Survival in the wilds a matter of factors

With what some are calling the miraculous recovery of 11-year-old Brennan Hawkins, lost four days in the Uinta Mountains, the question arises: How long can a person survive in the wilderness without food and water?

Doctors and search and rescue officials contacted Tuesday said many factors including weather, the person's physical and mental condition, age and even level of exertion will affect wilderness survival.

A basic rule is three days without water, three weeks without food, said Dr. Rich Ingebretsen, head of the wilderness medicine program at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

But that rule may not have applied to Brennan, he said. Brennan was in a high-stress situation that zaps the body's energy, increasing its need for sugar, even more than food in general.

"It's amazing he survived," Ingebretsen said. "When you've got a kid who's scared, he's lost, he doesn't know where to sleep, his energy needs skyrocket. . . . In that situation, people survive much less time without food because they need more of it."

Brennan was at the East Fork of the Bear River Boy Scout Reservation when he disappeared Friday night. He had been using a climbing wall with another boy, who returned to camp for a dinner call. But Brennan struggled to get out of his climbing harness, and when a staff member turned to help him, he was gone.

Brennan was found about noon Tuesday, ending a massive search effort. Primary Children's Medical Center director Dr. Edward Clark said Brennan was in "remarkably good shape" considering he just survived four days in the wilderness with no food or water.

There have been reports in medical literature about a young man who survived a month lost in the Himalayas without food, said Dr. Colin Grissom, a critical care medicine doctor at LDS Hospital and member of the Wilderness Medical Society. But that person also had ample water — key to survival.

Brennan encountered about the right temperatures for someone to survive as long as possible without water, Grissom said. It wasn't so hot he'd lose a lot of fluids by sweating, and it wasn't so cold he'd expend too much energy attempting to stay warm.

"If (Brennan) had no water, (with) the kind of temperatures in the Uintas right now, he didn't have too much longer, maybe at most a week without water. It remains to be seen if he actually drank from some stream or puddle or some water source," Grissom said. "Even if he found water, it's not like it's a rainforest. I'm sure he was dehydrated and hungry and tired and cold. I'm pretty impressed with the little kid."

Joe Paul, first vice commander of Davis County Search and Rescue, who assisted with the search from Saturday morning through Sunday afternoon, agrees.

"Not having any water with him, if he did not drink out of the creeks or anything, it's nothing short of a miracle that he lived," Paul said. "(Wearing) shorts and a hoodie, it was miraculous he lasted as long as he did."

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