14 Days Missing in Daniel Boone National Forest

It doesn’t matter who you are are where you are, when you wander into the backwoods of any Wilderness area or a National Forest, you had better be prepared for whatever comes next. The problem is that most people think that what awaits them is nothing but rainbows and unicorns.

Well, this has been an exciting year and if you’ve been reading any of our recent articles you know that there is more than rainbows and unicorns waiting for you out in the woods if you don’t come prepared. In today’s article, we will explore lessons from another absolutely amazing survival situation.

Surviving 14 Days lost in Daniel Boone National Forest.

This is an almost unbelievable story, make’s you think Bigfoot must have been feeding that guy berries or something. This adventure starts with an Ohio man named Scott Hern. Scott set off on a hike and what turned about to be one of the greatest survival stories of 2025 on the Tower Rock Trail in southern Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest.

Just to show you how dangerous and innocent a hike in the woods can turn into, check out the description from AllTrails about this Tower Rock Trail.

“Check out this 0.8-mile out-and-back trail near Pine Ridge, Kentucky. Generally considered a moderately challenging route, it takes an average of 26 min to complete. This is a popular trail for birding, hiking, and walking, but you can still enjoy some solitude during quieter times of day. The trail is open year-round and is beautiful to visit anytime.” – AllTrails

What people often forget, is that some innocent trail must be put in the context of a larger area it exists in, in this case, the Daniel Boone National Forest.

Sure, some people might ask … how can you get lost in Kentucky? Doesn’t that stuff only happen in Alaska or something? Not at all, it happens every day in large uninhabited areas to people who aren’t expecting it. Just because you can park at a nice trailhead full of people doesn’t mean disaster isn’t waiting right around the corner.

“The Daniel Boone National Forest is a national forest in Kentucky. Established in 1937, it includes 708,000 acres of federally owned land within a 2,100,000-acre proclamation boundary. The name of the forest was changed in 1966 in honor of the explorer Daniel Boone. “

NPS – https://www.fs.usda.gov/attmain/dbnf/specialplaces

I mean when you start to wander around places like this, if you don’t pay attention and wander off the trail, or hike over a ridge, you can get lost in about 30 seconds and be in serious trouble if you are in inexperienced outdoor adventures.

According to the rescuers, Hern survived 12 days without his own food and water, purportedly he only had some trail mix and bottled water when he went in, which of course didn’t last him very long.

They found Hern up a steep ridgeline below a cliff, and a helicopter had to be used to rescue him! This just goes to show in survival situations, when people get lost and flustered, thinking they can just go over the next ridge and find a trail or civilization, that this is an extremely bad idea.

Sticking in a spot until you come up with a plan that makes sense is key to surviving.

Check out this video from the helicopter going to rescue Hern.

 

“… says the likelihood of survivability was “unheard of” since Hern was a fairly new hiker, had little experience and didn’t have many camping supplies with him.”

Hopefully, there will be more details released later about how he managed to stay alive this long, 12 days without food and water, incredible! Apparently he had a will to live.

Lessons

We’ve reported on a few similar instances this year so far, in each case there have been pretty much the same lessons learned.

  • accidents and getting lost can happen to anyone and anytime
  • if you’re going into a large wilderness area, you have to be prepared!
  • have basic survival gear can make all the difference, anything will help!
  • going into the wilderness you should always have a beacon locator (InReach)
  • you should have basic survival knowledge when going into the backcountry
  • have a plan ahead of time for what to do if the worst happens
  • be able to get your bearings (north, south, etc) from the sun etc.
  • have a map of the area in your mind, including ridges, creeks etc.

In every single one of these situations, including this one, it’s clear that even a minimal amount of preparation for backcountry adventure would have made an insane difference. Think of being able to start a fire! The smoke would have got him found within a day or two.

It’s easy to be an armchair adventure, but we have to look at these real-life situations and learn the obvious lessons from them, and teach others, so this happens less often.

https://youtu.be/lQsF-BzANFw

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