RUMNEY — A North Carolina man whose July 25 disappearance prompted a massive search of the area around Stinson Lake was found alive early Saturday in his home state — nearly 1,000 miles from where he was last seen.

State police announced that 72-year-old Hugh Armstrong was found about 1 a.m. walking along a roadway in Marion, N.C., They said it appears he had made his way to North Carolina by walking and hitchhiking.

Local residents greeted the news with relief and happiness. But some say they want to know more about what really happened here.

When he was found by McDowell County Sheriff’s Department deputies, Armstrong “was confused, and not sure where he was going,” police said. They said the man, who was about 240 miles west of his Clayton, N.C., home, was fatigued but otherwise in good physical health.

Gordon Proctor of Center Harbor, who is married to Armstrong’s sister, said in an emailed message, “My wife and I are very happy that Hugh has been found alive. We are waiting to hear the details and have no comment at this time.”

“I’m absolutely amazed and happy — and I’ve got some questions,” said Lt. Jim Kneeland, who coordinated the search for Armstrong for New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. He got the news in a text message from state police at 4:30 a.m. Saturday.

Kneeland spoke with Armstrong’s family in North Carolina Saturday morning as they were bringing him back home. He wanted to give them some time to celebrate, but he does want to find out what prompted Armstrong to apparently set off for his home state.

Kneeland said he had been absolutely convinced that Armstrong was lost in the woods. And he still feels that, whatever the explanation is, the man did not intentionally mislead his family and authorities.

Armstrong had been vacationing with other family members at a rental home near Stinson Lake last month. Early on the morning of July 25, he left a note saying he was going out for a walk around the lake.

When he did not return, relatives notified authorities, who launched a massive search of the area. Local residents joined officers and search dogs from many agencies in scouring the woods and trails around the lake. State police and National Guard helicopters searched from the air, and Marine Patrol officers used a sonar device to search Stinson Lake from a boat.

By last weekend, authorities were saying they feared Armstrong was dead.

Then last Monday came news that a man who seemed to match Armstrong’s description had sat down to breakfast at the Common Cafe in Rumney about 7 a.m. on July 25. He paid in cash, then shouldered a large backpack and set off toward Route 25, the cafe’s owner told the New Hampshire Union Leader.

Kneeland said he had heard about the man who ate at the cafe “within the first day or so of the search.” But when he went to Armstrong’s family with a description of what the man in the cafe was wearing, it didn’t match the clothes Armstrong’s family said he wore when he set out on his walk.

Besides, Kneeland said, “The note we were left was that he was going for a walk around Stinson Lake.”

Kneeland, who has since seen surveillance video from the cafe, said he’s still not certain that the man in the video was Armstrong.

Josh King, a logger from Wentworth, said he had been working on property in the search area and put in about 12 hours looking for Armstrong. He said he finds it “disturbing” that authorities didn’t look at the video from the cafe earlier.

If they had, they might have been able to determine whether it was Armstrong having breakfast in the cafe that morning, he said. “Which means he wasn’t lost in the woods, and they were looking in the wrong place. If they had known he was down at this restaurant that’s seven miles away, they would have changed their search to look otherwise.”

Leeann Lewis is manager of Stinson Lake Store, where searchers and members of Armstrong’s family came in daily during the search period. She said local folks are “thrilled to know that a tragedy didn’t happen here at the lake.”

“A lot of effort was put in up here, and to think he wasn’t here all along, it’s quite amazing,” Lewis said.

She wonders if the man suffered some sort of medical condition that left him confused about where he was. “He was trying to make his way and he was confused, I think. That’s the only way we can look at it right now.”

Lewis said local residents were already dreading the prospect of coming upon Armstrong’s body while hunting or hiking. “I’m glad the mystery is over,” she said.

“It was a happy outcome.”

King said he’s also glad the story ended happily, but he wants to know what really happened. “There’s a lot of people up here that spent a lot of time and put their own lives in danger,” he said. “Absolutely, I’d like to know what happened.”

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Shawne Wickham may be reached at swickham@unionleader.com.