Four Clark County men rescued after getting stuck in snow

Four Clark County men spent the night near Elk Lake east of Salem, Ore., after their rental pickup got stuck in the snow.

On Monday, Robert Record, 44, of Washougal was driving a Chevrolet Tahoe toward Bagby Hot Springs with Shane Lambert, 23, of Washougal, and Vancouver residents Paul Barry, 26, and Eddie Nix, 53.

Record said at first he drove toward the hot springs using directions from a friend, then switched to using GPS on Lambert’s phone. When those directions led him down a sketchy road, he downloaded directions from the OnStar device in the pickup.

The group ended up 45 miles in the wrong direction on an unmaintained road that didn’t lead to the hot springs, according to the Marion (Ore.) County Sheriff’s Office.

“At night the road didn’t look as bad,” Record said.

He drove until he came across a pothole and decided to turn around. That’s when the pickup got lodged in a snowy embankment near Elk Lake, more than a two-hour drive from the hot springs.

The group had trouble picking up the OnStar signal or cellphone service, Record said, and decided to hunker down for the night.

“We survived on whiskey and Subway,” he said.

They periodically turned on the truck and its heater to keep warm.

On Tuesday, they walked up the road and got cellphone service, Record said. The sheriff’s office said that it was notified Tuesday afternoon through OnStar.

Deputies found all four men, who were safe and uninjured. Search and rescue teams pulled the vehicle out of the snow and led the men to nearby Detroit, Ore.

Record said he later learned that the road was closed. He said he believes it would have been just as easy to get turned around using a printed map instead of the GPS, due to the road closures and poor conditions.

It was the second day in a row that search and rescue crews in Marion County were called to rescue someone. On Monday, a pair of hikers got lost in icy conditions near Mount Jefferson.

The sheriff’s office recommends double-checking driving routes and winter road closures when using GPS. Drivers should carry a few nights’ worth of supplies in case they get stuck or lost.