A hiker in California recorded harrowing videos of himself after he broke his leg and was stranded for 40 hours on a California desert trail with no cell phone reception
Robert Ringo, 67, of La Quinta, wasn't sure he was going to make it out alive when he became stranded at Joshua Tree National Park in early July, so he began recording himself.
'Help! Help!' Ringo screams into the distance.
At one point, Ringo tells the camera that 'this might be the last episode.'
Ringo, who often hikes and hunts, pans the camera to his injured left leg while in unbearable pain.
'I can’t stand and I can’t talk, I can’t sit and I certainly can’t walk,' says Ringo. 'You can see how my foot is just flopping.'
He adds that he was 'trying to at least turnover and when [he] did, it was just unbelievable pain.'
Robert Ringo (pictured), 67, was hiking along a trail at Joshua Tree National Park in California when he took a bad fall and broke his left leg
Ringo, who had no cell phone service and traveled alone, began recording himself on his cell phone. Pictured: Robert Ringo's broken leg
In footage he took, Ringo reveals that he's suffering from dehydration.
'It's the first time in my life that I've ever experienced...no saliva,' Ringo says, lying with his shirt unbuttoned under a sliver of shade.
Ringo was stuck injured and alone in park for 40 hours while only surviving on two liters of water he brought and juniper berries he found nearby.
'I saw some juniper bushes and I scooted up and ate some juniper berries and then I came up on this flat plateau,' said Ringo.
Ringo became dehydrated over the 40-hour wait and admitted 'It's the first time in my life that I've ever experienced...no saliva'
Ringo yelled for help and assistance several times, but no one was close enough to hear his calls
He kept his leg propped onto a nearby branch to shield himself from the unforgiving sun as temperatures that day reached 109F.
With no cell phone service and no mobility, Ringo feared what could happen to him if no one discovered he was up there.
Meanwhile, his family had searched for him the next day with little luck.
Before Ringo left for his hike, he shared his cell phone location with his son, Ryan, out of habit.
'Of course there was zero service but I had tagged my location and shared it with my son Ryan before I left. That's just something I always do,' Ringo told KESQ.
Ringo's family contacted authorities, who around 9am on July 17 finally located the father on the plateau when surveying the wilderness from a helicopter.
'I looked and it showed his last location was in Joshua Tree, and when I saw it, I recognized where it was,' Ryan Ringo told ABC 7.
The Ringo family said more than 30 rescuers were out in the National Park searching the area.
Ringo (pictured) said he shared in cell phone location with his son, Ryan, and that it helped authorities eventually find him after 40 hours
The Joshua Tree Search Rescue team found Ringo and transferred him to the Desert Regional Medical Center to treat his broken femur.
'I never got to the point where I thought, I'm not going to make it. I just had a confidence and a faith,' Ringo said.
He underwent surgery for his left leg and his expected to make a full recovery.
Ringo says he can't express enough gratitude towards his rescuers, or 'angels' as he calls them.
'I'm grateful because if I had never been found it would've been devastating for my family,' said Ringo.
He's also extremely proud of his son, who he now refers to as a hero.
'I don't know how many men can say their hero is their son,' said Ringo, adding that he looks forward to hiking again once his leg heals.
The latest incident was reportedly not Ringo's first near-death experience.
He said that he's been electrocuted before and survived a shark attack.
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