Found Safe Canada - Maya Mirota & Marta Malek, both 16, Algonquin Park, 11 July 2019

[smalleagles]

I have a Polish friend from Canada that was a scout in one of these groups when she was younger. She loved it and went on many long camping/hiking trips with her group. Her group learned a lot about outdoor survival skills, and I really hope the group Maya and Marta are a part of does too. Did they have cell phones with them?

 

[musicaljoke]

I have a Polish friend from Canada that was a scout in one of these groups when she was younger. She loved it and went on many long camping/hiking trips with her group. Her group learned a lot about outdoor survival skills, and I really hope the group Maya and Marta are a part of does too. Did they have cell phones with them?

There is no cell phone service in Algonquin Park back country, so they probably don't have cell phones with them.

 

[smalleagles]

There is no cell phone service in Algonquin Park back country, so they probably don't have cell phones with them.

Ah, thank you

 

[Snoopster]

There is no cell phone service in Algonquin Park back country, so they probably don't have cell phones with them.

My brother has a cottage just south of Algonquin Park. It is a 2o minute drive to cell coverage. Of course, in good circumstances, it makes you 'disconnect' and it is wonderful. In an emergency....not so much.

 

[Cosmia]

Did they have cell phones with them?

An article mentioned they do not have phones with them, so if true that means no chance they'll pick up any signal at all for 911.

I still have high hopes. It is a huge park--larger than the entire state of Delaware, most of it densely forested and wild. The trail they were on is, IIRC, the largest backpacking trail in the park and has multiple "loops," the largest being an 88 km (54 mi) hike. Plenty of room to get lost. Lots of people camp in Algonquin, but the larger loops aren't exactly highly-trafficked. Once you're out of view of the trail you're in trouble.

However, Algonquin is full of water (best boiled, filtered or chemically purified--but worth the risk if there's no other option) and the weather is ideal right now, around 12C at night - 30C mid-day. Experienced young campers could survive quite a while. I hope that these girls are sticking together, camped out somewhere, and found soon.

 

[LadyL]

More photos here:

OPPCommunicationsER on Twitter

thank you - here's some that haven't been posted

 

[Savemecastiel]

Bump

 

[ms_x_to_the_m]

Updated pic from the day they went missing

 

[ms_x_to_the_m]

Hoping they are camped out waiting to be discovered.
I'm thinking that maybe they don't know that they are missing. So is it possible that they continued with their trip?
Has it been said how long their trip was for?

 

[Curiousobserver]

An article mentioned they do not have phones with them, so if true that means no chance they'll pick up any signal at all for 911.

I still have high hopes. It is a huge park--larger than the entire state of Delaware, most of it densely forested and wild. The trail they were on is, IIRC, the largest backpacking trail in the park and has multiple "loops," the largest being an 88 km (54 mi) hike. Plenty of room to get lost. Lots of people camp in Algonquin, but the larger loops aren't exactly highly-trafficked. Once you're out of view of the trail you're in trouble.

However, Algonquin is full of water (best boiled, filtered or chemically purified--but worth the risk if there's no other option) and the weather is ideal right now, around 12C at night - 30C mid-day. Experienced young campers could survive quite a while. I hope that these girls are sticking together, camped out somewhere, and found soon.

They have a great chance to be able to survive weeks if that is needed to find them.

I hope they are still together and that they try to get into the open where they can be seen from the air and then just stay put.

As the OP said this place is huge! -something like 3,000 sq. miles, or roughly the size of a small European country, and at this time of year densely forested.

 

[LadyL]

glad to see this - lots of people looking for them:

On Saturday morning, police said they launched an air and ground search for the teens —.with the assistance of an OPP helicopter and fixed-wing plane from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests (MNRF).

Members of the OPP Emergency Response Team, canine unit, park staff, members of the Ontario Search and Rescue Association and officers from several other detachments have also been assisting with the search, scouring the area on the ground.

Major search underway for two missing Kitchener teens in Algonquin Park

ETA: oops just noticed @dotr already posted this info on the previous page

 

[LadyL]

more info:

The girls were last seen Thursday with camping equipment, a tent and enough food to last several days, police said. They were reported missing Friday after they failed to arrive at a pre-determined checkpoint with a group of fellow campers.

The girls did not have a cellphone with them, police said.

Search efforts began Saturday and continued into Sunday. Police said Sunday that they had received "a large number of calls and messages" regarding possible sightings of the girls in the large, remote provincial park.

Two teenage girls missing in Ontario's Algonquin Park

 

[Snoopster]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/otta...ind-missing-teens-in-algonquin-park-1.5211486

 

[dotr]

rbbm.
'We know they're out there somewhere,' Search continues for missing campers in Algonquin Park
“We know they are out there, somewhere, and we have been getting a lot of phone calls coming in, some of them saying they may have seen two girls matching this description walking along Highway 60 outside the park and that is a possibility,” OPP Spokesperson Bill Dickson told CP24 on Monday morning. “Right now, we are really stressing to anyone who has seen two girls matching this description to call 1 (888) 310-1122 to report the sighting.”

Dickson said that the area where the girls disappeared from has a “very rugged terrain and a “dense tree canopy.”

He said that an OPP helicopter as well as a float plane from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests have both been surveying the area for the girls but won’t necessarily be able to spot them through the forest.

“They do have some experience camping, they do know a little bit about what they are doing so our hope is that if they do hear a aircraft passing overhead they will find a big enough clearing that our aircraft will be able to see them,” he said."

 

[margarita25]

Here's a link to a trail map of Algonquin:
Jeff's Algonquin Provincial Park Map
The Western Uplands trail is located off of highway 60 just past the West Gate (near the left side of the map). There's also a less commonly used access point at Rain Lake at the top of the trail.
I've hiked the trail many times - Rainbow Lake is about 20 km's from the hwy 60 trailhead and a bit further from the Rain Lake access point.

Monika, thanks so much for providing more background info as this situation is really gnawing at me (I have a teenage daughter).
It would be good to know which way they were heading when last seen. If they were heading south, the trail is fairly well marked and the terrain gets generally easier the further south you go. There also tends to me more backpackers in the southern section.
If they headed north/northwest, there are a couple of spots where the trail takes a less obvious turn. I really hope that they are somewhere on/near the trail and did not venture too far off. As Snoopster said, the temps have been warm and there's no shortage of water so that's a huge plus for them and I'm hopeful that they will be located soon.

Welcome hiker72, @Zayn Jinah and @Monika K

 

[ms_x_to_the_m]

walking along Highway 60 outside the park and that is a possibility

Uhm, what, what, WHAT?
Hmmm is it possible that they decided to go missing? This is very weird, IF true

 

[iveyguy]

I know Algonquin Park quite well. I am both very concerned but also very surprised that two people could be missing in that part of the park for 4+ days. Algonquin is a massive park, but the area in which they are is relatively close to civilization. Their last location is approximately 5 km (3 miles) North of the Main Highway through the park. It's approx 3 km (2 miles) West of one of the largest, most active lakes in the park (Canoe Lake). The other directions lead you deeper into the wilderness BUT would eventually re-connect back to a major hiking trail (i.e. the trail that they were on has several loops). There would certainly be some other people on the trails & lakes during this time of year. If two experienced hikers got lost in this area - but remained mobile - I would expect them to encounter civilization within a day or so, as long as they kept moving in the same direction (and we not "walking in circles"). The area is a very thick forest, but there are a number of lakes and clearings that a lost hiker would eventually find and presumably stay near to if waiting to be found. For these girls NOT to be found after a large aerial & ground search is deeply concerning to me; it indicates to me that they are:

A) Not mobile (due to injury, illness, etc.). Algonquin does have a large black bear population, but attacks on humans are extremely rare. However, things like sprains, fractures, dehydration, would be common injury concerns for backpackers.

B) No longer in the area. The Police have indicated that they have received numerous tips. For example, someone on Twitter (who contacted policed) claimed to see two girls - one very tall and one very short - walking along the Highway. The fact that police are receiving a "large volume" of tips is encouraging to this possibility. If they had WANTED to disappear from the group, they probably could have made it to civilization after one really long day of hiking, and could have received a ride with a passerby out of the park.

The longer that this goes on, the more I hope scenario B plays out, and that this was just a really dumb decision by two teenagers.

 

[Snoopster]

Uhm, what, what, WHAT?
Hmmm is it possible that they decided to go missing? This is very weird, IF true

I think this is based on a comment on Twitter to the OPP, where a couple said they saw two young females walking along Hwy 60. They noticed them because they 'made an odd couple due to their extreme height difference'.
I'm guessing that the OPP is trying to determine whether or not this was a credible sighting.

The couple said they saw them at around 11:00 a.m. (It wasn't clear to me which day this was, Presumably Friday?)

 

[Curiousobserver]

I know Algonquin Park quite well. I am both very concerned but also very surprised that two people could be missing in that part of the park for 4+ days. Algonquin is a massive park, but the area in which they are is relatively close to civilization. Their last location is approximately 5 km (3 miles) North of the Main Highway through the park. It's approx 3 km (2 miles) West of one of the largest, most active lakes in the park (Canoe Lake). The other directions lead you deeper into the wilderness BUT would eventually re-connect back to a major hiking trail (i.e. the trail that they were on has several loops). There would certainly be some other people on the trails & lakes during this time of year. If two experienced hikers got lost in this area - but remained mobile - I would expect them to encounter civilization within a day or so, as long as they kept moving in the same direction (and we not "walking in circles"). The area is a very thick forest, but there are a number of lakes and clearings that a lost hiker would eventually find and presumably stay near to if waiting to be found. For these girls NOT to be found after a large aerial & ground search is deeply concerning to me; it indicates to me that they are:

A) Not mobile (due to injury, illness, etc.). Algonquin does have a large black bear population, but attacks on humans are extremely rare. However, things like sprains, fractures, dehydration, would be common injury concerns for backpackers.

B) No longer in the area. The Police have indicated that they have received numerous tips. For example, someone on Twitter (who contacted policed) claimed to see two girls - one very tall and one very short - walking along the Highway. The fact that police are receiving a "large volume" of tips is encouraging to this possibility. If they had WANTED to disappear from the group, they probably could have made it to civilization after one really long day of hiking, and could have received a ride with a passerby out of the park.

The longer that this goes on, the more I hope scenario B plays out, and that this was just a really dumb decision by two teenagers.

Interesting- I have been looking at trail maps etc.. and you can see that from the Google satellite images (that there should be "civilization" nearby but I have never been there and so didn't want to comment. I did think it was a bit strange to get so many tips about kids missing in the middle of the forest.

 

[ms_x_to_the_m]

I know Algonquin Park quite well. I am both very concerned but also very surprised that two people could be missing in that part of the park for 4+ days. ………..

............The longer that this goes on, the more I hope scenario B plays out, and that this was just a really dumb decision by two teenagers.

I agree with this. They are not in the middle of nowhere. Like with civilization tucked away by days. There should be people walking around, at least they should be hikers coming and going per day, half days. especially on weekends.
I was really reserving my judgement, thinking maybe they continued walking further into the park. However, they should have encountered someone by now. If they are injured, or one is, I do hope they have set up camp and someone stumbled into them.

I have told my kids when we are camping, to always stay on a trail if they are lost. Chances are they will meet someone. Especially during summer. Now if it was in December, then the threat of danger is multiplied.