Lost Hiker Finds His Way Back : Survival: Member of college crew club takes wrong trail during team trek, walks safely out of wilderness next day.

CLEVELAND NATIONAL FOREST — It was Brad Campbell’s second day in California and already he was lost in the mountains, forced to spend a freezing night sleeping by a roadside in the forest.

Despite having no map, compass or any idea which direction to go, the 19-year-old member of the Cal State Long Beach crew club--who had become separated from his teammates during a training hike Wednesday afternoon--stayed calm. After waking up early Thursday, he trekked out of the forest into Riverside County.

Campbell, who was picked up by a driver on Temescal Canyon Road that morning, had been lost about 19 hours and walked about 15 miles. The good Samaritan dropped Campbell at a country store down the road where the teen-ager immediately called his mother in Florida, and then the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

It was a hike he would not soon forget.

And while he acknowledges getting the shivers during the night when temperatures dipped into the low 30s, he told the media Thursday at the O’Neill Regional Park fire station that he never lost his cool.

“It was not really frightening when there is a big road ahead of you and you know it leads somewhere,” Campbell said.

When lost, the teen-ager was wearing a light jacket, shorts, hiking boots, wool cap and socks. He also had a backpack with food and water.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team had been looking for him since about 8 p.m. Wednesday, shortly after club members called for help.

Campbell, a sophomore, was taking part in his first day of crew practice Wednesday, having transferred from Northeastern University in Boston. He had arrived in Long Beach Tuesday night.

Campbell, Coach Michael Vescovi and two groups of teammates were hiking in O’Neill Regional Park in the hopes of reaching Santiago Peak early Wednesday afternoon. The outing was a change of pace in the club’s grueling 30-hour-a-week schedule.

“We usually row, run or lift weights, so being able to hike was kind of like going to Disneyland,” said teammate John Cashman, 22. “Last Wednesday, we went bowling, but nobody got lost at the bowling alley.”

Campbell, who was in the second group of hikers, pulled away and attempted to catch up with the faster-paced group about 2:45 p.m., but took the wrong path and lost his team.

“We were told 14 times before we left, ‘Stay together,’ ” said Cashman, who slept only a few hours Wednesday night while keeping a vigil with the coach and two other teammates at search and rescue headquarters at the fire station.

Campbell, who realized almost immediately that he was on the wrong path, at first tried to find his teammates; then he tried to find a trail out. He hiked through much of the night, he said, but as fatigue set in Campbell crept under a bush on the side of the road and fell asleep.

After sleeping awhile, he resumed his walk along the smaller road and eventually came to Temescal Canyon Road. It was there that he encountered the good Samaritan, who took him to the country store south of Cajalco Road in the Glen Ivy Hot Springs area of Riverside County.

He had a few blisters and was exhausted, but unhurt. Orange County deputies met him there and gave him a lift to the fire station in O’Neill Regional Park in Orange County.

Team members realized Campbell was missing around 4 p.m. and attempted to search for him. They continued until dark, then drove to a phone and called for help about 6 p.m.

Fifteen members of the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team looked for Campbell throughout the night, aided by the tips of crew member Mark Hertz, an Eagle Scout who remembered the topography of the area where the team had hiked.

An aircraft, helicopters, horses and bloodhounds joined the search around 10 p.m. The dogs traced Campbell’s scent to the country store where the youth had already contacted his mother and authorities, said Reserve Capt. John Watts.

“We spent the night sleepless, cold and without pay, but we consider this a successful search; whether the victim was found by us or he found himself,” said Watts. “We are very glad he came out safely.”

It was also a tiring night for the three crew members and Vescovi, who spent the night at the fire station.

“The most important rule is you don’t go off by yourself, and I made that clear at the beginning of practice,” said Vescovi, 32, after finding out Campbell was safe. “We were prepared for the 10-mile hike--we had two people with medical kits, a backpack with the essentials and then we had no Brad.”

Teammate Louis Niglio, 19, who also was Campbell’s roommate and teammate at Northeastern, had confidence in his friend’s ability to make it to safety.

“I figured he would have kept walking instead of being the kind of person who would just sit there and wait for someone to find him,” said Niglio.

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Lost and Found A member of Cal State Long Beach’s crew club survived a chilly night in the wilderness after being separated from his teammates during a training hike in O’Neil Regional Park. Dressed only in light clothing, Brad Campbell hiked about 15 miles until he was picked up by a driver who took him to a country store in Riverside County where he was able to get help.