Alaska Man Craig Johnson Lost For Three Days, Survives Freezing Temps And Wolverine Attack

Craig Johnson, 38, has survived being lost for three days in Alaska’s below-freezing temperatures and a battle with a wolverine. Little did he know upon setting out that his trip to visit family for the holidays would turn into a harrowing, life-threatening experience.

On December 15, Johnson was halfway through his 80-mile journey from Wainwright to Barrow, when his snowmobile began to sink through the sea ice. The freezing water reached his chest before he somehow managed to crawl his way out of the hole and on to thicker ice.

Despite his soaking clothes, he began a 30-mile trek to seek help. Along the way, a wolverine picked up his trail and began to stalk him across the wilderness. Wolverines are known for being very strong and ferocious, and are able to injure or kill prey much larger than themselves, posing a very real threat to Johnson in his vulnerable state.

He told ABC News, “You could hear it on the ice, just playing with me, toying with me.”

After firing warning shots at the animal, which did not scare it away, Johnson was forced to defend himself with a stick. Eventually, he found a wooden box and crawled inside, where he heard no less than three rescue helicopters flying overhead. He stated that the third to fly over him could not have been any farther that 200 to 300 yards from where he was laying. That’s when he felt he had lost hope.

“I almost gave up, but I couldn’t give up,” he said. “I had to do it for my boys, my family. I think it’s a miracle I’m alive.”

The temperatures continued to drop past negative 35 degrees as Johnson lay in the box, thinking that he might never see his family again. Though the discouragement was so heavy, he continued to yell for help, and that is when he was heard by his cousin, Clifford Benson.

Benson told news reporters that the wind and snow had nearly erased all signs of Johnson’s journey, and it was his cries for help that led rescuers to his location. Amazingly, he was heard over the sound of snowmobile engines.

Johnson was frozen chest-high, and is said to have been in an extreme amount of pain. He was airlifted by helicopter to Samuel Simmonds Memorial Hospital in Barrow, and then medevaced to Anchorage, where he was treated for frostbite, a pierced lung, and throat injuries.

The dangers of traveling through the Alaskan wilderness are well-known, and Johnson’s own father fell through the ice and drowned in 1998. Johnson’s survival after being lost for three days and battling the elements is nothing short of a miracle.

[Image courtesy of ABC News]