Rescued Mtn. Biker Warns: Some Trails Still Snowy

A lost mountain biker who was found near the city’s Bridge Creek Watershed early Tuesday morning has a warning for other cyclists.

Ted Werner of Bend says he got lost after he started going up through North Fork and got off trail. But he also couldn’t believe the amount of snow he saw while on his journey, so late in the summer.

Werner has a passion for mountain biking, and on Monday night, he was just taking his normal mountain bike ride up the Metolius Windigo Trail when suddenly he realized there was a lot of snow.

“There came a point where I couldn’t see any high markers in the trees, and I couldn’t tell where the trail trough was,” Werner said.

Werner said he saw almost two feet worth of snow.

“There’s places where there is four-foot-high drifts, still,” Werner said Wednesday.

He embarked on his journey at around 4 p.m. on Monday. But about four hours later, he had gone off the trail and had already sensed that he was lost. While he says its not unusual to see some snow on the Tumalo Mountain — he just didn’t realize he would see that much.

Werner rode while using his phone as a music player, which caused his phone’s battery to drain. With what little battery he did have left, he called 911.

Nearly two-dozen Deschutes County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue members responded to search on foot and on ATVs, before they were able to find him around 2 a.m., six hours after he got lost.

“Some of those trails are not ready to be ridden,” Werner said. “I mean, we should wait until COTA (the Central Oregon Trails Alliance) has cleared the trails, and until some of the snow has melted. It’s just really dangerous.”

Werner had plenty of water and food, but he was wearing only a tank top and shorts.

But he says to trust your instinct in these types of situations.

“My instinct was to stay there,” he said. “If I had tried to walk away, or tried to hike down, I probably would have been more lost, and they never would found me.”

Werner says he won’t be using his phone as an Mp3 player when riding in the wilderness, so that he can have battery power in his phone.

He stressed to not ride some of those trails that are really snow-covered.

And luckily for him, he can continue his passion of mountain biking.