For Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash, this Thanksgiving held a striking resemblance to another turkey day he and his family experienced in the past.

On both of those days — 20 years apart — Ash responded to a call for help from stranded holiday travelers. And in both cases, the stories had happy endings, despite a later than planned Thanksgiving celebration.

Granted, many things have changed over the years.

Ash was elected in November to his second four-year term as sheriff, with another 20 years of law enforcement experience under his belt.

And his wife, Katie, and their young daughter, Josie, who will graduate from college this year, were traveling with him the first time around.

Ash said Friday that he didn’t put the two incidents together when he got the call about 3:30 a.m. this Thanksgiving. But his wife shared the story with dispatchers and the report of the first rescue was posted on Facebook along with a new one.

This year, Ash was roused to respond to the Hells Canyon area on a report that 18-year-old Carson Jurries might have been stranded on the snow-covered Hells Canyon Road while traveling from Boise to the Lewiston, Idaho, area.

Ash said in an email to the Herald that Jurries’ family believed that he might have been rerouted by his cellphone or map to Forest Service Road 39, which travels through the mountains between Halfway and Joseph. Jurries was thought to have changed course because there had been a closure reported through the McCall, Idaho, area where he had originally planned to travel.

Forest Road 39, also part of the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway, leads travelers from Highway 86 about 10 miles east of Halfway over the east side of the Wallowa Mountains to Joseph.

The road, which is usually not maintained for vehicles during the summer, often is closed by snow from November through late May or early June.

But this fall, despite heavy snow earlier in November, has been different.

“The 39 road was recently plowed after people had been stuck in the McGraw Overlook area during the last big snowstorm,” Ash stated in his email. “This allowed (Jurries) to travel much farther than the snow conditions would usually allow.”

Jurries was driving a newer model Volkswagen Jetta front-wheel drive sedan, Ash said.

The sheriff, driving his four-wheel drive patrol truck, said he found Jurries’ car stuck in 12 to 15 inches of snow on the 39 Road north of the Imnaha River about 9:10 a.m. Thursday.

The area is in Wallowa County.

Ash said it took some time to get around the stuck car, but once he did he followed Jurries’ foot tracks through the snow and used the siren in his truck, and whistled, in an attempt to attract the man’s attention.

Ash said Jurries heard the alerts and the two were able to communicate with each other until they eventually met up on the road. Ash said Jurries was walking along Gumboot Creek on the 39 Road on the Joseph side of the Imnaha River. He was cold, but otherwise in good condition.

Ash said Jurries was not dressed for the 10-degree weather, which the sheriff said had risen to 17 degrees by the time he arrived in the mountains.

Jurries estimated he had walked about 5 miles that morning. He had spent the previous night in his car, but did not run the engine to conserve fuel, Ash said. Jurries had left a note on the windshield and started walking toward Joseph at about 5 a.m.

As Ash was transporting him out of the mountains the two were met by a friend of Jurries’ who had traveled from Lewiston to help look for him.

The three were able to get Jurries’ car unstuck and the two men followed Ash back to Highway 86 to continue to Lewiston for Thanksgiving.

“I checked with them last night and they all made it home safe and sound,” Ash said on Friday.

Ash said he went on the call alone because he wasn’t sure if Jurries was in the area, and he didn’t want to disturb Search and Rescue volunteers on a holiday if he wasn’t.

Wallowa County Search and Rescue was on standby and Jurries was well into their county, but it was easier for Ash to get there, he said.

“They donate a lot of time to our community and their family time is important too,” he said. “I have no doubt if I would have asked, they would have responded.”

In the rescue that took place 20 years earlier, Ash and his wife and daughter were traveling in the middle of the night to spend Thanksgiving with family at Oxbow, the Sheriff’s Department Facebook post stated.

That year, Ash spent Thanksgiving Day rescuing three travelers from Germany who became stranded in the same area where Jurries was stuck on Thursday.

That rescue from 20 years ago ended with the German travelers joining Ash and his family for a late holiday dinner.