BAXTER STATE PARK, Maine (AP) — The director of Maine’s Baxter State Park says an Ohio hiker got into trouble when he left the trail between two mountain peaks, apparently seeking a shortcut to his car.

Director Jensen Bissell says it’s never a good idea to stray from an established trail. And in this case, he says 41-year-old Michael Hays, of Stow, Ohio, chose a more difficult path to the bottom of the mountain.

A co-worker says Hays shattered his knee cap during a fall, and that he was dehydrated and covered with bug bites when he was found Monday, after being lost for three days.

Bissell says the biggest lesson for hikers is simple: Stay on the trails. And Bissell says Hays’ cell phone didn’t work in the remote area where he was hiking.