Found Deceased CO - Josh Hall, 27, Boulder County hike, dog Happy, 3 Feb 2021

[Dallas Volunteer]

Search continues for missing Arvada man

A 27-year-old Colorado man was last seen Wednesday morning as he set out for a hike in Boulder County. The search continues for Josh Hall after crews previously encountered inclement weather Wednesday night.

Hall's cell phone was last pinged near the Devil's Thumb Trail and Diamond Lake cut-off, officials from the Boulder County Sheriff's Office said.

He was last seen wearing a green khaki jacket, dark hat and wearing a gray and green backpack. If anyone comes across any of these items, they are encouraged to contact dispatch at 303-441-4444 immediately.

Hall left for his hike around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Hessie trailhead near Nederland, where his vehicle was later found. He was reported overdue at 6:18 p.m., BCSO official said.

Aerial searches have been performed and rescuers on the ground have utilized snowshoes and snowmobiles since the search began on Wednesday.

Weather conditions and high winds have made the search difficult as aerial searches have since been grounded, officials said.
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Hessie Trailhead is a popular hiking destination on Colorado's Front Range near Eldora and Nederland. Many use this trailhead to access the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Devils Thumb, Lost Lake, King Lake, Woodland Lake, and Diamond Lake trails.

 

[Dallas Volunteer]

Search For Missing Hiker, Josh Hall, & Dog Continues
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Hall, from Arvada, was hiking near Nederland that morning with his dog. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office found his vehicle at the Hessie Trailhead later that evening.

Hall is described as 6-feet-4-inches tall and approximately 200 lbs. He was last seen wearing a green jacket, dark hat and a grey/green backpack. The dog’s name is Happy.

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[Wild Rose]

Oh no, this sounds awful. I hope he had a backpack with supplies.

 

[dspdenver]

Search continues for missing Arvada man
Hall's cell phone was last pinged near the Devil's Thumb Trail and Diamond Lake cut-off, officials from the Boulder County Sheriff's Office said.

Here's that area in relation to the Hessie TH and other trails (the Diamond Lake trail cuts off to the north before Jasper Lake):
Selection

 

[mlhenn]

Boulder County Sheriff's Office says no leads yet on missing hiker

Boulder County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Carrie Haverfield said that search efforts continued on Saturday in the Hessie Trailhead, near Nederland.

“Search crews were up in the area again today with an additional ground search,” Haverfield wrote in an email. “Unfortunately, no luck in finding anything.”

The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office tweeted about the efforts Saturday. They asked for the people hiking the Hessie Trailhead, including near the Devil’s Thumb Trail and Diamond Lake cut-off, to be vigilant for discarded clothing or a dog leash.

 

[10ofRods]

The newspaper write-up is better than most (although I wish it didn't say green-green as a color).

And at least he let someone know when he was supposed to be back - but the trail he was on seems to lead many places, and the weather was not good.

 

[dspdenver]

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/ne...-known-location-was-the-hessie-trailhead-area

[“After multiple days of searching, we have made the difficult decision to suspend ground search efforts, until such time as new information surfaces, or until snow melt occurs, increasing safety and searching becomes more feasible,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Monday afternoon, adding they’ll continue to search from the skies, weather permitting.

A Flight for Life helicopter tried to search the area on Monday but was unable to due to high winds.]

 

[dspdenver]

Missing hiker's dog found, search efforts suspended

[The dog of a hiker who has been missing for over a week was found on Thursday on the Peak to Peak Highway.

Happy, Josh Hall’s dog, was found between mile markers 40 and 41 on the Peak to Peak Hwy., authorities reported. Happy has been reunited with family and has received much needed food and attention.]

 

[mlhenn]

This case is so sad.
Glad Happy was found; where are you Josh?

 

[dspdenver]

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/ne...days-later-renewing-hope-for-desperate-family

[Josh Hall, 27, of Arvada, and the family dog, Happy, went hiking last Wednesday on the Hessie Trailhead to get to Devil's Thumb Lake.
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"We believe that he was, unfortunately, at the furthest point when the really crazy snowstorm came in," Hall's mother, (LV), said.
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(LV) is elated someone found Happy alive because it's renewed hope in the search for her son.
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But it's also reinforced her biggest fear.

"I'm terrified that that means that Happy stayed with Josh until he succumbed to the cold," she said.]

 

[dspdenver]

https://twitter.com/BldrCOSheriff/status/1360423517129433089
(scroll down for this info):

[A search team was able to access the east end of Devils Thumb Lake last Thursday, but unfortunately, we have not been able to conduct a full search of this high probability area due to the conditions (thigh to chest deep snow, white out visibility, avalanche hazards, and winds gusting 30-40 miles per hour).

We have received questions and comments about utilizing a canine team to follow the dog's trail back to where it started. After consultation with our canine search experts, search dogs would be unable to use scent to search for another dog. Search dogs are trained to ignore other animals and will not follow another dog’s scent.

We will not be able to conduct large ground searches for Josh due to safety concerns for the volunteer search and rescue teams. We will continue to look for breaks in the weather, which will allow an aerial search to be conducted in the high probability area.]

 

[mlhenn]

Missing Colorado hiker's dog found alive after 8 days as search suspended for man

A Colorado man's dog was found alive eight days after they were supposed to return home from a hike, authorities said.

Josh Hall, 27, and his dog, Happy, started a hike at the Hessie Trailhead in Boulder County on Feb. 3. Search crews started looking for them that night, hours after a significant winter storm was reported in the area.

Happy was found on a highway about seven to nine miles from the trailhead, his family said.

Happy had lost about 10-15 pounds, but there were no signs of frostbite.

In an update on Friday, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office said there are no "significant changes" to the search plans after Happy was found.

 

[dspdenver]

Find Josh Hall

Quite a bit of activity with search routes/area mines on this page. Nice to see people out trying to find Josh even if official searching is not in play.

 

[YaYa_521]

Josh Hall search: Weather still hampering search for missing Boulder County hiker
PUBLISHED: February 15, 2021 at 8:11 p.m. | UPDATED: February 15, 2021 at 8:14 p.m

Despite his dog being found last week, weather conditions have not enabled Boulder County search crews to expand their efforts to locate a missing Arvada hiker.

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But continued harsh weather in the area, including thigh- to chest-deep snow, white-out visibility, avalanche hazards, and winds gusting 30-40 mph, has not allowed rescuers to resume the search.

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The sheriff’s office said rescuers will wait for a break in the weather to be able to get more searchers into the area.

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“We will not be able to conduct large ground searches for Josh due to safety concerns for the volunteer search and rescue teams,” the sheriff’s office wrote. “We will continue to look for breaks in the weather, which will allow an aerial search to be conducted in the high probability area.

 

[zecats]

Find Josh Hall

Quite a bit of activity with search routes/area mines on this page. Nice to see people out trying to find Josh even if official searching is not in play.

Josh has not yet been located. My heart aches for his family and friends. I was following this link up and until the group went private. Perhaps they were not looking to get all the posts that were coming in offering thoughts and prayers as much as just using it to inform volunteers who are searching for him. Otherwise, there is no news. Sadly, at this point it may take some time, as in after the snow melts a bit. JMO

 

[Limecat]

So the dog was off leash when he was found, since they’ve said bolo the leash. Not unusual at all, I always keep mine on leashes everywhere because they don’t listen to me. I was a little curious they mentioned specifically to bolo for his clothing? I mean obviously if you were searching in that type of area finding any clothes should be what you’re looking for? Prayers.

 

[dspdenver]

Search continues for Josh Hall

Letter to the editor by Josh's mother originally published Feb. 18:

[• Josh parked at the Hessie Trailhead and began hiking Devil’s Thumb Lake Trail between 10:30 to 10:45 a.m. (with Happy) with the intention of returning to Arvada for a 5 p.m. online class (he would need to leave trailhead by 3:30 – 4 p.m.).

• Cell phone ping at 12:03 p.m. put Josh in the vicinity of Devil’s Thumb Lake Trail.

• A significant winter storm at nearby Eldora Ski Resort was reported between 12:30 – 1:15 p.m., with reported white-out conditions and multiple inches of snow in a matter of minutes.

• As an experienced hiker with a pace between 3 and 3.5 mph, Josh is believed to have been at Devil’s Thumb Lake or further east (west? - added by me) at the Continental Divide when the weather arrived, approximately six miles from the trailhead.
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We hope this timeline with new information will greatly aid in our search. If you are in Boulder County and surrounding areas, please keep an eye out for any signs of Josh. Josh is 6’4”, 200 lbs. and may be wearing a soft shell grey/brown jacket, or a dark hard shell jacket, a grey/black backpack and a long black leash. Happy was found without the leash.
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If you have any tips or critical information, please contact Boulder County dispatch at 303-441-4444.]

 

[BlkMtnGirl]

So the dog was off leash when he was found, since they’ve said bolo the leash. Not unusual at all, I always keep mine on leashes everywhere because they don’t listen to me. I was a little curious they mentioned specifically to bolo for his clothing? I mean obviously if you were searching in that type of area finding any clothes should be what you’re looking for? Prayers.

I was wondering about maybe paradoxical undressing.

 

[NCHydrangea]

I’m so glad that Happy was found and is back home with family, but this doesn’t bode well for Josh.

MOO

 

[zecats]

I keep checking for updates. I'm guessing official searches are off for the time being. Perhaps volunteers and local hikers are continuing to scour the area. Hoping for successful recovery, for his family and friends.