CLARKSTON, Mich. – Officials said a lost Oakland County hiker was found dead in an Upper Peninsula wilderness after he badly cut his leg and tried to use his belt as a tourniquet.
Negaunee Regional Dispatch officers learned about the missing 29-year-old Clarkston man around 8:20 p.m. Sunday. Police said he had been camping in the Big Island Lake Wilderness area.
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Conservation officers Mike Evink, Mark Zitnik and acting Sgt. Rob Freeborn responded by 10 p.m. with canoes, according to authorities.
"The missing hiker's vehicle was located at Big Island Lake trailhead," Freeborn said. "We portaged into the wilderness and paddled through Big Island Lake, Mid Lake, Coattail Lake and finally, into McInnes Lake, portaging between each lake."
Freeborn said the man was found at a campsite on McInnes Lake. He had badly cut his leg in an accident and applied a tourniquet using his belt, authorities said.
Those efforts failed, and the man was dead when the officers arrived, officials said.
The body was loaded into a canoe and brought to an ambulance shortly after 4 a.m. Monday, police said.
Authorities aren't releasing the man's identity until the medical examiner's report is finished.