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Crews Search Mount Rainier’s Wonderland Trail For Missing Hiker
Thursday, July 17, 2014 1:56
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Mount Rainier is seen from a small footbridge at a lower elevation of the Wonderland Trail across the Nisqually River. (Wikimedia Commons photo by Joe Mabel)
MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. – Search efforts are under way in Mount Rainier National Park for a day hiker who went missing Saturday while hiking with his son in the Panhandle Gap area on the Wonderland Trail.
Edwin Birch, 64, from Tacoma set out from Box Canyon early Saturday morning after he dropped his son off at White River to hike the same trail in the opposite direction, said a Mount Rainier National Park spokesperson.
Both father and son had set a goal to hike the Wonderland Trail in sections, and their plan was to hike the section between Box Canyon and White River, roughly 19 miles in length.
At about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Birch and his son met midway on the trail near Indian Bar at around the 6,600 feet level. The son said his father seemed well, although he was a bit tired.
After arriving at the Box Canyon trailhead around midnight, the son picked up the car and drove to pick up his father at White River. When his father did not appear he notified park rangers at White River at 1:30 a.m. Sunday.
Mount Rainier National Park initiated search efforts Sunday morning at about 7 a.m., with 10 ground searchers and an MD530 helicopter from Northwest. Helicopters. The entire trail and surrounding areas were covered that day without any signs of the missing hiker.
On Monday, more than 50 people joined the search, including members from Everett, Tacoma, and Olympia Mountain Rescues, along with an Everett Mountain Rescue dog team, and air support from Northwest Helicopters.
The search will continue Tuesday.
A park spokesperson said the Wonderland Trail is snow-covered above 6,300 feet and patchy at other locations.
