In a story that reads like a Hollywood survival thriller, 65-year-old Ron Dailey from Selma, California, emerged from the unforgiving Sierra National Forest after 20 harrowing days lost in the wilderness. What began as a routine day of deer hunting on October 13th turned into a grueling test of endurance, faith, and sheer human will. Dailey was found alive this past weekend, battered and malnourished but defiantly grateful, by a group of fellow hunters whose timely arrival he credits to divine intervention.
Ron Dailey, a seasoned outdoorsman and father known among his community for his reliability, set out alone from his home in a small farming town in Fresno County, for what he described as a straightforward one-day hunt near Shaver Lake. Driving his trusty 2002 Silver Dodge Dakota pickup along the Swamp Lake Trail, Dailey snacked on jerky and nuts at a high-elevation overlook before attempting to head back down a narrow "jeep road" marked by a simple tree sign. The terrain, however, had other plans.
At over 10,000 feet, the rocky, steep path quickly proved too much for his vehicle. "I went over this thing, and it was scraping bottom," Dailey later recounted from his hospital bed, his voice still hoarse from exhaustion. The truck snagged on boulders, rendering it immobile and eventually destroying its undercarriage. Stranded, Dailey improvised: He jacked up the vehicle, removed the passenger seat to fashion a makeshift bed, and hunkered down for several days, using the cab as shelter against the biting October nights, where temperatures dipped to around 44 degrees Fahrenheit.
With limited supplies—enough food for about two weeks—and no cell signal, Dailey lost his phone during a fall while scouting a way out. He rationed his jerky meticulously, but as days blurred into weeks, hunger set in. "This is it, Ron," he told himself in a moment of stark clarity. "You either try to get out or you sit here and die."
Abandoning the wrecked truck, Dailey began a desperate 20-mile hike through the Sierra's brutal landscape which included jagged cliffs, thin mountain air that left him gasping every hundred yards, and endless expanses of pine and granite. He fell twice more, his body weakening from dehydration and malnutrition. By the end, he hadn't eaten in six days, his legs barely carrying him as he stumbled forward.
Throughout the ordeal, Dailey leaned heavily on his faith. In a raw, emotional recording shared by his family, he described a breaking point: choking back tears, he prayed aloud, "You gotta send somebody up here to me. I can hardly walk anymore." It was a plea born of exhaustion, but one that would soon be answered in the most improbable way.
Back home, Dailey's wife, Glenda, refused to lose hope. She posted his missing person flyer on Facebook every day, rallying friends, family, and strangers alike.
"There are so many family members, friends and people we do not even know that were looking," she later wrote in a heartfelt update. "God still does miracles, and we have just been shown one."
On November 1st, just minutes after his desperate prayer, Dailey spotted headlights piercing the dusk that revealed a pair of hunters navigating the same remote trail. Barely able to stand, he raised a trembling hand to flag them down. As they approached and recognized him from the widely circulated flyers, Dailey collapsed into their arms, hugging them tightly and leading an impromptu prayer of thanksgiving right there on the trail.
The rescuers, whose names haven't been publicly released, immediately sprang into action, providing Dailey with food and water to stabilize him. Emergency crews from the Fresno County Sheriff's Office airlifted him to Community Regional Medical Center in Clovis, where doctors treated him for severe dehydration, exhaustion, and malnutrition. Remarkably, aside from some bruises and the toll of starvation, Dailey had no major injuries.
The Fresno County Search and Rescue Mounted Posse, along with volunteers from across the state, had logged countless hours scanning vast swaths of forest with helicopters, dogs, and horseback teams. Their efforts, combined with community prayers and social media appeals, culminated in what officials called "nothing short of a miracle."
Glenda Dailey plans to personally thank the hunters who found her husband, inviting them for a home-cooked meal once he's stronger. Doctors expect Dailey to make a full recovery and be discharged soon, perhaps as early as today. From his hospital bed, he's already reflecting on the lessons learned: the fragility of the wild, the power of persistence, and the comfort of faith in the face of the unknown.
