A hiker spent 50 days in the northern B.C. wilderness. How he survived until his unlikely rescue sparked global intrigue

// custom header art window.tgam.meta.photo_desktop = "https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/v2/B37VI23R5FDATOAS5QNV5EDH7E.jpg?auth=870a46e95167a400e0904fafc05f6008ef9801bd63b84a7b0fd159aa01931819&width=1200&quality=80"; window.tgam.meta.photo_mobile = "https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/v2/OWMXUPSXXNA3XFACNH5I6L3EAQ.jpg?auth=7527e278e63608956c8bab1df5150d0a1b0799f5708d1dab8339bdb80eed5dd2&width=1200&quality=80"; window.tgam.meta.video = ""; window.tgam.meta.caption = "Sam Benastick, middle, came across Gaston Schaeffer and John Tattrie on a remote road off the Alaska Highway in late November. They recognized him as a missing person and helped reunite him with his family."; window.tgam.meta.credit = "Courtesy of Gaston Schaeffer"; // custom header layout parameters window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay = false; window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_vertical_position = "top"; // top, centre, bottom window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_horizontal_position = "left"; // left, centre, right window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_gradient = false; window.tgam.meta.two_column = true; window.tgam.meta.swap_column = false; window.tgam.meta.full_width = false; window.tgam.meta.dark_background = false; window.tgam.meta.dark_background_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.centre_headline = false; window.tgam.meta.large_headline = true; window.tgam.meta.sans_headline = false; window.tgam.meta.label_text_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.label_box_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.label_text_colour_overlay = "" ; window.tgam.meta.label_box_colour_overlay = ""; window.tgam.meta.audio_bar = true; // custom header display overrides (optional): window.tgam.meta.display_head = "In from the cold"; window.tgam.meta.display_deck = "Inside the massive search for Sam Benastick and his unlikely rescue after 50 days in the northern B.C. wilderness"; window.tgam.meta.label = "British Columbia"; window.tgam.meta.byline = "Andrea Woo"; window.tgam.meta.byline2 = ""; window.tgam.meta.creditline = "The Globe and Mail"; Gaston Schaeffer carefully navigated his black pickup truck along the icy Alaska Highway, turning down a narrow, gravel pathway and rumbling along for several kilometres toward the road he had graded just a few days earlier.