Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room Search Continues For Missing Hiker/Joshua Tree

Joshua Tree National Park (CA)
Search Continues For Missing Hiker

Efforts by search and rescue personnel to locate missing hiker William Ewasko entered their sixth day on Thursday. Teams of agency and volunteer ground searchers continue to comb the Quail Mountain area of the park in an effort to locate the Georgia man, who was first reported missing last Friday. Teams responding to the search on Thursday included Desert Search and Rescue from Riverside County and Sierra Madre Mountain Rescue from Los Angeles County. Teams from San Bernardino County included Morongo Basin Search and Rescue and RIMSAR from the Big Bear/Lake Arrowhead area. Joshua Tree Search and Rescue, affiliated with Joshua Tree National Park, also contributed volunteer ground searchers. National Park Service and Riverside County Sheriff's Office personnel continue to coordinate the search effort, with additional support from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office. Thursday's objectives called for ground search teams to work the highest priority sectors of Juniper Flats and Quail Springs, located to the east and north of the Quail Mountain summit. To date, over 100 volunteer searchers have contributed 1,100 ground search hours -- in addition to efforts by trained dog teams, equestrian searchers, and helicopters from the California Highway Patrol and Riverside County Sheriff's Office. Hundreds of additional man-hours have been dedicated to the search effort by support staff. [Submitted by Joe Zarki, Public Information Officer]

Wow, this hits close to home. Bill is a local guy from Marietta, my Atlanta burb. It appears he's quite experienced, and hikes annually in Joshua Tree. Here's a video link with a little more detail. He was only equipped for a dayhike, which is not the best possible news after almost a week missing. Keeping my fingers crossed for him.

Death Valley and Joshua Tree are my two favorite winter hiking destinations, but I've never done either one in summer. I've been to both several times in summer, but no hiking - it's just too brutally hot to be enjoyable.

Western trips have not been kind to Atlanta area hikers recently. A man from Dunwoody died in a fall on a trail below the North Rim of the Grand Canyon late last year. I'll be in the Sierra in less than a week, and I'm planning on being just a tad extra cautious . . .