Date: 02/23/2019
By: Deputy Aaron Myers, Assistant Search and Rescue Coordinator
Reporting Person: David MacIssac
Assisted Snowmobile Rider: Aaron De Moisey, 40 year old male, Bend, Oregon
Assisted Snowmobile Rider: Jeffrey Manfrass, 35 year old male, Bend, Oregon
On February 22, 2019, at approximately 1840 hours, 911 Dispatch received a call from David MacIssac regarding two stuck snowmobile riders. MacIssac, and other people had been riding with the two earlier in the day and had agreed to meet them in the parking lot of Kapka, as the two were going to ride off trail. MacIssac received a call from his friends who told MacIssac they were stuck in a canyon and could not get out. MacIssac was told by Dispatch to have his friends call 911.
911 received a call from one of the stuck snowmobile riders, Aaron De Moisey and obtained GPS coordinates. The area of the two snowmobile riders was in the watershed, along Bridge Creek Trail.
Deschutes County Search and Rescue Volunteers were requested to assist the two snowmobile riders. Three DCSO SAR Volunteers responded to Kapka Sno Park and deployed on snowmobiles to the area of the stuck riders. After getting as close as they could to the stuck riders from Trail #6, the three DCSO SAR Volunteers hiked approximately 1.2 miles, on snowshoes, to the riders location. The DCSO SAR Volunteers got to the snowmobile riders at approximately 0035 hours.
DCSO SAR Volunteers provided the stuck snowmobile riders snowshoes and they walked out 1.2 miles to the SAR snowmobiles and were given a ride back to the sno park.
Once the riders were at the sno park it was reported the snowmobiles were not stuck, however, due to the hazardous conditions within the watershed, the terrain, and snow conditions the riders determined it was no longer safe to proceed, especially with night approaching.
Snowmobile riders traveling through the watershed must stay within 100 feet of the groomed trail. More information regarding this can be found on the United States Forest Service website at:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/
The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office would like to encourage those traveling into the backcountry to have maps and/or GPS to help prevent the entering into restricted and/or closed areas. We also encourage those to have adequate supplies and be prepared to stay the night in the outdoors, if the need arises.
The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office is a full service agency providing patrol, criminal investigations, jail operations, civil and search and rescue. Special operations include SWAT, Marine Patrol, ATV Patrol, Forest Patrol, along with four K9 units. Founded in 1916 and today lead by your duly elected Sheriff L. Shane Nelson, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office serves the nearly 190,000 residents in Deschutes County. The agency has 230 authorized and funded personnel, which includes 187 sworn employees who provide services to the 3,055 square miles of Deschutes County.
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