Trail hikers lost for 7 days rescued in Big Cypress

Two hikers were rescued Friday morning after getting lost for seven days in the Big Cypress National Preserve, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said.

Lifelong friends Ryan Crowder, 25, and Tom Reiker, 24, lost the trail they intended to take and instead walked 32 miles in waist-deep water.

The pair were found four miles south of mile marker 63 on Interstate 75 and survived only on Ramen Noodles and boiled swamp water.

“I’m just saying to myself over and over again, that we’re not going to die out here,” Reiker said.

Crowder lost his tent and says they slept inches away from dangerous wildlife.

“We slept last night on a 20 by 20 little island surrounded by water moccasin and alligators,” Crowder said. “One morning we woke up earlier and a wild hog being killed by something, you know, pretty close to our campsite.”

The friends own a Youtube channel and planned to post their adventure online.

A Collier County Sheriff’s Office helicopter crew located the hikers as part of a joint rescue effort with the National Park Service and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

CCSO shared the rescue on their Facebook page: