Hiker missing in North Cascades survived 5 days off ants, berries

Marshall “Buster” Cabe wanted to recreate the most exciting North Cascades hike of his teenage years.

A lifelong hiker and self-proclaimed “redneck” from the Darrington area, he grew up on the trails of Northwest Washington, with his uncle teaching him how to survive on his own in the outdoors.

One day about 50 years ago, while hiking at Downey Creek Trail as a teenager, Cabe swears that he saw the mythical Bigfoot. The memory has stuck with him ever since.

“I thought about it all these years and wanted to go back there,” he told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson.

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So, earlier this month, Cabe and a friend set out on a one-week backpacking trip in the North Cascades to see if they could spot the elusive creature.

However, the two adventurers soon ran into trouble. Cabe said it was his mistake for bringing his friend, a less-experienced outdoorsman, along on such an advanced-level hike.

“I made a big mistake; I put a friend of mine in a position where I shouldn’t have … I think my friend might not have known what we were really in for,” he said.

One after another, things began to go wrong. The weather didn’t cooperate, drenching the campers frequently. A fire at the campsite cost Cabe’s friend a shoe and his sleeping bag — necessities in the wet outdoors. They got off-pace on what was supposed to be a one-week trip. This meant that the food supply was running dangerously low.

“It got to this point where I thought, ‘If I don’t get out of here, this could cost both of us a lot,'” Cabe said. “So I peeled off and headed down to find some help.”

Cabe set off back down the mountain, leaving his friend at the campsite. During the four days he went on the hunt for help, he had no food with him — so he survived off blueberries, huckleberries … and ants that he found.

“They taste like Sweet Tarts, kind of,” he laughed. “You’ve got to eat them fast, or they’ll bite you first — you’ve got to peel them off your tongue.”

Humans can survive without water for far less time than without food, but luckily, the creeks of the North Cascades provided Cabe with refreshing water. Filling up his stomach with water also helped to stave off the hunger.

“That’s good water out there,” he said.

Cabe’s uncle taught him survival tricks while training him as a hiker in his youth, which he said prepared him for those days on his own.

On Wednesday, rescue crews found both Cabe and his friend, who was taken to the hospital with dehydration. Both men are fine now.

Cabe is turning lemons into lemonade by enjoying the fame his story has garnered — he plans to listen to his KIRO Radio interview via the “tin can on the roof.”

“I’m a new celebrity here,” he chuckled.

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from 12-3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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