Crews continue search for missing Yellowstone hiker

Two helicopters, 85 people, search dogs and a drone have canvassed the rugged terrain in southeast Yellowstone National Park since Saturday in search of missing hiker Austin King. Searchers located the man’s campsite, but have yet to find the 22-year-old, who was last heard from as a storm moved into the area.

The search was launched after King failed to show up for a scheduled boat pickup Friday on nearby Yellowstone Lake.

King, a concession employee working in Yellowstone, had set off a week earlier on a seven-day solo backpacking trip. On Sept. 17, halfway through his trip, he called friends and family to report he had summitted Eagle Peak, the tallest mountain in the park at 11,372 feet. A storm moved over the park that day, bringing rain, fog and what would turn into snow in higher elevations. On the phone call, King described sleet, hail and windy conditions, according to the National Park Service.

When he didn’t show up Friday afternoon on the shore of Yellowstone Lake’s Southeast Arm to catch a boat ride back across the 136-square-mile body of water, he was reported overdue to the Yellowstone Interagency Communications Center.

The search began at first light Saturday. Rescuers discovered King’s camp Saturday evening in the upper Howell Creek area.

During the three days of overhead flights and foot searches that followed, search crews with Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and Park and Teton counties encountered accumulations of snow and ice and 6-foot drifts on Eagle Peak.

Teams will search for the next several days as conditions are forecasted to improve, according to the NPS. Along with Eagle Peak, crews are searching in the vicinity of Eagle Pass Mountain Creek Trail and Eagle Creek Trailhead in Shoshone National Forest.

The park is asking for the public’s help in bringing clues about King’s whereabouts — particularly anyone who has traveled the backcountry near Eagle Peak since Sept. 14. King is 6 feet tall and slim with hazel eyes. He wears glasses and had on gray pants and a black sweatshirt when he set out. A provided photo shows him with brown shoulder-length hair, a stubble of facial hair and a bandana around his head.

Austin’s father, Brian King-Henke, who is from Minnesota, declined to talk to WyoFile, pointing instead to online information. King-Henke started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the search effort.

On the page, he said the family is “keeping an open mind for him to come home. Please keep Austin in your prayers.”

Anyone with information regarding King’s whereabouts can contact the Yellowstone Interagency Communications Center at 307-344-2643.

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