A man in his 20s who had gone missing Thursday night after hiking up a Waianae mountain ridge walked to safety Friday morning just as the Fire Department was about to resume a helicopter search for him.

The hiker, a Hawaii resident, had been last seen at 3:30 p.m. Thursday hiking up the side of a mountain, said fire Capt. Terry Seelig.

He returned down the mountain around 8 a.m. Friday morning uninjured, Seelig said.

Fire personnel made an aerial search of the area Thursday night, but did not find the man after searching for one and a half hours.