Riverside Man Recounts Harrowing Wilderness Trip

A Riverside man who broke his leg and had to crawl for days until he was finally rescued is at the center of an inspiring tale of survival.

It happened in the mountains of Idaho, and Tuesday afternoon he came home to a hero’s welcome.

In a moment his family had been waiting for, John Sain was cheered by loved ones.

Ten days ago, Sain said he thought he'd never be able to come home again.

“I wasn't going to make it out alive,” Sain recalled. “There was no way."

Sain, an expert bow hunter, was hunting alone in the rugged mountains of northern Idaho when he suddenly slipped off a log.

"My momentum was carrying me forward and it snapped my tibia and fibula in half on the spot," Sain said.

In excruciating pain from a broken leg, with no cell service and only limited supplies, Sain’s only choice was to crawl miles back to his camp.

"It's really steep and deep. Rocky, a lot of downfall,” Sain recalled. “It's hard enough to walk in there, much less crawl."

Using two sticks as a leg brace, Sain crawled and crawled. He was dehydrated and exhausted. His said his hope for survival quickly faded, so he began to write goodbye letters to his wife, Jennifer, and two kids, Brooke and Cole.

It was a moment that is hard to talk about, but he said it was also the moment he decided he was going to fight for his life.

"And after I wrote the letter to my son, ‘I said no way. No way,’” Sain said.

So he continued to crawl for nearly four days.

"You're crawling, you make the decision, and you stick with it," Sain said.

He stuck with it until two motorcycle riders happened to find him.

His family had no idea what he had been through until they saw him at the hospital.

"So it was pretty hard,” said Jennifer Sain. “It's been pretty hard, but I'm glad to have him back."

His son Cole Sain said his father’s ordeal was inspiring.

"Makes me think anything’s possible if you put your mind to it," he said.

And John Sain said it also helps if you also get a little help from above.

"My main thing is God,” he said. “God’s going to help me through everything."