It seemed as though 2013 would end on a sad note for two Portlanders, David Rice and David Deppler, whose dogs were lost along Eagle Creek Trail December 26.

Four days later, a lost-dog poster at the soggy trailhead a few miles east of Multnomah Falls, dripped with the news that Osa (a chocolate lab) and Tripper (a foxhound) had last been seen there the day after Christmas.

But Eagle Creek, one of the most accessible and stunning hikes in the Gorge, was the sight of — not only spectacular scenery — but also a sort of post-Christmas miracle this year.

The story began the Thursday morning after Christmas when (Osa’s owner) Deppler, a Portland physical therapist, offered to take Rice’s dog (Tripper) along for a trail run, since Rice had to work that day. Deppler took the dogs to the popular 13-mile trail near Cascade Locks and let them run free.

Early on, within the first quarter-mile, Deppler says, Tripper darted ahead, and Osa followed: not an unusual occurence for those two, who had run that trail many times. But this time, for some reason, they did not come back. After a lengthy, frantic, fruitless search, and knowing he was at fault for not having the dogs on leashes, Deppler texted his friend: “Can you call me?”

“I lost the dogs,” Deppler blurted out when the two spoke. Rice rushed to the trail, thinking Tripper might respond to his owner’s voice. The two walked for miles, calling the dogs’ names until dusk.

The next morning, Friday, Deppler returned to the trail area, this time with a team of sympathetic friends. (Rice had to work). Then, with the dogs still missing after a second day, Deppler’s sister flew in from Atlanta to help with the search.

An even larger group split into two teams on Saturday morning, covering miles of rugged canyon filled with ancient cedars and rushing waterfalls along the winding creek. They notified shelters, sought advice from the Oregon Humane Society and posted signs throughout the gorge — to the west toward Portland, and east toward Hood River.

On Sunday, the dogs were still gone. Defeated, the dog owners felt they had done all they could.

On the fifth day, the Monday before New Year’s Eve, three friends from Albany ventured up the Eagle Creek Trail to cap off 2013 in the lush beauty of an Oregon rain forest. Glancing briefly at a small poster about a couple of lost dogs, the friends climbed the wet but well-worn path, gradually gaining elevation among moss-covered old growth trees. They took in the much-photographed Punchbowl Falls at about the two-mile mark.

Traversing the rocky, sometimes slippery path, brothers Ross and Joe Meekins, with their friend Cole Pouliot, continued on beyond High Bridge, at 3.3 miles, one of only two places where the trail crosses the creek — 120 feet below.

The hikers had meandered about another half mile past that marker when a dog rushed toward them, a chocolate Labrador — anxious, yelping and apparently very hungry. Reluctant to join, a second dog (a foxhound) could be seen holding back in the trees.

The lab would eat anything (peanut butter sandwiches, jerky) the men dished out; the foxhound, more discerning, eventually gave in to some jerky as the men realized they had found the lost dogs in the photograph at the trail head posted four days ago.

At about 11:00 Monday morning, the day after Rice, Deppler, Deppler’s sister from Atlanta, and several friends had finally given up after four days of searching for Tripper and Osa, Deppler’s cell phone jiggled with a text message: “Hey, we found your dogs. Merry Christmas!”

dog reunion

The Meekins brothers, and their friend Cole, were thrilled to hand off the dogs to Deppler — who arrived, as Ross Meekins described him, “almost in tears.” And though the dog finders were somewhat reluctant to accept a reward, $500 per dog, Deppler assured them it was well worth it to him and Rice to get their dogs back.

Rice said Deppler was usually faithful about keeping the dogs on leashes, but he hadn’t been able to resist letting them run free that day on the trail. Rice, who works at U.S. Bank, called it “a valuable lesson.”

Asked whether he would be reluctant to take dogs off-leash next time, Deppler said, “I would be, with Tripper, for sure.”

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Rebecca Webb
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