Sheriff, volunteer rescue injured hiker

Published 10:28 am Monday, September 12, 2022

BAKER COUNTY — A trio of hikers likely was spared a chilly night high in the Elkhorn Mountains after one of the three was hobbled by an ankle injury Sept. 10.

Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash and Jay Ogg, a volunteer with the Sheriff’s Office’s Search and Rescue team, navigated a treacherous road to reach the group not long before dusk Saturday and drive them back to the valley.

Ash said the hikers, who were camped at Anthony Lakes, planned to hike the Elkhorn Crest Trail, a 23-mile route, on Sept. 10. They had driven to the trail’s southern end at Marble Creek Pass.

One of the trio, Topher Dabrowski, 51, of Camas, Washington, suffered an ankle injury.

He was hiking with Laura Willems and Rebecca Madore, who are from the Portland/Vancouver area, Ash said.

With night coming and about 10 miles left to hike, the group called a local resident they had met earlier in the day, and he in turned phoned a Search and Rescue team member, Ash said.

The call came in at 5:36 p.m., and Ash said he and Ogg started driving, in Ogg’s side-by-side ATV, at 6:09 p.m.

Their route was along the North Powder River, the most direct path to Cracker Saddle, where the hikers were.

That road scarcely deserves that title, however, particularly the steep, boulder-strewn section west of the Summit Lake trailhead.

Ash said he asked Ogg to help with the rescue because Ogg has driven the road multiple times in his personal side-by-side.

“He’s a very capable operator,” Ash said of Ogg.

They arrived at Cracker Saddle at 7:06 p.m. and loaded Dabrowski, Willems and Madore in the vehicle.

Ash said the hikers were chilly, as they had planned to hike the entire trail Saturday rather than spend the night, and were dressed in shorts and light clothing.

The elevation at Cracker Saddle is about 7,600 feet.

Ash said he later drove the group to Marble Creek Pass, where they retrieved their vehicle.