Deputy saves freezing man lost in Oregon wilderness after tracking his barefoot prints in the snow

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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