Two mates made every mistake possible while lost in the Western Creek State Forest

Two men have shared the story of their incredible three-day survival in rough bushland after they became stranded on a trail bike expedition. Watch the moment police found the pair.

After three days lost in Western Creek State Forest, Dan Gehrke and Mark Dahl were lying in a pool of stagnant river water staring at a goanna.

They were exhausted, dehydrated and demoralised, and that leathery goanna started to look appetising.

“I thought he’d be on our list soon,” Dan said.

Lucky the pair was only a few hours from being saved by a team of police and State Emergency Services volunteers who had set out to find the lost men.

Plain clothes officers from the Major and Organised Crime Squad (Rural) found the two men tied and worn out. The unseasonably wet summer had turned the creekbed into a swampy quagmire of quicksand and sinkholes.

Ticked every box of what not to do

THE Brisbane men had set off on dirt bikes from their mate Luke Davney’s place on the afternoon of Saturday, January 29, for what they thought would be a short, four-hour ride through the state forest west of Millmerran.

Unfortunately the trio was woefully unprepared.

They did not bring mobile phones, water or food or tell anyone where they were going.

Worse still was they did not factor in how an unusually wet summer had affected the countryside.

“We ticked every box of what not to do,” Dan said.

Within a few hours it became painfully obvious that the bikes would not handle the waterlogged terrain.

“The whole valley is like quicksand,” Dan said.

Mark and Dan’s bikes started to overheat, so they abandoned them and started walking while Luke rode ahead to get help.

Then it got dark.

Daniel Gehrke was lost in the Western Creek State Forest for three days. He said he made every mistake possible.

“We made a bed on the side of the creek, but it was so cold that we had to cuddle up to keep warm,” Dan said.

They woke up on Sunday morning, cold and hungry, and slogged through the sandy Paddy Creek hoping to find a road.

They moved from one side of the creek to the other, chasing pockets of shade and drinking stagnant water.

Dan said they could see boar tracks which meant the water was probably laced with parasites.

Their only real source of protein came from the tadpoles.

“We tried to avoid them, but I think I swallowed 20 a day,” Dan said.

“I tried drinking my pee, and I thought ‘nope I’ll stick to the water’.”

It was hard going as their legs sank knee deep into the quicksand and often tripped them up.

“We walked morning and evening but only for short distances at a time,” Dan said.

“We’d do a few hundred metres then have a sleep for an hour.

“Just getting up to walk to the water’s edge for a drink was hard.”

A dingo chewed on Mark Dahl’s foot while he was passed out.

Night-time nibble

THE pair had walked about 7km on the Sunday before they collapsed for the evening and were so tired they did not stir when a dingo chewed on Mark’s boot.

“I could see the dingo track come right up to his foot in the morning,” Dan said.

“When I told Mark, he said he felt something pull on his boot.”

Monday morning brought a fresh burst of energy, so Dan backtracked about 2.5km to where he had dumped his bike and restarted it.

“The radiator was dry so I carried mouthfuls of water from the creek up to my bike to fill the tank,” he said.

Over fallen trees and sinkholes Dan slowly rode back to Mark in time to make a depressing discovery.

They found Luke’s bike abandoned by a tree and were concerned he was lost as well.

Defeated, the men lay in a pool of water to cool down while unsettling thoughts crept in – perhaps they wouldn’t have the energy to push on.

“I kept thinking about my two boys and my wife. We did think we’d see the light of the tunnel but that light did get very dark on Monday afternoon,” Dan said.

“One more night and we would have been in trouble.”

Luckily, Luke had made it out of the scrub and phoned triple-0 so a team of SES volunteers and police were looking for the men.

Earlier that day the search team found signs of life – including one of the bikes – and were following close behind the men.

Two plain clothes officers from the Major and Organised Crime Squad (Rural) had tracked their footprints along the creek.

Dan said he was overjoyed when he heard them talking in the distance.

“One of the officers had a camel pack and we drank it dry,” Dan said

“We hugged them, we were so glad to see them, and we could not have been more thankful for what they did.”

Emergency services described the Western Creek State Forest and Paddy Creek as ‘pretty ordinary country’.

Team effort

DARLING Downs Major and Organised Crime Squad (Rural) Senior Constable Glenn Evans was one of two officers who found the men and said it was a team effort that drew on expertise from the police and SES.

“They were pretty happy to see us,” he said.

“They were stuffed.”

The police initially set out on bikes as well, but Sgt Evans said they quickly made the call to proceed on foot because the terrain was affected by large areas of quicksand.

“It was a fairly ordinary country,” he said.

The police had called in a Polair chopper team to help, and it is understood the unit was about 15 minutes away when officers on the ground found the men.

They were dehydrated and hungry but otherwise okay.

It took about two hours to move them to an area where they could be treated by Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics.

The search was hampered by poor communications in what is a notorious mobile phone black spot.

To help address those limitations, SES volunteers brought in mobile cell boosters to extend coverage.

SES Southwest Region Area Controller Ian Phipps helped co-ordinate the rescue and said the lost men made some basic mistakes which complicated the search.

“Apart from telling someone where you are going, if you run out of fuel or your vehicle breaks down, stay with it,” he said.

“Bikes are easy to find because they are brightly coloured, but when people go wandering they are not.”

Mr Phipps described the landscape as horrific.

“One of the more experienced 4WD operators took four attempts to get out of the area,” he said.

“The creek beds can be dangerous to navigate.”

Hard lesson

THE next time Dan goes riding in the bush he will be prepared – even if it is only for a short trip.

“I will take a mobile phone and a camel pack full of water,” he said.

“Also some waterproof matches, breaker bars and an emergency GPS tracker.”

Originally published as Two mates made every mistake possible while lost in the Western Creek State Forest