A 70-year-old hiker was found alive Wednesday after spending five days lost in the Sierra Nevada wilderness.

Warren Elliott was spotted around 8 a.m. by another hiker passing by California’s Hell Hole Reservoir, about 10 miles west of Lake Tahoe, officials announced.

Thrilling video shows the exhausted man wearing tattered clothing and gripping a water bottle embracing his relieved family at the command post at Homewood Mountain Resort after he was finally airlifted to safety.

Elliott was miraculously walking without assistance — earning a hearty round of applause and cheers from bewildered rescue officials, the footage shows.

He was also handed back his beloved cowboy hat, which he left behind when he went on what he thought was to be a brief, leisurely walk.

The tenacious hiker said he was familiar with the area, but made a devastating wrong turn around 3 p.m. Friday.

He was camping in Rubicon Springs with a group doing trail rehab ahead of an upcoming car event dubbed the Jeepers Jamboree, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said.

Elliott survived the excruciating five days by drinking water from the river and munching on foraged berries.

“From the point he was last seen, near Cadillac Hill, to the area he was found, Hell Hole Reservoir, is roughly 9 miles as the crow flies; however, he walked much further than that over the five days,” the sheriff’s office said.

“Mr. Elliott was not hurt and is in good spirits.”

Elliott’s disappearance sparked a massive manhunt that included as many as 100 rescuers per day, Blackhawk helicopters, drones, dog teams and ATVs.

Even workers from the Jeepers Jamboree pitched in by feeding rescuers and providing a place to camp overnight.

Eliott’s tale of survival comes just days after a missing 75-year-old retired teacher was found alive after being stuck in a bog for four days.

Mike Altmaier was walking through the Maine woods when he slipped on moss and fell over an embankment.

Fall Camp for some Mountain West teams starts TODAY! Preseason content being written by us and around the internet. Through it all, we have you covered. Take a look at today’s links, plus the content coming your way on our site.

As the reason for Week 0, it’s only fitting the links begin with the Rainbow Warriors. They had some controversy over the weekend and gathered last night before beginning practice today. They will open up against an FCS team, Delaware State, which will hopefully help them start the year with a win. Brayden Schager will be the unquestioned leader of the offense and he is surrounded with weapons (although one less without steven McBride) and the defense gets a boost with the return of linebacker Logan Taylor, who missed all of last season.

Bronco Mendenhall isn’t a fan of starting early and playing in Week 0, but he knows the exposure is a good thing for the rebuilding program. But they are starting today and there are some big questions surrounding the program. This post wants to see who will emerge in the secondary to claim the last two or three spots. Also, who will emerge to take the backup quarterback spot behind Devon Dampier, and will any of the new transfers step up and make an impact? Hopefully, some of these questions will be answered sooner rather than later.

Chris Murray is doing a preview for both sides of the ball prior to the start of fall camp. The offensive post went a day prior, and this one is on the defense. The defensive line is an older group but is short on production and needs to find a way to generate a pass rush. Linebacker returns a ton of production and should be one of the best positions on the team this fall. Cornerback will have a slew of transfers opposite someone coming off a promising freshman campaign and the safeties have talent, despite not returning any starters. Look for more updates as fall camp gets going.

The last one we haven’t featured on this site and it’s the Falcons. The offense has to replace a lot of production, although they do return the most at wide receiver, which doesn’t count for much with a running team. There is talent, albeit unproven, at quarterback and running back, and the brand-new offensive line should be just fine. The Air Force defense returns three starters, but should be strong at cornerback, but has work to do at safety. Likewise, the defensive line is projected to be good, but the linebackers are unproven. Overall, the schedule does them some favors after Baylor and the defense should buy some time for the offense to round into form. They see the Falcons winning seven or eight games this year.

Mountain West spring scholars.

On the horizon:

• Later today: Peak Perspective: 2024 Top Mountain West OOC Games
• Later today: Boise State Top Players #5
• Coming Thursday: Our Summer Series continues with the UNLV 25th Anniversary Team
• Coming Friday: Roundtable: Who is the best player on your team in 2024?
• Coming Friday: Friday Night Lights Season 4 Episode 10

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Nearly 8% of Nevada’s active registered voters are receiving a postcard from county election officials that they will have to return next month or else they won’t automatically receive a ballot in the mail for the upcoming presidential election.

That comes under a routine process aimed at improving voter lists in a crucial battleground state that mails ballots to all active registered voters on its voter registration lists. Those who don’t return the postcard by Aug. 6 will be removed from the active voters list to an “inactive” status – meaning they won’t receive a mail ballot for the general election but would still be eligible to vote.

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar announced the initiative on Tuesday to follow the National Voter Registration Act, which requires states to take steps to maintain accurate and current voter registration rolls, including maintenance actions 90 days before an election.

Voter registration lists, known as voter rolls, typically collect information about eligible voters including contact information, mail addresses and political party affiliation.

Postcards were sent to over 150,000 voters who had official election mail returned as undeliverable during February’s presidential preference primary or June’s primary and did not vote or update their voter record during that election cycle, according to Aguilar’s office.

It also comes as Aguilar is spearheading a transition to a state-led Voter Registration and Election Management System, instead of the current system where the 17 counties report their registration data to the state. Aguilar hopes the new “top-down” database, scheduled to go live next month, will increase the speed and accuracy of maintaining voter rolls.

Some conservative groups including the Republican National Committee have challenged the legitimacy of voter registration data across the country, including in Nevada, through door-knocking campaigns and a flurry of lawsuits. It also comes as former President Donald Trump repeatedly claims without evidence that his opponents are trying to cheat.

In Washoe County, which includes Reno, one county commissioner uses the county’s voter rolls as his reason to vote against certifying election results. A 3-2 vote against certification of two local recounts earlier this month sent Washoe County into uncharted legal territory before the vote was overturned by the same commission a week later.

Many groups cast those voter roll challenges as good government endeavors intended to help local election offices clean up the rolls and bolster confidence in elections. Voting rights groups and many Democrats believe the effort aims to shake faith in the results of the 2024 election and lay the legal groundwork to challenge the results.

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