CA CA - Gary Nuetzel, 80, hiking in Chantry Flat, Angeles National Forest, Los Angeles County, 11 Oct 2024

[GuyfromCanada]

Gary Robert Nuetzel was hiking in Chantry Flat in the Angeles National Forest on Oct. 11 and has not been seen since, according to the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team.

More at https://ktla.com/news/local-news/man-80-missing-for-weeks-after-going-hiking-in-southern-california/

 

[mlhenn]

https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article295203639.html

An 80-year-old man who vanished Oct. 11 hiking in the Angeles National Forest remains missing, rescuers in California reported.

Gary Robert Nuetzel was “likely hiking alone with a small backpack and possibly carrying hiking poles” in the Chantry Flat area of the forest north of Los Angeles, Sierra Madre Search & Rescue said in an Instagram post.

 

[charminglane]

Oct. 11.
That's a long time.
The road up there just reopened the first week of Oct. from Bobcat Fire damage.
There has not been a peep about this gentleman that I have seen locally. I'm hyper local to Chantry.

 

[slowpoke]

“He’s very familiar with the area, he grew up in the Sierra Madre and Arcadia area and has in excess of 50 years of experience hiking in the area. He has very, very deep experience; we’d safely say he’s intimately familiar with the area,” said Rob Klusman, president and an operations leader with Sierra Madre Search and Rescue. “He is so familiar with the area that he knows a lot of places that are unusual, off the beaten path and not well-traveled, or not frequently visited by people, and certainly have not been visited since Chantry Flat reopened after the Bobcat Fire.”

As @charminglane says, the area was closed after the ‘Bobcat Fire’ and just reopened after 4 years. It is said the canyon has been dramatically transformed with some trails completely gone, areas that were impenetrable due to trees and bushes now a wide open slope, for example.

So, though Nuetzel was very familiar with the area before the fire, he still could have encountered challenges due to the radical changes from what he had known.

80 years old and hiking, that’s awesome. But after all this time (3 weeks), it does not give much hope that he will be ok, sadly.

Moo

https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/missing-hiker-chantry-flat-19894296.php

 

[charminglane]

Adams Pack Station

Located at Chantry Flat Hours of Operation: Mon-Fri 8:00am-5:00pm Sat & Sun 6:00-5:00pm Daily Adventure Pass Sold Here

adamspackstation.com

There are/were mules in the pack station to bring supplies down to the cabins that are left.
My hope is that he is holed up in one of those.

 

[charminglane]

Just drove by search headquarters on Grandview.
Lots of vehicles, looks like all hands on deck today to find him.
Cross your fingers today is the day!

 

[mlhenn]

Gary Robert Nuetzel

oag.ca.gov

Still missing