Overdue Hiker - Do You Have Any Info?

[RoguePhotonic]

It's a bad time to get lost with such a large search radius including tons of cross country travel.

It's so easy to slip when stepping on rocks covered in fresh snow. Your print mashes down the snow making it slick.

[KathyW]

I hope Larry is okay.

He would have made it to the Taboose Pass area on Friday. Then on Saturday he would have been on the JMT heading south or north. If he was coming out on Monday, by Saturday night he would have been close to his halfway point.

I'm wondering if he decided to make the trip shorter and try Cardinal or Striped Mountain up by Taboose Pass? Otherwise if he went south, as others have suggested around Mount Pinchot, Mount Wynne, or even Perkins - lots of loose crap in that area. If he went north, maybe up by Split or Prater like his possible itinerary.

Has he done Arrow Peak before? Maybe he decided to head to Bench Lake and take a look at Arrow Peak - that one has such a nice view.

Larry has a good bit of experience and he is careful (at least he was the time I hiked with him); so I hope the weather has just delayed him.

[KathyW]

I guess it is also possible that he would go over the crest north of Perkins and drop down into Armstrong Canyon - this is probably not that likely though because he'd have to haul his full pack up that loose crap up and over the crest.

[maverick]

Larry would have checked the weather forecast and have been prepared for the impending storm. In regards to his trail hikers we use the same kind and they will do well in snow.

Freestone wrote:
He seemed focused on getting to the Muir

Muir what? He had mention planning a route next year with a friend and hoping to find a route to Amphitheater Lake from Birch Lake. Could he have gone over Mather to scope out the area north of Bolton Brown?

[Electra]

Just wanted to send out Positive thoughts and vibes to Larry. Hoping he just hunkered down and is safe and will be home soon.....

[Flux]

Would he have tried to bail out and go low for the West Side and avoid the snowed covered passes?? Either by way of the Woods Creek drainage or down the South Fork of the Kings River?? Maybe?? Just a thought. I know if I got caught I would try to get low.

Good vibes his way and a safe return........

[paul]

posted the flyer link over on BPL just in case.

[SEKI Public Affairs]

Thanks, everyone, for calling with any info and forwarding this flyer to anyone who may have seen him. We really appreciate it!

[SSSdave]

Would he have tried to bail out and go low for the West Side and avoid the snowed covered passes?? Either by way of the Woods Creek drainage or down the South Fork of the Kings River?? Maybe?? Just a thought. I know if I got caught I would try to get low.

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=36.94660,-11 ... lakes%20WY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He may not have made a late check on NWS forecasts before leaving which is dangerous at this time of year.

Was near Marjorie or Bench, got caught in the storm that dumped 1 to 2 feet of snow, and even if he did try moving towards Taboos at first, soon realized how that would be increasingly unpleasant so dropped down in the canyon below bench and hunkered below some dense trees where the snow was thin. And had to endure a day more of scattered intermittent snow showers before sun came out. Then he may have tried to make a fire and waited for snow to melt. After a couple days noticed it was not going to melt much because it was too deep. So decided to go down Muro Blanco which is a major pain even without snow. With snow he would be punching through snow atop brush.

[freestone]

I have just received the Flyer as an e-mail attachment from SEKI:

You are being contacted because you had a permit for hiking in the Inyo National Forest or Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks. We are looking for Larry Conn a hiker that has not returned from backpacking trip this weekend. Please take a look at the flyer. If you have any information please contact me via email or my number listed below. Thank you for your help.

SEKI is now using the permit program to find individuals who applied for permits during the same time period that Larry did.

Mav....Muir Trail

His plans seemed very straightforward because of his limited time schedule of 4 days. Getting in and out of Taboose takes up two of those days.