Hiker who was lost for 24 hours ignored calls from rescuers because it was an unknown number

They're so real for that

They went missing on October 18, 2021 after attempting to climb Mount Elbert, which is Colorado's highest peak.

The walker set out on their hike at 9am, but was reported as late back when they had not returned by 8pm.

Lake County Search and Rescue said that their crews set out on a search for the missing individual the next day, but failed to locate them.

NBC News reported that the hiker, whose identity remains anonymous, did not answer their repeated calls to their phone because of the unknown number.

After being missing for 24 hours, the hiker eventually surfaced back to civilisation after rediscovering the trail and making it back to their car without even realising a search team was looking for them.

"Multiple attempts to contact the subject via their cell phone were unsuccessful," Lake County Search and Rescue said in a statement on Facebook.

"The subject stated they’d lost the trail around nightfall and spent the night searching for the trail, and once on the trail, bounced around onto different trails trying to locate the proper trailhead, finally reaching their car the next morning, approximately 24 hours after they’d started their hike.

"They had no idea that SAR was out looking for them.

"One notable take-away is that the subject ignored repeated phone calls from us because they didn’t recognize the number," they added

"If you’re overdue according to your itinerary, and you start getting repeated calls from an unknown number, please answer the phone; it may be a SAR team trying to confirm you’re safe!"