EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Police Service's helicopter guided a lost man and his two dogs back to safety at Elk Island National Park late Sunday night.
The man phoned police after 10 p.m. when he was "lost deep in the park," EPS said.
Air 1 flew out to Elk Island Nation Park and spotted the man in the woods within 10 minutes.
"We were probably just over halfway around the trail where I caught glimpse of a flashing light with my night vision goggles on my side of the aircraft and that kind of pinpointed where he was," EPS Air 1 chief pilot Sgt. Murray Maschmeyer told CTV News.
"We could see him clearly on the infrared. We were able to put our spotlight down so that he was aware that we had in fact located him, and we also have a public address system so we were able to communicate with him and let him know that we see you."
Once the man was back on the Wood Bison Trail, a park ranger on a quad guided him back to the parking lot.
Maschmeyer was told the man sounded panicky when he called police. From the helicopter, the sergeant and his partner could see wildlife not "too far away from where he was."
"I imagine, putting ourselves in his shoes, it would be pretty scary."
The hiker and his dogs were OK, EPS said.
"This type of call was really exceptionally rewarding," Maschmeyer said.
