WY WY - Austin King, 22, Yellowstone National Park, Eagle Peak, 17 Sept 2024

[mlhenn]

Authorities searching for man in Yellowstone Park who's been missing since Tuesday - East Idaho News

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK – Authorities in Yellowstone National Park are searching for a man who’s been missing since Tuesday. Twenty-two-year-old Austin King’s last known location was at the summit of Eagle Peak in the park’s southeast corner. He called friends and family from that location...

www.eastidahonews.com

Yellowstone National Park asks public for help locating missing man, 22, last heard from Tuesday | Gephardt Daily

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyoming, Sept. 22, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) -- Yellowstone National Park is asking for the public’s assistance in locating Austin King, a 22-year-old man last heard from on Tuesday when he called a family member from the summit of Eagle Peak in the park’s remote southeast...

gephardtdaily.com

King is 6 feet tall and weighs 160 pounds. He has brown hair, hazel eyes, wears glasses, and was last seen in a black sweatshirt and gray pants.

Austin King, a 22-year-old man was last heard from on Tuesday when he called a family member from the summit of Eagle Peak in the park’s remote southeast corner.

Yellowstone and Grand Teton National parks, Park County, Wyoming, and Teton County, Wyoming search and rescue teams are actively looking for King, a park concessions employee, in the vicinity of Eagle Peak

 

[mlhenn]

Yellowstone National Park asks public for help locating missing man, 22, last heard from Tuesday | Gephardt Daily

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyoming, Sept. 22, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) -- Yellowstone National Park is asking for the public’s assistance in locating Austin King, a 22-year-old man last heard from on Tuesday when he called a family member from the summit of Eagle Peak in the park’s remote southeast...

gephardtdaily.com

Austin King last spoke to friends and family on Sept. 17 from the summit of Eagle Peak.

He was reported missing on Friday Sept 20.
King never showed up for his boat pickup on the southeast portion of Lake Yellowstone on Friday afternoon.

Officials found King's personal items and his campsite Saturday night.

 

[mlhenn]

https://www.facebook.com/100044183181685/posts/1088721812610581

King reported rain, hail, wind and fog while on the summit.

 

[CrimeDawg123]

Yellowstone National Park asks public for help locating missing man, 22, last heard from Tuesday | Gephardt Daily

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyoming, Sept. 22, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) -- Yellowstone National Park is asking for the public’s assistance in locating Austin King, a 22-year-old man last heard from on Tuesday when he called a family member from the summit of Eagle Peak in the park’s remote southeast...

gephardtdaily.com

Austin King last spoke to friends and family on Sept. 17 from the summit of Eagle Peak.

He was reported missing on Friday Sept 20.
King never showed up for his boat pickup on the southeast portion of Lake Yellowstone on Friday afternoon.

Officials found King's personal items and his campsite Saturday night.

It would be good to know more about the state of the "camp and personal belongings". Was it a case of he left his camp to just go poo in a hole? Or was he off on a day hike? Surely they have an idea based on what they found there. Super concerning if his camp still had the things he'd need for shelter and survival, i.e sleeping bag etc.

 

[PommyMommy]

SEP 23, 2024

Search launched for Yellowstone worker missing for 6 days in remote part of park

Search teams are looking for Austin King, a 22-year-old concession worker at Yellowstone National Park who went missing on a backcountry trip.

www.cbsnews.com

A search and rescue effort is ongoing in Yellowstone National Park after an employee went missing last week on a trip through the backcountry.

• Austin is a concession worker at Yellowstone.
• He was on a 7-day backcountry trip when he vanished.
• A boat dropped him off on Sat, Sep 14 at Terrace Point, along the southeast arm of the lake.
• On Mon 9/16 he spoke to a park ranger at Howell Creek cabin which was not on his intended route.
• He was planning to send the night at a campsite in the area before climbing Eagle Peak on Tuesday.
• His last contact was the evening of Tues, Sep 17 when he called friends and family from the summit of Eagle Peak.
• He described fog, rain, sleet, hail and windy conditions on the summit, which is more than 11,300 feet, and the highest point in the park located in the extremely remote southeastern corner.
• The National Park Service is circulating a missing person flier (see below).
• Austin is 6' tall with brown hair and hazel eyes.
• He wore a black sweatshirt and gray pants and carried a dark colored backpack when he disappeared.
• He also wears glasses and has tattoos.

 

[truthfinder2019]

Rescuers in Yellowstone National Park searched the area of Eagle Peak on Sunday in an effort to find a park concession worker who failed to check in at the end of a personal trip, authorities said.
…
On Sunday, more than 20 searchers on the ground were aided by two helicopter-based crews, drones and a canine search team in the so-far unsuccessful effort to find the missing man on and around Eagle Peak, the park service said.
…
It’s not clear what happened between his summit on that day and his failure to show up for a boat on Friday.…It's not clear what became of a 2006 Chevrolet Silverado pickup with Minnesota plates that the park service said is associated with King.
..
In the last three days, temperatures in Yellowstone National Park have bottomed out in the high 20s and struggled to break the 60-degree mark, according to National Weather Service data.

Rescuers search for Yellowstone concession worker missing after backcountry hike in bad weather

Austin King, 22, missed a scheduled boat trip on Friday at Yellowstone Lake’s Southeast Arm after a seven-day mountain trek, authorities said.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[truthfinder2019]

This is the trail to go up to Eagle Peak from Terrace Point. If the weather conditions were problematic, he must have kept this trail instead of more direct ones, posing camp at /near Howell creek which is on tne trail



Point A is Howell Creek

ETA: if you zoom in, there is only that trail highlighted in blue, IMO he had planned the same way back given the weather conditions and having left his camp at Howell creek

 

[truthfinder2019]

The only cabin in the area is the first red circle, and the camp site, not far from Eagle Peak, is the second bigger red circle:



IMO he must still be at and around the Peak area, I hope safe

 

[mst]

His truck being mia is interesting

 

[CrimeDawg123]

It doesn't look too extreme from the elevation profile, until maybe the last bit to Eagle Peak itself

 

[sunflowermomma]

is crime common in Yellowstone/Yellowstone parking lots? I know in Washington State trailheads have a lot of property crime with stuff stolen from cars, perhaps even stolen cars from time to time - does this happen at Yellowstone?

 

[Snoopster]

I wonder if he signed the Eagle Peak register.
That route up from Eagle Pass (where you veer off the trail and start to ascend to the peak) looks very dangerous. It's easy to see how Austin could have had an accident or gotten lost. There doesn't appear to be a clear route up/down, so it must be very difficult for searchers, as Austin could be anywhere. And since he didn't seem to make it back to his camp at SD8, this seems to be the most likely place he ran into trouble.

Here is a link to a YT video of 2 guys climbing to the peak. They came to Eagle Pass from the trail to the north, while Austin came at it from the south. But they all likely started their ascent at Eagle Pass. Go to 11:00 in the video to see that point to get a sense of the ascent.

It's also possible that he ran into a bear on the trail once he descended back to the trail, but I would presume there would be evidence of a bear attack, wouldn't there?

As an aside, I'm confused about the comment that his truck is missing. He got dropped off by boat and was supposed to catch a boat back, so he wouldn't have had his truck with him. Is it missing from where he parked and set off by boat? That wouldn't explain why he didn't make it back to his campsite though.

 

[CrimeDawg123]

I wonder if he signed the Eagle Peak register.
That route up from Eagle Pass (where you veer off the trail and start to ascend to the peak) looks very dangerous. It's easy to see how Austin could have had an accident or gotten lost. There doesn't appear to be a clear route up/down, so it must be very difficult for searchers, as Austin could be anywhere. And since he didn't seem to make it back to his camp at SD8, this seems to be the most likely place he ran into trouble.

Here is a link to a YT video of 2 guys climbing to the peak. They came to Eagle Pass from the trail to the north, while Austin came at it from the south. But they all likely started their ascent at Eagle Pass. Go to 11:00 in the video to see that point to get a sense of the ascent.

It's also possible that he ran into a bear on the trail once he descended back to the trail, but I would presume there would be evidence of a bear attack, wouldn't there?

As an aside, I'm confused about the comment that his truck is missing. He got dropped off by boat and was supposed to catch a boat back, so he wouldn't have had his truck with him. Is it missing from where he parked and set off by boat? That wouldn't explain why he didn't make it back to his campsite though.

Wow, yeah that looks tough. So presumably he set up his camp at SD8 then did a summit hike with just some bare essentials, like these guys did, then encountered a problem on the way back. I would think a bear attack would leave a lot of evidence. From this video, it's clear how easily something bad could happen. This is a really beautiful video by the way, thanks for posting it. Kudos to these guys.

 

[RedHaus]

I wonder if he signed the Eagle Peak register...Go to 11:00 in the video to see that point to get a sense of the ascent.

RS&BBM
I do too, now that I've seen the register being signed by those climbers @~16:00.

Thanks for finding this video.

The last 'trail' segment to the peak looks like quite a treacherous hike, especially with the lack of trail marks and all the loose stone on steep slopes. If AK's ascent is confirmed by his sign-in and / or phone pings, then I too suspect a bad fall or getting lost during descent (if bad weather, especially) are likely scenarios.

But AK's missing truck is an odd detail, although it may have been coincidentally stolen or towed after sitting so long. Presuming he took the "sailing route" described by the climber in the video, it looks like he parked at or near the Visitor Center at Lake Village per map images in video.

ETA... Or... if AK could get a boat ride, he may have parked at the Visitor Center in Grant Village.

All IMO.

 

[dotr]

Officials searching for missing man in Yellowstone

Officials are searching for a missing 22-year-old man in the southeast corner of Yellowstone National Park.Austin King last spoke to friends and family on Sept.

nbcmontana.com

 

[RedHaus]

Here is an interesting 'invesigative' article about missing people in Yellowstone National Park. This bit caught my attention as sadly it may apply to AK:

"It’s also difficult to state with full certainty that some of the missing are dead because their remains are not likely to be left undisturbed by wildlife roaming the park.... However, if a person does die, it’s likely their remains will never be found... “If you die off in this part of the country, your body is not to going to stay around long,” he said. “There’s going to be bears, wolves, coyotes and foxes … within a week, there’s not going to be much evidence left of the body.”" [Per Former park ranger Richard Jones.]

p.s. and sadly the dark clothing and backpack AK may have been wearing while solo hiking will make it difficult to find him or his body.

 

[truthfinder2019]

The other odd thing is that the articles claim that he stopped at a cabin nearby Howell Creek (see also my thread #8), changing in this way his initially foreseen route, but there is no other hiking trail than the one going via Howell creek to get to the peak he chose…

 

[kccorona]

I’m curious if the time (7pm) that he last spoke with family/friends on the 17th was a typical time to reach the summit? It seems late, but maybe he was planning to camp along the way down so he could afford to be up there later, not needing to allot time to descend in daytime light.
Along those same lines- I know he reported rainy/cold weather, but was he prepared to climb in those conditions, and was this weather out of the ordinary for a mid September summit? In other words, was he concerned about these conditions during the conversation at the summit, or was he simply referring conditions as a standard part of the call w family at the top of a mountain?

 

[azure]

I don't think his truck is missing. I think someone dutifully entered his "associated vehicle" in the space allotted on the missing flyer. I think his truck is either at his residence or at the boat launch. JMO

 

[truthfinder2019]

Austin’s full name is Austin King-Henke, from Winona Minnesota
This is his FB

Austin King-Henke

Austin King-Henke is on Facebook. Join Facebook to connect with Austin King-Henke and others you may know. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected.

www.facebook.com