Coast Guard Rescues Man Walking Across Lake St. Clair, Trying To Get From Detroit To Toronto

By Edward Cardenas

ALGONAC (CBS Detroit) - A 25-year-old man attempting to walk from Detroit to Toronto was rescued Thursday as he walked across a frozen Lake St. Clair.

The American resident was spotted in the middle of the lake about 9:30 a.m. Thursday nearly one and a half miles from Seaway Island by a lookout assigned to Coast Guard Cutter Neah Bay, a 140-foot ice-breaking tug.

After the man was spotted, the ice-rescue team aboard the cutter deployed on foot to check on the man. Once they reached him, he was treated for symptoms of hypothermia, and took him aboard the cutter.

The man had left two days before and managed to walk miles in the cold, according to the Times Herald, and had spent the night before in a lighthouse. In the beginning stages of hypothermia, he had a hard time formulating thoughts, the Times Herald revealed, and didn't say what prompted his mission.

He was traveling with a tent, a backpack with some food inside, and a tarp.

"Most of us joined the Coast Guard to protect life," said Lt. Joshua Zike, commanding officer of the Neah Bay, in a release. "Our primary mission during the winter months is breaking ice to keep commercial traffic moving, but preserving life will always come first."

The man was then taken to the municipal pier in Algonac, where he was met by emergency medical service personnel for treatment. Coast Guard officials stated he was not dressed for the conditions on the lake, and did not have any flotation gear or way to communicate with people on shore.

This was the first rescue  of a person conducted by an ice-rescue team deployed from a Great Lakes cutter in more than four years.