On October 25th, 2023, at about 7:35 am, Marion County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue received information from an employee from Garmin GPS & Navigation, who received an emergency message on a satellite phone from a female hiker by the name of Sanja Tesic (28) from Canada. Sheriff’s Deputies connected with Sanja via Garmin In-Reach and learned she was hiking and camping in Jeff Park in the Jefferson wilderness of the Willamette National Forest, but needed assistance as she was met with extreme winter weather conditions consisting of heavy snow, which was accumulating quickly.
Search and rescue personnel were called in, and they attempted hiking into Sanja to assist her in getting out safely. All day and into the evening of the 25th and early morning hours of 10/26, but could not continue due to extreme and unsafe weather conditions involving up to 4 feet of snow, white-out conditions, heavy wind, and lots of snow coming down.
During this same day, at around 7:00 p.m., Marion County Sheriff’s Deputies received another report of a stranded bicyclist at Hawk Mountain in the Mt. Hood National Forest. This information came to us from the Australian consulate, informing us the stranded bicyclist was named Jack Robbers (23) of Australia. Jack had cell service at Hawks Point and texted his father in Australia, who contacted the consulate. We had no way of getting ahold of Jack after the message was sent to his father. His cell phone battery lost power. Marion County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team attempted to reach Jack at the Hawk Mt. Shelter. MCSO SAR faced the same snow conditions as the other rescue and could not reach the shelter that evening.
Sheriff’s Office personnel continued rescue efforts at first daylight on October 26 while calling in additional resources to help bring both Sanja and Jack to safety, who were in different areas. We want to thank our partner agencies who helped make this rescue mission a success.
US Forest Service Detroit Ranger District.
Willamette Valley Communications Center (WVCC- 911 Dispatch)
METCOM (911 Dispatch)
Marion County Sheriff’s Office Search & Rescue
Linn County Search & Rescue Drone
Lane County Sheriff’s Office Search & Rescue, Mountain Rescue Team
Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Search & Rescue Mountain Rescue Team
Oregon Air National Guard Aviation
Detroit/Idanha Fire & Medical
Santiam Hospital Medic
###