US3 min(s) read
Published 11:24 14 May 2026 GMT
A missing hiker was found dead after a massive multi-day rescue operation in the North Cascades.
The 34-year-old man from Bothell, a city northeast of Seattle, had gone hiking alone over the weekend but was reported missing after he failed to show up for work on Sunday, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office reported.
According to the Daily Mail, deputies later found his vehicle abandoned at the Mount Pugh trailhead near Darrington, sparking an urgent search involving several mountain rescue teams and sheriff’s office helicopters.
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Police said the search expanded into a major operation involving members of the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, Snohomish County Volunteer Search and Rescue, Everett Mountain Rescue, Skagit Mountain Rescue, Tacoma Mountain Rescue, Olympic Mountain Rescue, and Seattle Mountain Rescue Units.
During the first 12 hours of the hunt, hikers descending the mountain helped investigators narrow down the missing man’s last known location.
A pair of sheriff’s office helicopters was later dispatched to assist from the air.
Rescue crews eventually spotted the hiker’s equipment at the top of a steep couloir, described as a vertical gully running down the mountain, per HeraldNet.
On Tuesday (May 12), the third day of the search, mountain rescue teams were flown into the area by helicopter and lowered into the dangerous terrain.
Per the sheriff’s office, crews discovered the missing hiker’s body '800 vertical feet from where the initial personal hiking equipment was located'.
His body was later recovered and transported by helicopter to Taylor’s Landing, the headquarters for Snohomish County Volunteer Search and Rescue.
The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office is now working to officially identify the body and determine the cause and manner of death.
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The heartbreaking discovery comes amid a string of recent fatal hiking and climbing incidents involving Americans.
Earlier this week, a business owner from Utah tragically passed away after she was swept away in an avalanche while descending Mount Makalu in Nepal.
Reports said she later died from her injuries in her husband’s arms.
And on May 6, a missing hiker in Montana’s Glacier National Park was found dead following a suspected bear attack, ABC News reported.
Search and rescue teams located the man’s body roughly 50 feet off the Mt. Brown Trail in a heavily wooded area.
"His injuries are consistent with those sustained by a bear encounter," the National Park Service said in a press release.
"Wildlife and law enforcement personnel are currently assessing the area for bear activity and any ongoing public safety concerns."
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