Lost Boy, 8, Found Alive

Poking at ant hills, sleeping underneath trees and hiding in caves while going without food and water for days was what camping was all about to 8-year-old Evan Thompson, who disappeared for four days while on his first camping trip.

"He's upset that the camping trip was over," said his aunt and legal guardian, Teddi Gray, as doctors at St. Thomas More declared him in good condition hours after he was found Tuesday.

"We are overjoyed and overwhelmed to have Evan safe and back with us in our arms and our hearts," said Gray, adding that she never doubted he would be found alive.

CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella reports searchers were concerned that Evan, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, might have been hiding, afraid he was in trouble for getting lost. So they called out his nickname: Pickle Man.

Turned out he was hiding - because the sound of the search helicopters above scared him.

"They were real loud," Gray said. "He was afraid of that noise and he hid in a cave, that's why they couldn't find him with that."

Evan was found after nearly 100 rescuers, dog teams, and three aircraft, including helicopters with heat-seeking capability combed the rugged terrain creased by steep cliffs and narrow ravines. It took rescuers on ATVs one and a half hours to ferry Evan out of where he was found to a staging area where he could be reunited with Gray and her husband, Arthur.

"Evan, my little man," Gray recalled saying to Evan as tears streamed down her face during the reunion, to which Gray quoted Evan as saying: "Aunt Teddi, what's wrong?"

"He's in great spirits. He didn't know what all the fuss was about," she said, adding that the boy spent the some of nearly 80 hours outside trying to find his tent. "He knew he was lost."

A rescue team on ATVs found Evan about five miles away from the campsite where he, family friends and a teacher were spending Memorial Day weekend.

Rescuers focused their search on a 15-square-mile area about 90 miles southwest of Denver, following the distinct tracks left by Evan's Spiderman shoes and the ant hills he was poking at along the way.

Rescuers and his family remained optimistic throughout the search that the boy could survive in the gray sweat shirt and sweat pants he was wearing when he disappeared in weather that remained mild. They cited the case of 11-year-old scout Brennan Hawkins, who was found alive last fall near Kamas, Utah, after going four days without food or water in a rugged wilderness area.

Gray and other family members were riding in search vehicles and calling for Evan over loudspeakers in case he was hiding from the rescue teams.

"Younger children, they may think they're in trouble, so they might hide," Zak Slutzky of Western State Mountain Rescue in Gunnison and a spokesman for the operation said. "A lot of kids are told not to approach strangers."

Gray says rescuers caught a break when rescuers with a dog team in an area known as Hole in the Wall Gulch called out Evan's name and heard the response, "Hey, who's that?" apparently coming from Evan.

Arthur Gray was flown to the area to add a familiar voice to the search and that's when Evan wandered out to a road where rescuers on ATVs found him, Gray said.

"They asked him if he wanted a ride and he said, 'Yeah,"' said Gray.

"He loved it, he had a great time," Gray said. "He was laughing and talking about getting another ride on the ATV."

Evan, who went without food or water all four days, ate bananas and pizza shortly after he was found.

He then told his aunt he wants to go camping again. Gray said Evan is getting a new wardrobe and a whistle for signaling.