Stranded Ore. man kept diary of ordeal before he died

Published 5:35 pm Friday, May 13, 2011

PORTLAND — The body of a man was found in his pickup truck on a mountain road, along with a calendar he kept of his ordeal for nearly 70 days, authorities said Friday.

The Linn County sheriff’s office said the log kept by Jerry McDonald showed he became stranded Feb. 14.

The entry read: “Heavy snow. Snowed in.”

His first log entry was Feb. 7, indicating he had been in the area for a week before he became stuck. The last entry was April 15, about 60 days later.

A U.S. Forest Service survey crew found his body Thursday in a sleeping bag in the back of his 1997 GMC pickup truck on a one-lane dirt road about four miles from Marion Forks. The forest service road is in the remote foothills of the Cascade Range, about 70 miles east of Salem.

By late February, McDonald was detailing the weather and repeating his location, “Horn Rd.,” daily.

“The road Mr. McDonald was on is in a mountainous area of east Linn County and the way in or out would have been impassable once it snowed,” Sheriff Tim Mueller said. “There were no indications that he had attempted to walk out of the area.”

McDonald was carrying $5,000 in cash. There were no signs of foul play and he had not been reported missing.

Deputies said McDonald had warm clothing and water but no food or cellphone.

The calendar showed that he scrawled brief notes about the weather daily. “Snowed 1 foot night,” he wrote March 15.

He marked April 12 as the day his motor vehicle registration expired.

There have been several cases of motorists getting stranded on remote roads in the back woods of Oregon during the past couple of years.