| from Yahoo Headlines/AP
Sunday July 24 2005
Hiker Survives 5 days in Hawaiian lava
field.
WAIMEA,Hawaii - A hiker lost for five days in a lava
field near a volcano says he survived by drinking water he
squeezed from moss in a mostly barren landscape.
Gilbert Dewey Gaedcke III, 41, was rescued Friday
afternoon after a teenager on a helicopter tour spotted him
stumbling across the rocky lava, trying to attract attention
with a mirror from his camera.Gaedcke had been missing since
Sunday night, when he decided to take a hike across desolate
lava fields near Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to get a
closer look at an active volcano.The experienced hiker from
Austin Texas, said he saw no water, but there were pockets of
jungle-like vegetation sprinkled throughout the old lava flow.
Gaedcke said he crawled beneath the vines and lick moisture
off leaves. Then he found moss growing on trees, and was able
to squeeze enough water from it to drink. "It was muddy,
green, mossy water, but it worked," he said Saturday. "If I
hadn't found that I'd be dead right now,"
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