Fern was from Park City, Utah. She worked as a realtor at Powder Beach Realty. Her LinkedIn profile listed her as the Owner/Principal Broker at this company. She sold residential homes but also provided vacation rentals at various mountain resorts in Utah.
She also founded the company
YopaBag; she designed bags intended for carrying yoga supplies to class. This idea was born from her own love of yoga.
Not much is known about what may have happened to Fern. She signed the trail logbook around 1:00 in the afternoon and was never seen again. Around that same time, a group of hikers from Tulsa signed the book. They were located and questioned, but they reported that they never saw Fern.
From the Prairie Creek Trailhead, Fern may have hiked either the Prairie Lakes trail or the Miner Lake trail. The trails were steady but wouldn't have been difficult for a healthy, athletic hiker such as Fern. For example, the Prairie Lakes trail is about 5 miles one way. It leads through meadows and mixed conifer forests alongside Prairie Creek. Miner Lake trail is about 4 miles one way and is more difficult, featuring a steep climb to Miner Lake.
https://www./10005661/hiker-fern-baird-still-missing-6-months-later
A Vast Wilderness
On Thursday afternoon, October 22, 2020, the hotel Fern was staying at notified the police that she had never checked out or returned to the hotel after her hike. The
Blaine County Sheriff's Search and Rescue members (BCSAR) and BCSO deputies began a search.
They had a lot of ground to cover. The trailhead where Fern signed in is within the Sawtooth National Forest, which covers 2,110,408 acres. Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue aided in the search. A group of forty searchers scoured the Prairie Lakes, Minor Lakes, Norton Lakes, and Mill Lake regions. They utilized three K-9 units, two drones, several Idaho National Guard helicopters, and officers on foot, motorcycle, and horseback.
No trace of Fern was found. One last major search was made on October 30, 2020. When nothing was found, not even a clue of Fern's whereabouts, the search was officially called off.
Blaine County Sheriff Steve Harkins said, “This is not the outcome that we were hoping for, but ... we have exhausted our resources."