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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Monday, December 29, 2014 INCIDENTS Olympic NP Major Search In Progress For Missing Day Hiker Yesterday marked the fifth day of an ongoing interagency search for a 60-year-old Port Angeles man who failed to return from a day hike he took in the park last Monday. Searchers from the park, Olympic Mountain Rescue, Tacoma Mountain Rescue, Clallam County SAR, Jefferson County SAR, and two dog teams from German Shepherd's Search Dogs continued to search the Olympic Hot Springs area over the weekend. J.G., who frequently hikes the two-and-a-half-mile trail to the hot springs, went for a day hike there on Monday, December 22nd. On Wednesday, December 24th, around 10:00 p.m., friends reported J.G. overdue when he did not show up for Christmas Eve dinner. Three NPS searchers began the search that evening and continued through the night. On Christmas Day, two two-person teams searched for J.G. Several friends of J.G.s, including the reporting party, assisted in the efforts on both Thursday and Friday. On the afternoon of Christmas Day, J.G.'s day pack was located 50 feet off trail about a half mile from the trailhead. On Friday, eight search groups, including three dog teams, searched until dark. The park also attempted to use J.G.'s dog in the search, but the dog was not able to indicate where J.G. might be. On Saturday, 21 searchers and two dogs resumed the effort to find him. The search teams completed a grid search within 500 feet of the location where J.G.'s day pack was found. They covered the entire search area in a grid pattern about ten feet apart, but no clues were found. Park incident team members spoke to a couple on Saturday who had a conversation with J.G. at the hot springs. They believe he left the springs around 4:00 p.m. on Monday, which would mean he hiked back in the dark. On Sunday, three teams were in the field and were joined by a group of J.G.'s friends. No sign of him was found. The search will be suspended today, but the investigation will continue. Anyone who was at the Olympic Hot Springs, on the trail, or at the parking lot last Monday is asked to contact park dispatch at 360-565-3115. Even the smallest piece of information might help in the search. [Jacilee Wray, Acting Spokesperson] Zion NP Trailer Truck Gets Wedged In Park Tunnel A trailer truck attempting to drive through the Zion Mt. Carmel tunnel from the east side just before 2 a.m. on December 22nd became wedged around the last turn before exiting the tunnel. The truck driver passed three signs from the Mt. Carmel
Junction to the park entrance warning of tunnel size restrictions.
Evidence on scene suggests that the truck scraped the top of the tunnel
intermittently along its entire 1.1-mile length. The truck driver walked out and climbed up above the tunnel until he was able to get a cell phone signal to call for help. Rangers Rohrbach and See responded and were on scene for several hours working with a tow truck out of Kanab. The truck was dislodged by removing compressed air and lowering the cab. Civil charges are pending. [Cindy J. Purcell, Chief Ranger] OTHER NEWS The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers): Lyndon B. Johnson NHP - Continuing a tradition that started nearly 50 years ago, 34 students from the Stonewall Head Start School helped decorate a Christmas tree at the LBJ Ranch on December 15th. Head Start was created in 1965 as one of President Lyndon Johnson's “War on Poverty” programs. Today's Almanac - Arctic air will move back into the central Great Plains, the Great Lakes region, and parts of the West this week. Winter storm warnings and advisories and wind chill advisories are in effect in many areas. Climate Change Response Program - The NPS climate change interpretation strategy was launched earlier this month. The team that developed it is interested in hearing from you on the needs, challenges, and opportunities of communicating climate change. Northeast Region - The 450-mile-long New York State Barge Canal Historic District, which encompasses 23,000 acres in 18 counties, has been entered on the state and national registers of historic places and has received a historic preservation award. Jefferson NEM - Park staff assisted volunteers from the United Services Organization of Missouri in their annual holiday EXODUS program earlier this month, serving about 5,000 servicemen and women traveling for the holidays. Pictured Rocks NL - Four long-time employees of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore - Pam Baker, Bill Magli, Jack Roberts, and Brenda St. Martin - will retire this month. Fort Scott NHS - As 2014 draws to a close, so too does the NPS career of Kelley Collins, Fort Scott's chief ranger and chief of interpretation and resource management. Mount Rainier NP - Lou Whiteaker, plant ecologist at Mount Rainier National Park, will be retiring on December 31st after more than 27 years of government service. To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites: NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/ The Morning Report is produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov). --- ### --- |