A member of the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office search and rescue team. 

Two lost snowmobile riders were rescued by a Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue team late Thursday night. 

Around 4 p.m. on Thursday, the Deschutes County dispatch center received a call from a snowmobile rider who reported being lost in the area of Moon Mountain, southwest of Bend, the sheriff’s office said in a release.

The lost riders were only identified as a 56-year-old man from Winnemucca, Nevada, and a 38-year-old Bend resident.

The two riders became disoriented due to weather and snow conditions, as well as being unfamiliar with the trail system, according to the sheriff’s office. The two riders tried to navigate out of the area for an hour and a half until they lost daylight and became more disoriented.  

A search and rescue snowmobile team was sent to the Dutchman Flat Sno-park following the rider’s phone call.

When the search and rescue team reached the area by snowmobile, poor visibility from weather conditions made reaching the riders too dangerous, according to the sheriff’s office.

So the team snowshoed until locating the riders by roughly 8 p.m. The riders were uninjured and brought back to their vehicles at the sno-park, according to the sheriff’s office.