[pct-l] PCT Thru-Hiker Missing in Glacier Peak Wilderness-NEED HELP NOW

[Lawton Grinter]

PCT-L, PCT thru-hiker 'Lucky' has gone missing in the Glacier Peaks Wilderness Area.  This is no joke and we need your help right now.  I repeat, this is no joke.  This is Disco and I'm in Stehekin right now with P.O.D., Wasa and Crow.  P.O.D. and I just got to Stehekin this morning to find out that Lucky has not been seen since Tuesday morning.  Today is Saturday so it has been 4 full days now.  His wife has been contacted and we think (and hope) that Search and Rescue efforts are underway or at least getting started right now but there does not seem to be a sense of urgency about the situation with the authorities we have talked to thus far.  The Dinsmores are also aware of the situation and have contacted a sherrif (not sure which county).  Here is what I know as of right now (2 PM Saturday).  Lucky had been hiking with 2 other thru-hikers coming out of Stevens Pass heading north on the PCT.  All 3 of them camped just south of White Pass on Monday night.  Keep in mind that the White Pass I'm referring to here is the one on trail in Glacier Peak Wilderness just south of Red Pass (not the one with the ski resort in southern Washington that hikers pick up packages at).   So they were all camped together Monday night and then Tuesday morning they got up and Lucky hiked out about 15 minutes before the other 2 did.  The other 2 hikers have not seen him since.  P.O.D. and I were about 1.5 days behind them and we did not see Lucky nor has anyone else at this point.  Lucky and the 2 hikers he was with took the original PCT thru this section as did we.   The weather the last couple of days has been rainy, foggy, windy and cold.  The 2 hikers that Lucky was with think he may have gotten to White Pass and then taken a wrong trail down to the North Fork Sauk River.  The PCT on White Pass is above treeline and has at least 2 junctions that aren't marked or signed very well and if you are up there in the fog and the rain, it would be real easy to end up taking the wrong trail.  The North Fork Sauk River Trail heads down off White Pass to the west and eventually hits a forest service road and then the town of Bedal which is on Mountain Loop Highway.  Bedal is just south of the town of Darrington.  If you have the Delorme Gazateer for Washington this is on page 33.  White Pass is on Page 34.  My other thought is that he may have possibly headed east down the FT 1507 trail that goes down the White River and on over to Boulder Pass and Little Giant Pass?     The bottom line is that he was due in Stehekin on Thursday and hasn't been seen since Tuesday morning.  His hiking partners told us that he had a lot of food with him but that me was only carrying the PCT data book and possibly the PCT guide book.  But we all know that the maps in the guidebook are for the narrow PCT corridor and wouldn't help that much if he got way off trail.   White Pass serves as the county border between Chelan and Snohomish counties.  Chelan county is to the east and Snohomish county is to the west.  Wenatchee National Forest & Glacier Peak Wilderness are to the east and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest & Henry M. Jackson Wilderness are to the west.    Can someone with phone access call both the sherrif for Chelan county and Snohomish county to make sure they are escalating the search and rescue effort for Lucky.  Can someone also call both national forest ranger offices that I just listed above and inquire about search and rescue for Lucky.  I hiked with Lucky and know he is a competent hiker and has a lot of food but he might need our help right now.    I'm flying blind here in Stehekin.  We met with the park service law enforement ranger this morning (i think her name is Jordan).  She has made some phone calls but the feeling I get is that this is serious business considering that Lucky hasn't been seen in 4 days and there needs to be a full scale search and rescue effort going on right now and from what I can tell that has yet to happen.   If you have any information on Lucky's whereabouts, please contact the Dinsmore's and or the North Cascades National Park office in Stehekin.    Thank you, DiscoLawton Grinter  
_________________________________________________________________
See what people are saying about Windows Live.  Check out featured posts.
http://www.windowslive.com/connect?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_connect2_082008