CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. -- A missing 8-year-old Lakewood boy who has been lost since Saturday in the rugged backcountry was found alive and well Tuesday afternoon.

Evan Thompson wandered away from his group on a camping trip Saturday morning in the Cactus Cliff area near the Shelf Road, between Canon City and Cripple Creek.

He was found Tuesday afternoon in Hole in the Rock Gulch, about 8 km from the camp site. Evan had no injuries and does not even need to be taken to the hospital, even though he has been without food and water for four days.

"He looks phenomenal. He's very tired and hungry but he is doing great. You would not know he was in the woods that long," said Zack Slutzky of Western State Mountain Rescue in Gunnison, a spokesman for the operation. "The family is overjoyed to have him back."

Officials at the command post said that one of the search teams heard the voice of a little boy calling out to them. The search team was up on the mesa, about three miles northwest of where the boy disappeared, calling out Evan's nickname, "Pickle Boy." They used that nickname to lure Evan out in case he was hiding from rescuers. Then they heard a boy's voice say, "Who is that?"

Rescuers followed that voice and the boy was found alone, but safe, at 4:20 p.m. The crew that found him was from Vail Mountain Rescue. They were on their all-terrain vehicles.

His family was grateful for the rescue teams who never gave up hope and never stopped searching.

Searchers were renewed with hope Tuesday when they found fresh shoeprints they said they believed belonged to Evan, who was wearing Spider-Man tennis shoes that leave a distinctive mark in the dirt.

Officials and his family were optimistic about his survival in the elements because overnight temperatures had been mild in the area, in the mid-40s, for several days.

His aunt and legal guardian said she felt all along that Evan would be fine.

"He's a pretty resilient little boy. He's awesome. He's a great kid. He's curious. You know, he's an 8-year-old boy, " said Evan's legal guardian, Teddi Gray.

She said that when he's home she would treat him to hot dogs, pickles and raspberry slurpies.

More than 90 people from 20 agencies searched on foot, on all-terrain vehicles and on horses. His family was concerned about his safety because Evan has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and hadn't taken his medication in days.

In addition to searchers on the ground, and their four tracking dogs, an airplane and two helicopters combed a 15-square-mile area, retracing earlier searches as well as expanding the search area.

The plateau in the area has 150-foot cliffs on two sides and searchers had been using ropes to check areas at the cliff bottoms, in case Evan fell.

One searcher suffered minor to moderate injuries Tuesday afternoon and was taken away in an ambulance, but no other details were released.