A quartet of alert boaters may have saved a man from hypothermia Wednesday by contacting Albany police after finding him standing, unresponsive, in the waist-deep Calapooia River.

Police said the man, in his 20s, was unhurt but taken to Samaritan Albany General Hospital for a mental health evaluation.

Police have a Lebanon address for the man and didn't know much else about him.

Kayaker Bob Mitsch of Scio said he and other members of a wooden boat club came upon the man during their monthly outing, at about 10:15 a.m.

"My brother came down here a little earlier and said there was something just screaming awful," Mitsch said.

No one ever found out whether the sound came from the man, someone else, or an animal in the area, but it was enough to draw attention. Mitsch said he saw the man standing in the waterway between Bryant and Monteith parks, just a few feet from the Monteith side of the bank.

The man did not speak or move. Another boater in the group, Jim Cooper of Albany, had a cell phone and called police. Officers in life jackets brought a rope down to the man, and guided him, unresisting, out of the water.

Detective Sgt. Brad Liles commended the boaters for their call.

"You can get hypothermia fairly easily by standing in cold water," he said. "It could turn life-threatening if you're not found."

Mitsch said he, Cooper, his brother Richard Mitsch of Lebanon, Bob Larkin of Corvallis, and Jim Billou of Milwaukie had just happened to choose the Calapooia for a paddle that morning. Last month, they floated the Columbia near St. Helens.

"I think we saved the guy's life," Mitsch said. "He was shivering."