Missing Hikers Make Busy Evening for Search and Rescue

SISTERS, OREGON — Deschutes County Search and Rescue volunteers and deputies were kept busy Saturday evening helping find three lost hikers in the woods near Sisters.

Tam MacArthur Rim (20 miles south of Sisters) 5:00 p.m.
Lava Camp Trailhead (Hwy 242 18 miles west of Sisters) 6:50 p.m.
BY: Lt. Deron McMaster

Tam MacArthur Rim

Hiker #1: Brick, Michael P., 24, St. Louis, MO
Hiker #2: Schweizer, Matthew, 24, White Cliff, MO

On 09/26/2009 at approximately 5:00 p.m. members of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue were dispatched to a report of two lost hikers in the Tam MacArthur Rim area. Searches made contact with hikers by cell phone and determined their location off their cell phone signal (longitude and latitude). Searches lost cell contact with the hikers and the hikers then continued to walk. Searchers continued to attempt to locate the hikers using their cell phones as a locator. A search and rescue mounted horse team involved in the search located the hikers on a trail about 1 to 2 miles south of the Three Creeks Lake. Search and Rescue members accompanied the hikers back to their vehicle which was parked at the trailhead at Three Creeks Lake.

Both hikers were in good health and uninjured.

Lava Camp Trailhead

Hiker: Johnson, Mark, 22, Tigard, OR

On 09/26/2009 at approximately 6:50 p.m. members of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue were dispatched to a report of an overdue hiker in the Three Sisters Wilderness area. The overdue hiker was last seen at the intersection of Morraine Lake trail and the Green Lakes trail at 8:30 a.m. The hiker was travelling from that location to where his vehicle was parked at the Lava Camp trailhead along Hwy 242 near the observatory. Approximately 24 members from the Sheriff’s Office responded and started searching the area on vehicle, foot and horseback. The hiker was located at approximately 9:45 p.m. after finding his way out to his vehicle at the Lava Camp trailhead. The hiker had become lost two separate times on his way north before returning to his vehicle.

The hiker was in good health and uninjured.

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