Mount Rainier Search For Overdue Solo Camper Concludes Successfully

Mount Rainier National Park (WA)
Search For Overdue Solo Camper Concludes Successfully

The search for an overdue solo camper in the Reflection Lakes area ended successfully on the morning of Thursday, February 26th, when searchers found her safe and sound at Mazama Ridge. The 46-year-old Federal Way woman had snowshoed in from the Narada Falls parking lot the previous Sunday, intending to winter camp for two nights and return on Tuesday. When her vehicle was seen in the parking lot on Tuesday and Wednesday, park staff began an investigation to determine if she was, indeed, overdue. This was confirmed by co-workers on Wednesday. In the three days since she began the trip on Sunday, the weather had changed from unseasonably mild to whiteout conditions with heavy snow. Over two feet of snow fell during this period. On Thursday morning, seven search parties, comprised of ranger staff and park staff from other divisions, skied and snowshoed out into the search area under the direction of IC Steve Klump. The woman was found within three hours, spotted as was getting out of her tent. She advised searchers that she had lost track of her location when the storm hit and decided the safest thing to do was to wait out the storm, a wait that would last two additional nights.