It was a happy ending early this morning as Deschutes County Search and Rescue crews located a missing California man.  The call came in to 911 about 3:30 yesterday afternoon.  The man's wife, Monica Fitzgerald, called to report her husband had gotten separated from the hiking group and was lost near Horse Lake.  Lt. Chad Davis says around 11:30 Thursday night, they found an important clue:  “The tracking teams located a single set of footprints, leaving the Pacific Crest Trail, which they believed belonged to the male hiker.  They tracked though patches of snow that consisted of 2-5’ snowdrifts and downed trees. Approximately 1:15 this morning, our ground team located Mr. Francis approximately 5.3 miles northwest of Elk Lake Trailhead.”

About 16 searchers and Airlink assisted in trying to find Francis Fitzgerald.  He says the search was further complicated because the man's cell phone wasn't fully charged.