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Family following GPS directions stuck overnight in mountains

Eric Dehond, left, and Dakota Paciorkowski help push out a stuck motorist on George Urban Boulevard in Depew, N.Y. on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014. Several feet of lake-effect snow paralyzed the Buffalo area Tuesday, forcing state troopers to deliver blankets and other supplies to motorists stranded on the New York State Thruway and adding an ominous note to a wintry season that�s already snarling travel and numbing fingers from the Midwest to the Carolinas. (Derek Gee / Associated Press)
Eric Dehond, left, and Dakota Paciorkowski help push out a stuck motorist on George Urban Boulevard in Depew, N.Y. on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014. Several feet of lake-effect snow paralyzed the Buffalo area Tuesday, forcing state troopers to deliver blankets and other supplies to motorists stranded on the New York State Thruway and adding an ominous note to a wintry season that�s already snarling travel and numbing fingers from the Midwest to the Carolinas. (Derek Gee / Associated Press)

WINTER TRAVEL -- A Portland family spent Thursday night in their snowbound car in southern Oregon after following their GPS’s directions.

The Daily Courier reports that a husband, wife, 9-year-old child and their dog became snowbound after driving on Happy Camp Road up near Page Mountain Sno-Park, 20 miles southeast of Cave Junction.

The route through Happy Camp is the most direct way to get to Willow Creek, where the family said they were headed, said Lt. Travis Snyder of the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office.

But the route is not advised in the winter because it isn't plowed past the Sno-Park, he said.

Motorists are advised to be careful with GPS navigation in remote areas. Snyder says drivers should also consult standard maps and avoid lightly traveled roads.

Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

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