Lost engagement ring lost on Oregon beach. Found with metal detector.
This Sunday morning, I received a message from Angie, telling me she had lost a ring on Sand Island, at Rooster Rock State Park the previous day. This area is a very popular, clothing-optional beach east of Portland, in the Columbia River Gorge.
I asked her to explain how she had lost her ring. She said she had removed the ring and tied it into her top, thinking it was a good place to secure it before going swimming. She and her friends enjoyed the day at the beach, beating the hot weather. When it was time to go, she put her top back on, packed up their stuff, and headed home. Shortly thereafter, she realized her ring was gone. They immediately went back to try and find the ring on the crowded beach. They had no luck, but someone suggested she drop a pin with Google Maps to lock down the location.
Angie had posted her dilemma to Reddit, and she was referred to look for a Ringfinder. Being the only Oregon listing, she contacted me. We agreed to meet up in the closest parking area at 0900 for the search. I want to get on it as soon as possible, and hopefully get there before it was too crowded and hot.
We met and discussed the plan. I told Angie the search could take two minutes, or two hours, so I handed her a beach chair, grabbed my gear, and we started our hike. It took about twenty minutes, and a wade through shallow waters to reach the spot she had pinned on her phone. She gave me a rough estimate of where she had been, so I started a search pattern.
The beach was remarkably clean, so on the first pass I found an aluminum pull-tab and a penny. Angie joked if I could find a few thousand more, she could buy a new ring. About halfway through the third pass, I heard a nice tone in my headphones. I dug into the sand with my hand and there was her ring. I let out a little laugh, and Angie asked if I had found something interesting. I said “I sure did. Your ring.” She was sitting about 15 feet from me and it took a couple seconds before she processed I was holding her ring up. She jumped from the chair and ran over to get her ring. I almost thought she was going to cry, but then her face lit up and she did a little happy dance on the sand! When she finished, she asked if it was okay for her to hug me, and I told her sure.
We packed-up and made the trek back up to the parking lot. Total recovery time was one hour, including the hike to and from the beach. Super helpful that Angie had marked the location, and was able to be there to guide the search.
