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Malachi Bradley Rescued: 10-Year-Old Boy Lost In Utah Mountains Has Been Found

By Tara Dodrill
Published on: 01:01 PST, Aug 26, 2015

Malachi Bradley, a 10-year-old boy, was lost in the Utah mountains for more than a day. The boy said he survived the cold night in the backcountry by using camping tips his father had taught him. Malachi said he curled up between some large rocks, which had been warmed in the sun during the day, in an effort to fight of the cold night air.

“I went way too far,” the 10-year-old boy lost in the woods told the media, according to USA Today. “It was weird not having anybody with me, but I just kept going. I knew I had to make it back, or my family would be really sad.”

Malachi Bradley was hiking near Paul Lake in the Uinta Mountains of Utah with his family before wandering too far away from the group while searching for wild mushrooms, Fox News notes.

After realizing that he was lost and could no longer see his family, the 10-year-old boy started to look for a roadway so he could flag down a driver and get help. Unfortunately for Malachi, the area of the Uinta Mountains near his campground was extremely remote and no roads were nearby. Paul Lake is located approximately 200 miles east of Salt Lake City.

Bradley found a river and was able to secure drinking water and fed himself by making a spear from a stick and catching a fish. While the 10-year-old Utah boy garnered sustenance in the woods, his family joined dozens of search and rescue areas scouring the rugged terrain. Rescuers climbed into the saddle, onto ATVs, and took to the air in search of the boy, but their efforts proved unsuccessful by nightfall.

Molly Chrisman, the mother of Malachi Bradley, waited anxiously at the Uinta Mountains campground for son. She told the media that earlier in August she heard a news report about a 5-year-old Arizona boy who died of exposure after wandering too far from his campsite while chasing grasshoppers.

“I felt like the forest was so huge,” Chrisman said. “They were showing pictures on a map of how many people they had on the ground, and it felt like it was a tiny amount compared to the vast place that was the forest.”

When the sun went down the temperature in the Unita Mountains fell to nearly 30 degrees. Malachi wrapped his t-shirt around his legs and hugged himself inside his jacket to shield himself from the cold and to ward off frostbite. While the residual heat from the rocks helped keep the 10-year-old lost boy alive, it also reportedly threw off the infrared heat detectors rescuers were using in their location efforts.

Danny Bradley, Malachi’s father, worked with a friend to keep a fire burning bright in the night sky, hoping that the boy would see the light from the flames and find his way back.

“I was just hoping he was able to stay warm enough,” the Danny Bradley said when noting his fears about his lost son.

The following day Malachi heard the sound of a Utah police helicopter circling overhead. Realizing the pilot would not be able to see him amid the trees he quickly hiked until he found a clearing. The boy fell asleep while waiting for the helicopter to fly over the clearing, but ultimately a search plane did appear overhead and spotted him.

Malachi Bradley was found about five miles southeast of where he went missing. Uinta County Sheriff Vance Norton said it looked like the 10-year-old boy had hiked down into a ravine and over a hill to find the clearing where he was rescued.

The 10-year-old boy and his parents said he will go camping again.

“I’ll learn from my mistakes,” the rescued Malachi added.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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