74-year-old set out alone on a 26-mile hike in Alaska. He hasn’t returned, officials say
A 74-year-old man set out for a hike in an Alaska state park last week, but he hasn’t returned home, officials said.
Gary Fisk of Eagle River started at Crow Pass Trail near Girdwood in the Chugach State Park last Tuesday, the Alaska Department of Public Safety said in a news release.
The “experienced outdoorsman” planned to arrive at the Eagle River Nature Center two days later, troopers said.
But he never made it to the center. Officials said “weather conditions deteriorated,” including heavy snow and downed trees during his hike.
When Fisk got dropped off at the trailhead, it was snowing. Soon after, a major storm rolled in, incident commander and volunteer for Alaska Mountain Rescue Group Dean Knapp told McClatchy News.
Snow could have impeded Fisk’s ability to know where the trail is, Knapp said.
The mountain range where Fisk was hiking received more than a foot of snow by Saturday, the Anchorage National Weather Service said.
Crow Pass Trail from Girdwood Trailhead is a 26-mile “point to point” hike with an elevation gain of 3,290 feet, according to AllTrails. It’s rated as “hard.”
“It’s a rough trail,” said Knapp, who has volunteered for the rescue group for 22 years.
The undeveloped trail involves scrambling rocks, using ladders and ropes and crossing a moving river, Knapp said.
Rescue crews covered the entire trail on foot twice by Sunday, finding no indication of Fisk on the trail, Knapp said. Their volunteer efforts were suspended on Monday while troopers made another plan.
State park rangers began searching for Fisk a day after he was expected at the nature center, troopers said. Rangers searched three miles of the trail with an ATV.
The weather, including low cloud cover, hampered the initial aerial search, officials said.
Then on Saturday, search and rescue scanned the area by helicopter and with ground search parties from Alaska Mountain Rescue Group, troopers said.
Fisk is described as being 6 feet tall with a beard, Alaska Mountain Rescue Group said.
“He may be wearing a royal blue coat, black knitted hat, black rain pants, charcoal pants and bright red shirt,” the rescue group said.
Crow Pass Trail is more than 45 miles southeast from Anchorage.
This story was originally published September 27, 2021 at 11:48 AM with the headline "74-year-old set out alone on a 26-mile hike in Alaska. He hasn’t returned, officials say."
