On Monday, two brothers, 51-year-old Dave Dobson, and 50-year-old Larry Dobson, both from Sterling, went out in a canoe on the Portage lake.

The two men had decided to go to the south end of the lake in order to do some hiking, according to trooper reports.

After a day of hiking, the two men went back to where they had made a landing, only to find their canoe adrift on the lake. That is when, according to troopers, that the younger brother, Larry, decided to swim for the canoe.

In a very short time in the frigid water, Larry began to struggle and eventually disappeared beneath the waters of the lake. Dave jumped in to try and save his brother, but had to return to the shore a short time later.

Dave, unable to return to the parking lot where they had started their trip because the terrain in between prohibited it, spent the night camped on the shore of the lake.

The next morning, Dobson found that the canoe had drifted back to the shore. After retrieving the canoe, he paddled back to the parking lot where he was met by a concerned family member out looking for the overdue boaters. A call was made to 911 reporting the lost boater at 10:30 am.

Dave Dobson was transported by ambulance to the hospital for treatment of hypothermia.

An Alaska State Trooper, a Whittier Police Officer and a U.S. Forest Service Officer responded to the area on Tuesday and did a preliminary search of the area. The search for Larry Dobson is on-going.