Boy lost overnight tells of his ordeal

The Associated Press

SEATTLE – A 4-year-old boy, back with his parents after surviving a day and a half in the woods, gave a succinct account of how his ordeal began.

“I ran down the hill and fell into a hole I couldn’t get out of. I crawled out and then fell into the water,” Julius Orriss said at a news conference Monday as he was discharged from Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center.

He was treated for scratches and mild hypothermia.

His parents, Clifford and Iris Orriss of Petaluma, Calif., thanked volunteers who helped look for their son after he vanished on a hike Friday morning at about the 1,200-foot level of Pinnacle Peak , about 40 miles southeast of Seattle.

More than 90 people, aided by two helicopters and rescue dogs, joined in the search.

The family previously lived in the area and was back for a Thanksgiving visit when the boy, who was hiking with his mother and several other children, ran ahead and disappeared around a bend Friday morning.

Julius, who turns 5 next month, said he lost his bearings after he ran downhill and “couldn’t stop.”

Enumclaw-area residents found the boy late Saturday when they heard him crying on the wooded hillside behind their homes about a mile from where he was last seen.

Overnight temperatures had dropped to about 40 degrees.

“I was awake the whole night,” he said.

His parents said Monday the only lingering effects are weakness and soreness in his ankles, which were hurt when he fell.

Iris Orriss said she would heed the advice of the head of the search team, who told her not to fear hiking and returning to nature after the family heads for home Thursday.

“I think I’m going to be paranoid for a while,” she said. “I’ll definitely be more prepared. I’m thinking about neon yellow jackets instead of olive green.”

To which her husband added, “Maybe a leash, too.”