Lost in Oregon's Backcountry

The following article is from the Oregonian and was written last June.  It highlights just how hazardous it can be in the backcountry.  The writer, Richard Cockle highlights several case studies of day hikers and backpackers who just never return and are never found. 

One of Cockle's phrases really hits home:

     "It only takes a mile before you get totally turned around and don't know which      way to go," said Kleinbaum...."

The following is from Richard Cockle's article:

Searchers will resume combing the rugged Willamette National Forest after the snow leaves the higher elevations in weeks to come, looking for the remains of a 32-year-old Eugene hiker who disappeared last summer.
 
James "Jake" Dutton, a 5-foot-10, 180-pound Lane Community College graduate, left his 1998 Nissan Frontier pickup at a U.S. Forest Service trailhead near Cougar Reservoir June 15, 2012. An unmarried former Coast Guardsman who stayed fit by hiking and riding bicycles, he carried a backpack and was believed heading toward the Three Sisters Wilderness boundary.

Dutton had plans to return to his truck June 18, according to the trailhead pass he signed.
He was never seen again.

To read the rest of Cockle's article go here.