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Man spends 5 days lost in woods — then someone hears a voice, Washington cops say

A man survived days in the woods in Washington after taking a shortcut, deputies said.
A man survived days in the woods in Washington after taking a shortcut, deputies said. Getty Images/iStockphoto

A man lost in the woods for five days was discovered after someone heard a voice calling for help, deputies in Washington said.

The witness called 911 at about 12:30 a.m. June 21 in Poulsbo, the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.

A deputy then went to the area and heard “a faint, distressful voice coming from the woods from a man saying he had fallen from a tree,” authorities said.

At about 7 a.m. that morning, teams discovered a man who told them he tried to take a shortcut and ended up lost in the woods, deputies said.

Photos show rescuers carrying him out of the wilderness in a stretcher before he was taken to a hospital.

Poulsbo is about a 35-mile drive, including a ferry ride, northwest from Seattle.

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This story was originally published June 25, 2025 at 9:58 AM with the headline "Man spends 5 days lost in woods — then someone hears a voice, Washington cops say."

Helena Wegner
McClatchy DC
Helena Wegner is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter covering the state of Washington and the western region. She’s a journalism graduate from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She’s based in Phoenix.
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