Two minutes

The rescuers

While canoeing in the Boundary Waters, students and faculty on the Biology 393 field trip -- Biodiversity of the Boreal Forest -- had an extraordinary life experience not listed on the syllabus.

A voice in the wilderness: Amid the lichen, moss, otters, merlins and lone wolf, they heard the call of a stranded man who had survived alone in the wilderness for eight days without food, fire or shelter.

"Are you real?"While loading his canoe, he had slipped and fallen, kicking the boat into the lake where the wind swept it away. Barely protected from the wind, hail and sleet that occurred, he slept on balsam fir branches under an overhanging rock. All he had was a compass, life vest, map and whistle. When the cold, and weak man saw the ISU group he asked, "Are you guys real or is this a dream?"

Local heroes: "We did what anyone would do," said Jim Colbert, associate professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology, who co-led the ISU field trip with biology academic adviser Jim Holtz for the fifth time. With biology majors Tyler Feldhacker and Caleb Robb, he returned the man and his canoe (which they found) back to civilization.

Happy ending: "Bedeviled" by a stiff wind, high waves and temperatures in the 40s, they paddled the 26-mile round trip to the nearest outfitter. They carried the survivor's loaded canoe and their own across eight portages, including a crossing more than a mile long. When they arrived, they learned that forest rangers and others had been searching for the missing man the past four days.

--Teddi Barron

Jim Colbert (left) and Tyler Feldhacker