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LANAI CITY – At 6:07 p.m. Saturday, October 22, 2016, Lanai firefighters were informed of a man that was lost near the Munro Trail, which travels across the island’s mountain watershed, known locally as Lanai Hale.

The man in his 30’s, is from Colorado but is a construction worker living on Lanai temporarily for work. He was driving along Keomoku Rd. on the island’s eastern coast and took an off-road trail up the mountain thinking it lead back to the city, but the trail did not. His vehicle got stuck in mud and he continued up the mountain on foot until encountering thick impassable vegetation. With darkness approaching, he called for help.

Fire crews searched Saturday night but could not find the man because of dense fog, heavy rain, and extremely windy conditions that made it near impossible to see or hear a person calling out. Firefighters spoke with the man by cell phone and instructed him to stay put, and they would return at first light the next morning. Crews used his phone’s GPS location feature to pinpoint his position.

When low lying clouds lifted, crews spotted the man Sunday morning on a ridge not far below the Munro Trail. The department’s rescue helicopter airlifted him safely to firefighters at 7:51 a.m. Firefighters gave the man a ride down the mountain. He was uninjured and was just cold from being overnight out in the rain.