Two Oregon Teens Missing: Boy Scout Hikers Jackson Chandler and Bradley Nelson Found Safe in Wilderness Foothills

Jackson Chandler (17) and Bradley Nelson (16), two teenage Boy/Eagle Scouts from West Linn, Oregon, were found safe after having gone missing on a hike in the Cascade Foothills outside of Portland on Saturday (Oct. 27). After the two young West Hill High School students did not return from their day hike in the Table Rock/Molalla River wilderness area over the weekend, their parents informed Clackamas County Search and Rescue. An Army National Guard search team combed the rough Oregon terrain in rainy conditions for two days, and now Oregon law enforcement and rescuers report that the two boys were finally found alive and well on Monday (Oct. 29).

Once Oregon law enforcement was made aware of the two missing teens, spokesman Deputy Nate Thompson stated: "We have a break in the rain now and the Oregon Army National Guard are flying out a helicopter hoping to locate them from the air. We already deployed 50 searchers in the area, trying to locate them."

Chandler and Nelson are experienced hikers - when they didn't return home on Saturday and neither family received a call or text from the boys, the possibility that they were stranded in the vast Oregon wilderness in such bad weather conditions caused much concern. Search crews located the boys' 1999 Mazda pickup on a U.S. Forest Service Road in the Lost Creek Meadows area on Sunday, but after thoroughly combing the area that night, nothing else surfaced. Additional rescuers joined the search early Monday morning, including members from Mountain Wave SAR, Pacific Northwest SAR, Marion County SAR, Search One K-9 and North Oregon Regional SAR. Several family and friends also joined the task as volunteers when the boys were eventually found safe on Monday (Oct. 29).

According to officials, there is no need for medical attention. Chandler and Nelson were reunited with family and friends at the search command center Monday afternoon.