Lost man found

By Greg Bird
birdman@tmcvoice.com

What was to be a leisurely morning looking for yellowroot turned in to a 10-hour ordeal for Luke Troxell Monday as he became lost in the woods off Williamsburg Street. The story has a happy ending as Troxell was found safe and unharmed later that evening.
Tuesday morning Troxell said he had went in to the woods to search for yellowroot like he had done “thousands” of times before, but on this particular occasion he just happened to get turned around and couldn’t make his way back to the road.
He contacted his son via cell phone to notify him of his predicament. The son notified McCreary County Sheriff Randy Waters, who was joined by members of the McCreary County Search and Rescue Squad to attempt to locate and recover the lost man.
“I would just like to thank the Sheriff and fire departments for coming out to find me,” Troxell said. “They did a great job. I wasn’t worried at any time and knew that they would find me.”
While in contact with Troxell via cell phone, the searchers organized several teams to canvass the various ridge tops in the area and eventually found him around 8:15 that evening. It took approximately 45 minutes to bring Troxell back to safety. He was checked out by McCreary County EMS and was found to be unharmed.
“I was fine,” Troxell said. “Just tired. It was a long day.”