Crews find hiker who sent up smoke signal in Gorge
COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE, Ore. (AP) — Search and rescue crews have found a hiker who sent up a smoke signal near Munra Point in the Columbia River Gorge.
Dispatchers received a call around 10:30 a.m. Monday from a person at the Bonneville Dam who spotted smoke from a signal fire near the top of a cliffside, KOIN-TV reported.
The caller said they used a scope to witness the apparent hiker in distress. Multnomah County deputies activated Multnomah County Search and Rescue and sent a highly-skilled mountain rescue team known as the Hood River Crag Rats.
Two teams left the trailhead around 1 p.m. Rescue teams reached the stranded hiker, a 51-year-old man, just after 4 p.m. According to the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, the man was able to walk with search and rescue members but had early stages of hypothermia. Crews also said it would take longer to come down partly because the man had misplaced his footwear.
The trail the man was on had been closed since the Eagle Creek fire in 2017.
Munra Point is an exposed rocky viewpoint located west of Wahclella Falls. Authorities said the Munra Point trail is not maintained and climbs approximately 2,000 feet (610 meters) in two miles.
