A father and his two sons from Sweet Home, who were overdue returning from a hike in the Canyon Creek area east of Sweet Home, were found Saturday evening after a search by the Sheriff’s Department.
Jon Downs, 34, his sons Keegan, 8, and Tucker, 11, were dropped off eight miles up Canyon Creek at Twin Bridges at 9 a.m. on Friday for what was supposed to be a day hike, Sheriff Tim Mueller said.
Downs’ sister-in-law called Linn County 9-1-1 Dispatch Saturday at 1 p.m. to report that the three had not returned. Mueller said family members had expected the three at Highway 20 by 2 p.m. Friday.
Downs was unable use his cell phone to notify his family that he and his sons were going to have to spend the night, due to rugged terrain on the route. The three were equipped with backpacks and a tent, Mueller said.
Two Linn County deputies responded to the area and requested assistance from Search and Rescue and also notified the U.S. Forest Service. Linn County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue arrived with a Hasty Team consisting of two deputies and four volunteers.
The team divided up into two groups with one team searching up Canyon Creek from Highway 20 and the other team searching down from the drop off point by Twin Bridges.
The terrain in canyon is extremely steep and difficult to search, Mueller said.
At about 4 p.m. a Forest Service fire spotter plane diverted from its mission and flew the canyon but was unable to locate the missing hikers.
At about 5:30 p.m. two more deputies arrived in the area with seven additional Search and Rescue members. On the drive up Canyon Creek Road they located the father and two sons walking down the road and transported them back to Highway 20 where Sheriff’s Office personnel had set up incident command.
After the three were returned to the command post, deputies learned that three members of Downs’ family were in the area looking for him and his two sons, Mueller said.
A short time later a deputy located Downs’ brother-in-law, Ramie Holbrook. Holbrook was transported back to the command center and told deputies that two more family members were still down in the canyon. At about 7:45 p.m. deputies located Justin Parker and Brad Seiber.
Downs and his family are all from the Sweet Home and Lebanon areas.
The Oregon Army National Guard was preparing to fly the search area with two helicopters but were called off when the father and two boys were located, Mueller said.