At 0806 hours the Team was called to assist in locating a 66-year-old overdue hiker last seen in Fresno County near Lake Thomas A. Edison. The subject was hiking with 2 friends, and they agreed to split up and meet at a campsite at Silver Pass Lake. The subject’s hiking companions arrived at the campsite and waited halfway through the next day before moving on. The plan was to come out at the Duck Lake Pass trailhead, and the companions did, and reported their friend missing.

Fresno County was the lead agency as the point last seen is in Fresno County. Fresno County had more than 30 searchers, and at least one helicopter involved in the search. After 2 days they had not been able to locate the subject, and called the Mono County Sheriff’s Office to ask for assistance searching the area between the trailhead and the Mono/Fresno county line.

The Team staged at the end of Coldwater Campground at the Duck Lake Pass trailhead. 4 field teams went in to search the areas on the Mono side of the county line and the many branch trails along the way. The Mono County search area was cleared, and one field team was left at the Duck Lake outlet as a trail block and to interview hikers coming from the direction of the subject’s last known location. Another trail block was established at Upper Crater Meadow along the JMT.

Reports began filtering in to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office of sightings of the subject, and then contacts made with the subject by other hikers in the Silver Pass area. The trail block field teams returned to base, and the operation was terminated at 1646 hours.

IC: Pelichowski Ops Leader: Beck Responders: Buchanan, Bush, Childers, Cucura, Endo, Kaufman, Kelly, Knecht, Lipman, Mayernick, Patterson, Pavlovsky, Quiring, and Torrence