YARMOUTH, Maine — A Yarmouth man spent an unexpected night in the woods after he got separated from his fishing party in northern Maine.
Mike Jones was fishing in a brook near Snowshoe Lake, which is an hour west of Houlton.
His friends called for help when he didn’t return Friday.
Jones said he became disoriented, so he went ashore and started a campfire.
The fire kept him warm during a heavy rain and helped game wardens find him the next morning.
“I knew that if I stayed on the lake, that it was an obvious place to find me. So I just sort of decided that I’d let people come to me rather than try to find my way out,” Jones said. “I made the strategic decision that it was the better part of valor was to hunker down, build a fire and wait it out. And I really didn’t want to leave the shore of the lake. A, Because it was a great place to be found, and B, There was a lot of water there.”
Game wardens said finding a safe location, where he could easily be spotted, was another good decision Jones made.