Man walks naked for 25 miles from Oregon border into Washington before passerby helps

A man is lucky to be alive after walking naked for 25 miles in rain and near freezing temperatures from the Oregon border to near the Tri-Cities, say officials.

BNSF railway employees spotted the nude man walking along the railroad tracks near McNary Dam on the Columbia River about 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

After railroad employees alerted the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, deputies began to scour the rural area for the man.

They knew temperatures were going to be hovering in the mid-30s Sunday night. They searched on foot, used ATVs, deployed drones and asked for help from LifeFlight to try to spot the man as they flew over the area.

After several hours, they couldn’t find him and called off the search, said a Benton County post on Facebook.

Then at 5:30 a.m. Monday, a passerby spotted the man, still naked, walking in the Finley area of Highway 397 and Owens Road south of Kennewick. The area is more than 25 miles from where he was last seen.

Before deputies could arrive, another person took the man to the emergency room at Trios Southridge Hospital in Kennewick, the sheriff’s office said.

The man was suffering from moderate to severe frostbite on both feet, but was otherwise in stable condition.

While he gave deputies little information about what happened, they were able to piece together that he was out the night before and may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

On Sunday, he started walking from a Circle K in Umatilla, Ore., across a bridge and into Benton County. It’s unclear if he crossed on the railroad bridge or the Interstate 82 bridge.

Sheriff’s officials said he took off his clothes near McNary Dam on the Washington side and began walking north through farm fields until he reached Owens Road.

Deputies said in a Facebook post that he is lucky to be alive after his more than 12-hour journey.

The man’s family was notified, and he’s expected to make a full recovery.