Snowmobiler walks to safety after night outdoors

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - The sheriff says a man spent the night outdoors after his snowmobile went into a creek in central South Dakota and he couldn't find his way to safety.

Ziebach (ZEE'-bahk) County Sheriff Bob Menzel tells KGFX radio that searchers began looking for him after he failed to return from a late-afternoon snowmobile ride on Sunday.

Menzel said a rancher notified his office around 9:15 Monday morning to say that 34-year-old John Winn of Minnesota had walked to his ranch south of Dupree.

The sheriff said Winn's cell phone didn't work and he apparently spent the night in a cave dug into the snow. Menzel said Winn is part of a crew staying in the area and working on a hospital building in Eagle Butte.

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