Boy hiker found safe in Utah forest

updated 1:31 p.m. ET June 22, 2009

MANILA, Utah - A lost boy's granola bar wrapper, footprint and black backpack helped searchers find him after a night in the forest.

The Daggett County sheriff's office says 9-year-old Grayson Wynne of Heber City was found Sunday after getting separated from his family while hiking in Ashley National Forest near the Spirit Lake trailhead on Saturday.

Searchers found a granola bar wrapper believed to be Grayson's on Saturday night. On Sunday, they discovered a small foot print by a creek bed and the boy's backpack, which helped searchers realize that he was following the creek.

"I climbed a pine tree to see if I could see anyone, but I didn't," Grayson told the Deseret News in Salt Lake City. "So I just kept following the river."

Grayson also had been tearing apart his yellow rain slicker and leaving pieces for searchers to find.

When he heard a search helicopter, he went into a meadow and started waving the last piece of his jacket. He was spotted by two searchers on horseback and reunited with his family.

Grayson told the newspaper he knew to tie pieces of his jacket to trees after watching a television show about survival strategies.

"I was really scared," Grayson said. "But 'Man vs. Wild' tells you how to survive all different terrains."

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