Crude sign leads to rescue

Mike Vilhauer used sticks and needles to write ‘HELP’ seen by helicopter pilot.

A scavenger hunt for fish bait turned into a desperate five-day mission by a West Sacramento man to return home.

If it was not for Mike Vilhauer’s quick thinking to fashion sticks and bunches of cypress needles into an 8feet-tall “HELP” sign, he might not have been rescued. The sign did eventually catch a helicopter pilot’s attention.

“There was a time I thought I wasn’t going to make it,” he said.

But his love for his wife and family, he said, motivated him to keep moving.

Vilhauer, 58, lost his way Aug. 5 as he was looking for grasshoppers for bait in the California wilderness just south of Lake Tahoe in Alpine County.

The area was unfamiliar to him because he had learned about it from a fishing book. Vilhauer was supposed to go fishing with his son but plans fell through, so he decided to go alone.

From the start, his trip seemed a bit off.

There were no fish in the lake, and a group of trucks circled his car while he was kayaking, prompting him to head back to shore.

Realizing that he needed more bait, he grabbed a butterf ly net and headed into the wilderness.

He soon realized that he was lost and that a storm was quickly approaching.

Vilhauer gathered branches and pine needles to make a bed for the night so that he could try to retrace his steps in the morning.

But the days quickly turned into nights and the search for home grew frustrating.

Along the way, he says, he ran into deer, a bear and a wolverine, an elusive animal photographed only a few times in California.

Surviving on water, Vilhauer pondered the possibility that he might not get out of the wilderness. During his trek, he found a cow bell and banged it, hoping to attract attention.

But it appeared no one was listening.

Using a knife, Vilhauer carved a lengthy letter to his wife and family on a piece of driftwood.

In the roughly made letter, he apologized for getting lost.

Throughout his journey, there were several instances in which he saw helicopters. He waved his arms to get attention.

His attempts were unsuccessful until Aug. 10, when a pilot finally spotted him and his sign and sent rescuers to find him.

Rescue crews from eight to nine counties, including two from Nevada, spent countless hours searching for Vilhauer in the wilderness.

Authorities used divers to search the lake where he had been seen fishing, he said.

Although Vilhauer said he is thrilled to be home, he said he feels “bad and guilty” for getting lost and pulling numerous volunteers away from their families to search for him.

“They returned my faith in humanity,” he said.