A search is underway for a missing man in Wyoming.
Austin King, a 22-year-old concessions worker, has been missing since Sept. 17 after he failed to show up for his boat pickup following a 7-day backcountry tour to the summit of Eagle Peak, Yellowstone National Park said in a news release on Facebook.
The park said of the missing employee: “[King] was reported overdue to the Yellowstone Interagency Communications Center when he failed to show up for his boat pickup near the Southeast Arm of Yellowstone Lake on Friday afternoon, September 20, after his scheduled [trip].”
According to the press release, King was “last heard from on Tuesday, September 17, when he called friends and family from the summit of Eagle Peak in the remote southeastern part of the park.”
He is described as being 6'1″ tall, weighing 165 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. He was last seen wearing glasses, a black sweatshirt, and gray pants.
The Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming.
Getty
At 7 p.m. local time on September 17, King reported from his trip that there were “fog, rain, sleet, hail and windy conditions,” NBC News reported, citing the press release.
A missing person flier obtained by East Idaho News states that King was dropped off by boat at the start of his journey on Sept. 14. He then spoke with a ranger at the Howell Cr. hut off his planned route on Sept. 16 before setting off on his summit climb of Eagle Peak the next day.
Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park authorities, Park County authorities and local rescue teams began searching for King with air and ground support on the morning of September 21. His camp and personal belongings were found that same evening “in the upper Howell Creek area.”
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The search for the 22-year-old will continue in the Eagle Peak area as well as on the Eagle Pass Mountain Creek Trail and the Eagle Creek Trailhead in the Shoshone National Forest, the press release said.
“Today, more than 20 ground searchers, two helicopters, unmanned aerial systems and a search dog team are concentrating their efforts near Eagle Peak,” the park said.
Public assistance is currently being requested in the search for King.
“Anyone who has been in the wilderness near Eagle Peak since September 14 may have seen King,” the park said in a press release.
The park asked anyone with information on King's whereabouts to contact the Yellowstone Interagency Communications Center at 307-344-2643.
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