After spending several days alone in the wilderness of Manitoba, an elderly man was found alive and well in the province's rugged eastern swamplands.

Joseph Kuz, 86, went for a hike last week near Hadashville, about 100 kilometres east of Winnipeg, but he failed to return home.

After an extensive search, RCMP officers on all-terrain vehicles located Kuz, who had spent four days in the wild without shelter.

"He was dehydrated and cold and wet of course from that many nights and days in the bush by himself without shelter, but other than that he reported to be very well," RCMP Const. Miles Hiebert said.

Kuz, who is from Winnipeg, was taken to hospital in nearby Ste. Anne for observation and treatment.

Kuz's nephew Myron Lamaga told The Canadian Press that his uncle had been dropped off near the Trans-Canada Highway Thursday with a plan to walk to a family cabin in the woods.

However, Lamaga said that the senior got lost after being dropped off at the wrong spot.

"He didn't hit any of my roads and he just went cross-country, which is rugged and the water was over his knees. He said he fell down about 20 times and then finally just got exhausted and holed up in a little drier spot among the cedars," Lamaga explained.

"He wasn't far from my cornfields and my road. He was only about a third-of-a-mile. He was right on course. But he just got exhausted."

The weather was rough in the area, including rain on Thursday and frost on Friday. Saturday and Sunday were also chilly.

During the ordeal, Kuz said he could see the search chopper, yet he was too fatigued to sprint out to a clearing.

"He figured that he couldn't last much longer and one more night would've done him in," said Lamaga.