PHOENIX — An Arizona man is recovering in the hospital after he was lost in the woods of the Walnut Canyon area for three days.

Michael Johnson, 73, was rescued on Aug. 30 after an Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter located him about a mile north of where his vehicle was located.

“Mike is a modern-day miracle," Christy Day, a close friend, said.

The Navajo County Sheriff's Office said Johnson was last seen leaving an Overgaard residence in a side-by-side vehicle on the evening of Aug. 27. NCSO and volunteers spent the next couple of days conducting extensive searches for Johnson.

“He’s been on those roads a thousand times. He knows them like the back of his hand," Day said.

Day told 12News Johnson didn't have a phone with him and lit fires at night to stay warm.

“We were

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