An Oklahoma teenager who was inspired to live off the land by the movie 'Into the Wild' is the target of a search effort in remote, rugged country in southeastern Oregon.
Dustin Self, 19, left suburban Oklahoma City a month ago after becoming interested in churches practicing a South American religion that uses a hallucinogenic tea as a sacrament.
The Harney County sheriff’s office says a search began on Tuesday for Dustin on the north end of Steens Mountain after a rancher found his truck had slid off a backcountry road.
Searchers on ATVs saw no tracks, but checked out remote cabins and worked their way up the mountain, with no sign of him before heavy snow and high winds curtailed their efforts, said Deputy Missy Ousley.
Authorities hoped for a break in the weather so they could send up a plane to look for him.
'We did everything we could to try to talk him out of it,' said his mother, Tammy Self.
'He was leaving, no matter what.'
The teen was well-prepared with gear he bought just before leaving, but had little experience of life in the wild beyond family camping trips, his parents said.
'He is not a survivalist,' said his father, Victor Self, a manager at a box plant in Oklahoma City. 'He is a very urban child.'
His parents last heard from him March 15, when he called from the parking lot of a motel in northern Nevada where he was spending the night in the cab of his pickup.
The next day, Dustin called his girlfriend in Austin, Texas, to say he was lost after his GPS had sent him onto a road along the east side of Steens Mountain in the high desert of southeastern Oregon.
Ousley said a storekeeper in Fields recalled him asking for directions to Lakeview, which would have taken him a different direction than where his truck was found.
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A religious young man raised in a non-denominational Protestant church, Dustin had been searching for meaning in his life, his mother said.
He read books like Human Race: Get Off Your Knees, by David Icke, a former British sports reporter whose books about what he believes is really controlling life on earth are admired by conspiracy theorists.
Inspiration: Dustin Self, 19, was inspired by the 2007 biographical film Into the Wild, starring Emile Hirsch, pictured, about the travels of the late Christopher McCandless in the Alaskan wilderness
The last movie Dustin watched was Into The Wild about a young man who gives up his worldly goods to live in the Alaskan wilderness.
A clean-cut bodybuilder in high school, he had lately grown his hair long and wore a bandanna around his head.
'I think he got a lot off the Internet,' his mother said.
A rocky outcrop on Steens Mountain: The 30-mile long fault block of basalt is the highest point in the desert of southeastern Oregon at 9,773ft. Dustin rang his girlfriend last month to say he was lost on the mountain
Search: The Harney County sheriff's office says a search began on the north end of Steens Mountain, pictured, after a rancher found his truck had slid off a backcountry road
Tammy Self said her son is a vegetarian, with no desire to kill animals to eat.
'He thought he was going to eat berries,' she said. 'We tried to tell him, berries don't grow in wintertime.'
His father called the Harney County Sheriff's Office on March 17, but a search along the route from Fields to Lakeview turned up nothing.
He also filed a missing person report with his local police.
Concerning: Tammy Self said her son thought he was going to eat berries and she had to tell him they do not grow in wintertime
Then on Monday, Dustin's truck was found.
His backpack and camping gear were gone, but the keys, his computer, his GPS and some of his supply of protein bars and other food had been left behind.
'We're worried sick,' said his father. 'I just hope he's alive.'