Teen Walks Out of Wilderness 11 Days After Going Missing

Austin Bohanan was lost in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 23, 2017 2:21 PM CDT
Teen Back With Family After 11 Days Lost in National Park
Brooke Bohanan reacts to news that her stepson Austin Bohanan was alive after he walked out of the Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Tuesday, Aug. 22. 2017, after being missing for 11 days.   (Tom Sherlin/The Daily Times via AP)

The National Park Service says a teenager who went missing for 11 days is with his family after he emerged from Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains National Park and flagged a passing boat for help. A news release says 18-year-old Austin Bohanan was found Tuesday uninjured. Officials say Bohanan had become separated from his stepfather. Even atop a ridge, he couldn't complete a cellphone call to his mother for help, the AP reports.

Bohanan told rangers he followed two creeks for days looking for the highway and remained within the 6,700-acre area that more than 100 people were searching. He heard a search helicopter at one point. Bohanan was last seen Aug. 11 and was reported missing Aug. 13. He was found in remote Blount County, about 40 miles south of Knoxville. (More missing person stories.)

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