Ore. Deputy Follows Barefoot Tracks in Snow to Save Missing Man

A Marion County sheriff's deputy followed a trail of shoeless footprints through the snow for nearly 5 miles, leading to the rescue of a hypothermic man who had been missing in the wilderness for four days.

By Tatum Todd

Source oregonlive.com

Nov. 5, 2026

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A Marion County sheriff’s deputy followed a trail of barefoot footprints in the snow for nearly 5 miles and found a missing man suffering from hypothermia and frostbite.
The man was discovered wrapped in a sleeping bag on a Forest Service road near Breitenbush Lake after being missing for four days.
Medics transported the man to a hospital for treatment, and authorities credited the deputy’s persistence in locating him before conditions worsened.

Footprints left in the snow by a shoeless man who was rescued by a Marion County sheriff's deputy — Concerned by a set of shoeless footprints near Breitenbush Lake, a Marion County sheriff's deputy tracked the trail through snowy woods and located a missing man suffering from frostbite and hypothermia.

Sheriff’s deputies rescued a shoeless and hypothermic man from the Marion County wilderness Friday after an officer discovered his barefoot prints in the snow, officials say.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that Forest Patrol Deputy Derrick Ramseyer set on the man’s trail after he spotted the shoeless footprints in the snow near Breitenbush Lake on Friday afternoon.

Concerned for the safety of the person who left them, Ramseyer followed the trail through the woods for almost 5 miles and eventually discovered the freezing man wrapped in a sleeping bag in the middle of Forest Service Road 4220, officials said.

Medics closed in on the scene and rushed the man to the hospital, where he was treated for frostbite and hypothermia, officials said. Officials didn’t publicly identify the man or explain how he ended up shoeless but said that he’d been missing for four days.

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