Halfway man walks out of the woods, search ends safely

George Rollins of Halfway walked out of the woods and reached a trailhead Wednesday while a search effort was underway, ending the backcountry scare without a rescue. The episode put another Baker County search-and-response operation into motion in the rugged country east of Halfway, where a wrong turn or delay can turn quickly into a public-safety call.

Baker County’s sheriff’s office is the agency that provides search-and-rescue services in the county, a responsibility that carries extra weight in remote terrain with long road distances, scattered trailheads and fast-changing conditions. In this case, Rollins got himself out before the situation worsened, but the search itself shows how quickly local resources can be tied up when someone is reported missing in the woods.

The case fits a pattern Baker County has seen before. On June 11, 2018, Richard Towell Jr. was found safe after making his way back to the Clear Creek trailhead. On April 12, 2021, Baker County Sheriff’s Office search-and-rescue members helped Jason Brunson, Jennifer Brunson and their 7-year-old son, George, after their car got stuck in snow along Forest Road 39 in eastern Baker County. One incident involved a lost hiker, another a stranded family, but both relied on the same county response system.

Access routes in the area add to the risk. The Wallowa Mountain Loop Road, Forest Road 39, was open between Joseph and Highway 86 east of Halfway as of May 12, 2026, but open roads do not make the country easy. Baker County’s Natural Resource Advisory Committee has also been talking about keeping roads open to motor vehicles on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, a debate that reflects how closely local recreation, access and emergency response are tied together.

For Halfway and the surrounding backcountry, Rollins’s safe walk-out was the best possible outcome. It also underscored the reality that in Baker County, the woods can still call out a search crew fast, and sometimes the difference between a rescue and a relieved ending is whether someone finds the trailhead on their own.