Two 71-year-old hikers, missing in the Mount Hood National Forest for almost 24 hours, were located safe and sound by search and rescue teams Wednesday afternoon, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The hikers, Anna and Suki Jung, went hiking on the Paradise Park Trail Tuesday, but they were separated from their group somehow and never made it back out. The area is made of up of steep terrain, dense forest and many other leading trailheads, making it a challenge for rescue crews to search the area.
The story behind one of those photos: https://t.co/e1aKPyWNiS
— Clackamas Sheriff (@ClackCoSheriff) October 2, 2019
Even so, volunteers and rescuers with the CCSO, Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue, Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Mountain Wave and Portland Mountain Rescue scoured the area near Rhododendron, until the couple was finally found around 1:20 p.m. on Wednesday.
The search teams had located some items that belonged to the lost couple, as well as shoe prints in the mud. Searchers finally located them near a riverbed in very dense forest about a half-mile from the roadway.
However, due to the rough terrain and steep elevation, it took rescuers hours to bring the couple out of the woods safely.
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Great job by our Search and Rescue (SAR) members this afternoon locating 2 lost hikers! Now that I’m helping out with SAR, you’ll be seeing a lot more of what we do! pic.twitter.com/rjLUdQVYOk
The couple was reportedly “cold, but otherwise O.K.” The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office thanked all the volunteers and rescue teams for their dedicated service in locating the lost hikers.
