Nonverbal Teen Clicks Rocks Together To Help Rescuers Find Him After Getting Lost During Hike

A nonverbal teenager who got lost in a wooded area in Los Angeles used rocks to help rescuers find him.

This past Sunday, a 16-year-old boy went on a hike with his sister and mother in Crescenta Valley Park when he took off running into trees and disappeared, NBC News reports. After a six-hour search, the Los Angeles Police Department finally got a tip on where to find him, and it was the sound of rocks clicking together.

Once officers picked up the sound, a deputy instructed a Burbank police helicopter to search for the teen in the canyon. The police found the teen “in the brush 400′ over the side of the fire road.”

“Our team member went down the mountainside and made contact with the missing person. Recognizing the sensitivity of the situation, he worked to build a rapport with the teenager. After gaining the trust of the missing person, he led him up the mountain to safety,” said the sheriff’s department’s Montrose Search and Rescue Team in a Facebook post about the incident. “Once at the top, he was treated by paramedics and released to his family.”

The boy was sitting under an oak tree when they found him, said Montrose Search and Rescue Deputy Steve Goldsworthy during a news conference, NBC News reports. The boy’s mother said her son loves rocks.

“He will go out of his way to kick a rock, pick up a rock, throw a rock,” Goldsworthy said. “Those were, like, his favorite things, so I picked up the rock and threw it down the gully, and he looked at me, and he ended up giving me a fist bump.”