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lost hiker

The Sea ttle Times regularly posts articles about lost or dead hikers. This guy, for example, is missing having planned to go on an 11 mile round trip hike B and I did last summer. However, we did it later in the season where there was only snow over the last mile or so. At this time of year, the majority of the hike would be snow-covered and potentially hazardous. I do remember being at Sah ale arm in late August. We'd talked about camping there, and when we finally reached the location, we were so glad we'd decided to day hike. It was like being on the surface of the moon. Despite being the hottest time of year, it was just snow, ice, rain, and high winds everywhere. It was freezing cold, wet and barren. Beautiful, yes. Great star photos possible, yes. Worth it? Not in my opinion. Getting up there with a light pack was enough for me. I can't imagine hauling a backpack up. We ended up wearing every ounce of rainwear and warm clothing we'd brought.

Anyway, hopefully this guy is OK. If he has warm clothing and a tent, he should be able to handle some nasty weather. There are some very sketchy off-trail hikes one can take in that area, however, that would definitely be dangerous.

The fact that the Park service searched for his car on the Moun tain Loop highway when he'd spoken to a ranger and family friends had recommended they search for his car on the Cas cade River Road (the TH for this hike) is pretty disturbing. I mean, the these are two very different places. Why would they search for this car on the MLH?

12:15 p.m. - Jun. 21, 2009