Tourist seeks adventure, hidden treasures but ends up lost

NAPLES, Fla. – A tourist was lost after trying to find hidden treasures using coordinates and a riddle.

The 38-year-old Georgia man was rescued Wednesday night after he got separated from his family in the Everglades, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said.

Authorities say the man became lost on a nature trail at the Collier-Seminole State Park.

The hiker and his family were geocaching, which is an outdoor game where items hidden in containers, called geocaches or caches, are hidden and then located using a GPS, officials said.

The hiker set out onto a trail while his wife and three children remained in their vehicle. After walking more than a mile into the trail, the hiker called his wife around 6 p.m. to say he was lost.

Authorities began searching the nature trail shortly after, but were unable to locate the missing hiker. He was eventually able to make contact with deputies on his cell phone who advised him to find a clearing so he could be spotted from the air.

Around 8:30 p.m., authorities spotted the missing hiker standing in a clearing about three miles into the nature trail. The helicopter landed in the clearing and picked up the hiker who was later checked up on by EMS and reunited with his family.