3 hikes fit for a Nobel winner: Fred Ramsdell’s favorite places to trek

The call from the Nobel committee came in around 2 a.m. That was followed by a slew of calls and texts from friends, family and reporters throughout the day. But Fred Ramsdell, the newly minted Nobel laureate in physiology and medicine, never got them.

The UCLA alumnus was with his wife, Laura O'Neill, and their dogs deep in the snowy mountains of Wyoming doing what they often do - camping, backpacking and enjoying nature … without a bar of phone reception.

As his two fellow laureates, Shimon Sakaguchi and Mary Brunkow, took congratulatory calls and began speaking with the media, Ramsdell remained missing in action. Sonoma Biotherapeutics, where he's a scientific advisor, issued a statement that the immunologist "was living his best life and was off the grid on a preplanned hiking trip."

More than 12 hours would pass before Ramsdell would make it to a small town and get the news. When Laura switched on her phone and was bombarded with messages, she began screaming. Ramsdell, off walking the dogs, initially thought she may have seen a grizzly bear. "You won the Nobel Prize!" she shouted. It was a surreal moment, he said, and the couple soon began returning calls and would mark the occasion with an ad-hoc celebratory dinner in a local pub.

In the video above, Ramsdell reveals his three favorite hiking spots in the U.S. - where you too can digitally detox and perhaps even win a Nobel!