The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A stranger’s odd hobby saves hiker
When Rene Compean snapped a photo of his soot-stained legs hanging over a steep cascade of rocks, he feared it was the last picture he’d ever take. Hopelessly lost while hiking in Southern California, he thought he might die.
Compean, 45, had trekked through the Angeles National Forest trails many times, but after venturing along a new path April 12, he lost his way. The temperature was dropping fast in the remote, rugged terrain, and the winds were whipping. Compean grabbed his cellphone and climbed to a spot where he was able to get at least one bar of signal.
“SOS. My phone is going to die. I’m lost,” Compean texted a friend, along with two photos showing where he was — though only one went through. It was the picture of his legs.
The photo offered minimal information and, given Compean’s lack of cellphone signal, the resolution was very low. And Compean didn’t realize his location settings were disabled on his phone.
Still, the grainy image was somehow detailed enough for a total stranger to decipher the hiker’s exact location.
Ben Kuo was working at his home about 60 miles away in Ventura County, Calif., when he stumbled upon a tweet from the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department. The sheriff ’s search-and-rescue teams had already spent the previous night unsuccessfully looking for Compean, so they released the photograph to the public hoping someone could help.
Kuo, 47, inspected the image and thought, “I bet I could find that spot,” he recalled.
Kuo works in the tech industry, but he has an unusual pastime: “I have always loved looking for where photos are taken,” Kuo said. He tries to identify where movie scenes, television shows or commercials were filmed. He’s often successful.
So when he came across the blurry image of Compean’s legs surrounded by an endless landscape of rocks and vegetation, he instinctively pulled up a satellite map. Since the sheriff ’s department said Compean’s car was found near Buckhorn Campground, he narrowed his search to the surrounding area.
“There’s an amazing amount of information you can get from satellites,” said Kuo, who is also a hiker, though he has never visited the area where Compean was lost.
The first thing he noticed in the picture were patches of greenery. “I realized he’s got to be on the south side because there’s not really any green valleys on the north side,” he explained.
That finding tightened his search considerably and helped him zero in on one area that closely resembled the terrain
‘I bet I could find that spot.’ Ben Kuo, upon seeing Compean’s photo
in the image.
The final step was cross-referencing the original photo with Google Earth and comparing specific details.
“By punching in the time and date that the photo was taken, you can compare the view in Google Earth,” said Kuo. “They matched.”
He shared a screenshot of the satellite imagery on Twitter and called the sheriff ’s department to notify officials of the coordinates he uncovered.
Fortunately for Compean, Kuo was spot on. More than a full day after he went missing, a search-and-rescue team found him less than a mile from Kuo’s predicted coordinates.
For Compean, hearing the vibrating helicopter hovering above him left him in tears. He was overwhelmed with relief, he said. After the crew touched down and the hiker notified his family and friends that he was safe, the rescuers told him that Kuo was instrumental in helping to pinpoint his precise location.
Compean, who works as a mechanic, asked for the stranger’s contact information and set up a virtual meeting the next day to express his gratitude.
“I owe you my life,” Compean told Kuo during the Zoom call.