A 39-year-old man who went missing for a month in a Washington state park, surviving on berries and water, has revealed the ordeal “aged him several years.”
Musician Robert Schock of Blaine, Washington arrived at the North Cascades National Park on July 31 for a run, he told People in a recent interview. But, having not visited in years and equipped with only an old map, Schock quickly lost his bearings.
“I’m not a hiker," Schock told People. "I don’t put on backpacks and go out for multiple-day trips. I don’t know how to fish. I want to finish a course as fast as I can and come back home. So I had no shirt. I had a pair of shorts, I had Freddy [his dog] and a dog pan.”
Schock was lost. On day two, his phone died, and on day three, he sent Freddy to find his way home. His mother, Jan Thompson, told The Independent that a local Humane Society chapter called her on August 4 after authorities found Freddy near the Chilliwack River.
“Luckily, we had just had him microchipped about a month before, and they put my name on the chip along with Rob's,” Thompson said. “And if it had just been Rob's name on that microchip, they would never have called me, and he would have been adopted, and he'd be gone.”
After receiving the call about Freddy, Thompson reported her son missing on August 5.
“The deputy, the first thing he said to me was, ‘This isn't going to have a happy ending,’” she said.
Authorities would not find the musician until August 30. As he recounted the harrowing 30-day journey to People, Schock revealed the incident “has taken its toll” and has “aged” him several years.
"Hopefully, I get those years back," he told People.
After sending Freddy home, Schock eventually found abandoned nesting grounds made by bears. There, he found a single mushroom, which he made last a whole day.
“I ate that thing all day long, and it just tasted like a normal mushroom you would have on a pizza or something," Schock told People. "It was the only thing I had to eat the entire time other than berries, they were pretty nasty.”
At one point, Schock even spotted a helicopter and attempted to flag down the pilot. But it didn’t work.
“I started screaming ‘Help,’ and they didn’t respond,” he told People.
Over that month in the North Cascades, Schock’s strength waned. The day he was rescued, he was on the banks of the Chilliwack River. Schock said he felt “like I was close to death” as he sat on the riverbank. At that point, he revealed he had lost control of his bowels and was losing the ability to scream for help.
Schock yelled one last time – and it saved his life.
“I was sitting there naked and knew I wasn’t going to make it through the night,” he told People. “So I was like, ‘I’m going to scream one last time.’ I said, ‘Help!’”
That’s when members of the Pacific Northwest Trail Association who happened to be walking nearby found him.
“One of the guys took his shirt off and gave it to me,” Schock told People. “That guy who came and clothed me and very well saved my life. It is an understatement to say how truly thankful I am for those people to be there that day because it came pretty close to the finish line.”
Jeff Kish, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Trail Association, said in a statement his team found Schock “alive but not well.”
“It is the belief of those who came to be involved in the rescue that Robert may have only had another day left in him before the outcome of his discovery would have been much more tragic,” Kish said.
Afterward, he was airlifted to a nearby hospital. A local officer called Thompson, telling her, “I have incredible news, we found him alive, he’s okay.”
Schock is now recovering in Ohio with his father and Freddy.
“He's putting his weight back on, and his joints are feeling better,” Thompson said. “He's doing really well.”
