Monday was a typical day at work for San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Biologist Nick Hood.
“A colleague and I were out collecting routine water quality, monitoring,” Hood said.
He was on a boat with a colleague at the San Antonio Reservoir near Sunol and said that when he started collecting water samples, they heard yelling from off in the distance.
“But I couldn’t really tell, so we made sure the motor was off and went quiet for a few minutes. And we heard another yell. It was clear to my co-worker that it was a ‘help,’” Hood said.
They traveled toward the yelling -- about a mile away from their sampling location.
“We turned the motor back off again and we started yelling ourselves, ‘hey is anybody out there,’ and we got a response. And then saw Alex,” Hood said.
It was missing hiker Alex Stecher and his dog Apollo.
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Emergency response crews had been looking for them since Saturday.
The duo had started an overnight hike Friday morning from Sunol Regional Wilderness but were reported missing the next day after they didn’t show up for their designated pickup time in Del Valle Regional Park.
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A number of agencies had been searching for them but with no luck.
“It kind of seemed like the situation was getting more desperate,” Hood said.
And it was.
When they finally found Stecher and Apollo, Hood said the two were in good shape, but thirsty.
The last of the food was given to the dog the day before.
Hood and his colleague got them on their boat, called authorities, and brought them back to safety.
“Sound travels across the water pretty darn well. And we were in the right place at the right time, we were lucky. And we’re happy to be lucky,” Hood said.
