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

I don't want to sound mean, but this scout was 0-for-3. I imagine that the boy who got lost last year was, too, and that makes me question whether the troop leaders, camp staff, and council leadership really spend enough time drilling safety and woods-wisdom into the heads of their charges.

That's all fine and true. But do you know how he got lost?

This little kid, with his poor sense of direction, could have gotten lost at night while he was on his way to/from the toilet? (Or tree.) I agree, he should have stayed put. But the Buddy System? Who would bother to wake someone up in the middle of the night, and ask them to come with you because you need to take a smurf?