Death & Survival in Glacier National Park by C.W. Guthrie

Other associated trail areas attached to the Highline were also searched. Trails and off-trail search areas included Flattop Mountain, the Highline from Logan Pass to Goat Haunt, Swiftcurrent Pass, the Loop, and Hidden Lake. The overall search area for Sinclair encompassed numerous drainages east and west of the Continental Divide including Upper McDonald Creek, Mineral Creek, Swiftcurrent, and Belly River drainages. It illustrates the difficulty of finding a body in Glacier Park, even near a trail where thousands of people hike each summer, like they do on the Highline.

His remains weren’t found until four years later. Lake McDonald drops off steeply from shore at Rocky Point.Īnother hiker, Yi-Jien Hwa, disappeared above Avalanche Lake in 2008. Since his disappearance, wildfires have scorched the terrain where he may have wandered off to, if he didn’t fall into the lake. He was last seen near the Fish Creek - Rocky Point area Lake McDonald. The last man to disappear without a trace was Larry Kimball in May of 2003. Guthrie and Dan and Ann Fagre, at least a dozen people have gone missing and were never found since 1913. According to the book “Death and Survival in Glacier National Park” by C.W. Sinclair would not be the first person to go missing in Glacier.

It also has grizzly bears - the trail was closed for awhile last week because a subadult grizzly kept approaching people and had to be sprayed with bear spray by a visitor at one point. The terrain along the Highline Trail is rife with sheer cliffs, waterfalls, brush and rock chimneys. Glacier staff started a search on July 9 and a full-scale effort utilizing a host of local and national resources were used, including the Two Bear Air helicopter and a search drone as well as people on the ground, but to no avail. The 66-year-old man from Whitefish left the keys in his car unlocked and left his dog in the vehicle and then apparently went for a hike on the Highline Trail on July 8 about 2:30 p.m. Glacier National Park announced last week it would scale back the search for Mark Sinclair.

Death & Survival in Glacier National Park by C.W. Guthrie