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Published June 14, 2023
Updated June 15, 2023, 9:06 a.m. ET
People have disappeared in U.S. national parks since 2016, and at least 10 are never seen again, according to data reviewed by The Post.
One of them was a hiker who, in his last message to his son, said he was on his way to Yosemite National Park.
Another was separated from his group during a nine-day trip through the stifling heat of the Grand Canyon.
A young river tour guide with his whole life ahead of him also goes missing while on a group trip.
A local news headline at the time read, “No sign of missing person in Colorado River at Grand Canyon.”
At least 1,180 people were reported missing in U.S. national parks between 2018 and the first two months of 2023, according to records obtained by the Post through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Grand Canyon Emergency Services recovers a deceased victim near the Yavapai Geological Museum on February 3, 2021.national park service
Many were found safely with the help of search and rescue teams. Others have been found injured or dead, either by suicide or by accident, but a small number of the disappearances have no explanation at all.
A postmortem review of the data revealed that Grand Canyon National Park had more deaths, more reported missing persons, and more suicides than other parks.
Most deaths are caused by falls in canyons, helicopter crashes, and overheating.
“A needle in a haystack”
One disappearance that doesn’t have an easy explanation is Charles Ryan, who has been missing for just over two years.
The 49-year-old man from Tyler, Texas was last seen on June 10, 2021 at a Best Western Motel in Tusayan, Arizona.
On February 18, 2023, Grand Canyon National Park rangers go beyond their limits to recover bodies.national park service
The next day, his car was found around the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, leading police to believe he was alone.
Jonghyun Won suffered a similar fate in September 2017, when his car was found parked on the South Rim of Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park.
The 45-year-old man did not tell anyone about his plans to stay in the area and was never seen again, the National Park Service (NPS) reported.
Floyd E. Roberts III, a Florida teacher, disappeared from Grand Canyon National Park on June 17, 2016, while hiking with a group on a nine-day excursion, police said.
The area was experiencing extreme heat when the 52-year-old man separated from the group.
Charles Ryan is described as 6-foot-3, 177 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. NPS
Roberts, who was a business technology and web design teacher at a middle school in Florida, was last seen in a remote area west of the Grand Canyon near Kelly Tank in the Shanley Springs area, according to WFLA. I was on my way there.
Their sudden disappearance is not easy to explain as their bodies have never been recovered.
Some people who fall into canyons remain undiscovered for years, such as the case of Scott Walsh, who disappeared in 2015 but whose body was not found until 2021.
What’s difficult to explain is the disappearance of 22-year-old Morgan Heimer.
She went missing in June 2015 while leading a tour group along the Colorado River near Pumpkin Springs.
Jonghyun Won is described as 5-foot-7, 121 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair. NPS
According to NPS records, Heimer was last seen helping a “customer jump off a low cliff into the water” for several minutes before around 4 p.m. on June 2.
“The last client completed the activity and Hymer and lead guide swapped positions,” the search log report states.
“The lead guide had just told Hymer that he was going to take some time off that afternoon. The lead guide walked off the cliff to talk to his client. When the lead guide turned around, Hymer was gone.”
The guide told searchers that he thought Heimer had left to take a break, but knew something was wrong when Heimer didn’t show up for dinner.
Hymer, a native of Cody, Wyoming, was described as having “high/excellent skills.”
Floyd E. Roberts III is described as 5-foot-11, 170 pounds with brown/gray hair and brown eyes. NPS
He was on day 6 of an 8 day trip.
Hymer’s family joined the search team in Arizona.
Crews spent six days searching the scene before winding down operations.
Immediate response to disappearances that occur in some of the most dangerous terrain in this country is in the hands of search and rescue crews, who are in a race against time due to the extreme elements in environments like the Grand Canyon.
“Looking for someone is really like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Ken Phillips, a longtime search and rescue expert, said of missing-person searches in Grand Canyon National Park. Ta.
Morgan Heimer was described as 6 feet tall, weighing 175 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes.
A now-retired NPS search and rescue director told the Post that rangers typically have minimal clues to find the person they’re looking for, such as a shoe print on the ground or a credit card receipt. he said.
“We need to realize how difficult it is to find just one person in such a large area.”
Not only is it difficult to find bodies in an already dangerous landscape, but they are also often exposed to extreme weather conditions, such as dry heat, which are known to accelerate deterioration.
In colder climates, snow often makes it harder to find bodies and evidence left behind. Ruins are also subject to scavenging by wild animals.
These cases in the vast Grand Canyon National Park are just a handful of cases that have been resolved nationwide.
Members of the Yosemite Search and Rescue Team train for fast water rescue operations on the Merced River in Yosemite National Park on Thursday, June 13, 2019 in Yosemite, California.From Hearst Newspapers, Getty Images
“There are no signs.”
Mysterious disappearances are occurring one after another in other national parks in the country.
Barry J. Tragen, 68, visited Glacier National Park in Montana in late July 2020.
Five days later, he was discovered and the alarm was raised when rangers noticed his car still parked near Kintla Lake, NPS said.
Rangers spent several weeks searching for signs of the man in Columbia Falls, Montana, and found a pair of sunglasses believed to be his.
A K9 was brought in and expressed interest in the area at the exit of the lake.
Barry Tragen is described as 5-foot-10, approximately 220 pounds, with gray hair and hazel eyes. NPS
Boats, ground search teams and underwater equipment were also used, but “no trace of Tragen was found,” authorities said.
NPS has scaled back its search efforts since August 10, 2020, and Tragen remains missing.
The July 2020 disappearance of Matthew Silveira, a man from Beverly, Massachusetts, was also reported to the National Park Service, where locals found his car abandoned just a few miles from the Cape Cod National Seashore. Officers found it and the Wellfleet Police Department was called to assist. Boston.com.
The NPS report said camping equipment and a cell phone were found inside the room, and that the 32-year-old man had a history of making “suicidal statements.”
Silveira’s car was found more than 190 miles from her hometown, but she was never found.
Search and rescue team members search the Lake Hiyaha area while searching for James Pruitt on March 6, 2019.Provided by: Rocky Mountain National Park
“No clues have been found.”
On February 28, 2019, James Pruitt drove 1,400 miles from his hometown of Etowah, Tennessee, to Rocky Mountain National Park.
According to NPS, the 70-year-old man parked his vehicle on the property at the Glacier Canyon trailhead.
Park rangers found his car on March 3 and became suspicious because it did not have an overnight parking permit.
Police said Pruitt’s family told rangers that they did not know where in the park he was planning to hike and had not heard from him since 10 a.m. on February 28.
Pruitt also said he did not plan to stay at the park overnight.
But by the time rangers learned Pruitt was missing, two feet of snow had fallen in Glacier Valley, making an already difficult search even more difficult, police said.
Rangers searched 15 square miles until March 11, 2019, when the search operation “entered limited sustained operations,” according to the NPS.
The 40-person search team briefly resumed operations in October after months of small, sporadic searches over the summer, but by then his body had been almost completely destroyed by wild animals. It may have been eaten away and no trace left.
In California, Peter Jackson texted his son on September 17, 2016, saying he was on his way to the busy Yosemite National Park.
He was staying at White Wolf Campground and had paid for parking until September 21, 2016.
Searchers are looking for any sign of James Pruitt, who is 5-foot-6, 150 pounds, with blue eyes and brownish-white hair. Courtesy: Rocky Mountain National Park Peter Jackson is described as 5 feet tall, 155 pounds, with blue eyes and gray hair.Yosemite NPS/Facebook
The avid hiker’s backpack was found in the area of Ackerson Meadows and Aspen Valley on Aug. 19, but neither he nor his remains have been found, officials said.
On the other side of the country, John Squires was rafting with friends when his boat capsized in American Creek in Alaska’s Katmai National Park on June 20, 2018.
He and others were thrown into fast-moving water when their raft struck an object in the water, NPS said. Squires was last seen heading down the river and trying to reach shore.
His friends were eventually able to swim to safety, but they were unable to reach Squires.
He is still missing nearly five years later.
John Squires is described as 5-foot-8, 195 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.
Chad Hewitt told Outside Online that his friend was “real”.
“His heart was in Alaska.”
https://nypost.com/2023/06/14/us-national-park-visitors-disparenting-without-a-trace/?utm_source=url_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons
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