When John Carlos Mann finally stumbled out of the woods near Bird Creek on Sunday night, he had been lost in Chugach State Park for two days and two cold nights, growing colder and more tired as he searched for someone to help him.

Mann had reached the Seward Highway, near Mile 101, after sliding down a glacier, following a river and, later, walking along ATV tracks. He reached a residential area of Bird Creek, a community along the Seward Highway south of Anchorage, but no one emerged from the homes there to answer his cries for help. He flagged down cars on the highway, but no one stopped.

"I was probably walking like a drunk person," Mann said Monday.

Mann made it to a local business, and employees told him to leave, he said. "This is private property," he said they told him. They told him to go to a nearby gas station, but that business was closed. Mann finally found help at the Birdridge Motel & RV Park.

"It was pretty dramatic," owner Erik Lambertsen said of finding Mann outside his door. "He was yelling outside for help. I was hesitant to go to the door."

But when Lambertsen did open the door, he saw Mann, who was shaking and appeared close to hypothermia. "He was obviously in distress. … His hands were shriveled like prunes, and white," Lambertsen said.

Lambertsen and his wife, Victoria, brought Mann inside, gave him warm broth and sat him down in front of their wood stove, wrapped in a wool blanket.

"John was telling his story and man, what a harrowing experience. He literally was close to death," Lambertsen said.

On Friday, Mann had become lost while hiking Crow Pass Trail from Eagle River Nature Center to Girdwood. He had planned to hike the trail in 14 hours, using his headlamp after dark.

But once night fell, he became separated from the trail and "took a long pass over the mountain," Mann said. "I slept one night up there in the snow."

Mann, 29, had carried a sleeping bag and emergency blanket that he credits with saving his life.

At 3 a.m. Saturday, he woke up. "I couldn't take the cold anymore," Mann said. He passed over the mountain and came upon a glacier. "I slid down … and finally made it out of the glacier and saw a river."

That river was a glimmer of hope, Mann said. He thought it was Crow Creek, but it was actually Bird Creek, according to Alaska State Troopers, who had reported Mann missing Saturday night. "I was quite certain it would lead to Turnagain Arm," Mann said.

He followed the river all day. On Saturday afternoon, his hope faltered, and he thought he was going to die.

"I was losing my temperature really, really quick," Mann said. "Then I said to myself the simple logic: 'While you're alive you've got to keep trying.'''

He walked with his emergency blanket wrapped around him. When it was torn apart by branches and trees, he wrapped the shreds around his hands and, later, his feet.

By Saturday evening, his cellphone -- which had been out of reception the entire journey -- camera and headlamp were all dead. He had eaten all of the food he brought with him. He drank water from the river.

On Saturday night he slept on the roots of a fallen tree. His sleeping bag was wet but he used it anyway.

Sunday morning, he thought it was all over. "I was very close to (giving) up several times, but as soon as I laid down for 10 minutes my body started shivering and I was going cold really quick. The only thing that kept me warm was to keep walking. I really didn't have an option," Mann said.

On Sunday afternoon, he finally found a man-made trail. "That was really exciting," Mann said. He followed ATV tracks down through the Bird Creek drainage and finally happened upon the residential area.

After he found help at the Birdridge Motel & RV Park, police and paramedics arrived. Emergency responders deemed him well enough to leave, and he was taken home by a friend.

On Monday morning, Mann said his feet were swollen "but everything is fine." He said life looks a little different to him now.

"We all have heard these stories of survival, but once you live through it, you get a better understanding," he said.