Missing Yosemite national park backpacker found dead

CALIFORNIA - An experienced hiker was found dead in Yosemite National Park in California after he went missing during a backpacking trip there, park officials announced on the morning of Sept 15.

Park rangers had asked the public for help locating the hiker, Mr Kirk S. Thomas Olsen, on Sept 12, more than two weeks after his planned return date from a hike near Ostrander Lake, which is about 12.8km south of Yosemite Valley. The 18.3km round-trip hike from the trailhead to the lake is strenuous, with a steep, 457.2m elevation gain.

Mr Olsen, 61, had planned to backpack in the area from Aug 23 to 27, officials said. Officials did not provide a cause of death or any additional details.

Ms Holly Leeson, Mr Olsen’s niece, said her uncle was declared missing on Sept 12 after a park ranger found a note left on Mr Olsen’s vehicle that said he had intended to return from his hike two weeks earlier, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Ms Leeson wrote on Facebook that her uncle was a former state park ranger in California and an experienced hiker.

“Unfortunately Mother Nature in all of her glory does not account for past experience and solo hiking is never an endeavour that is without risks,” Ms Leeson wrote. “Please, whenever possible, travel with a companion and be safe.”

Reached on Sept 15, a spokesperson for the California State Parks agency said Mr Olsen had worked from 2017 to 2020 as a seasonal senior park aide, primarily at Hearst San Simeon State Park.

In 2024, at least one other person died in Yosemite. Ms Grace Rohloff, 20, died in July after slipping and falling while descending the climbing cables on the back side of Half Dome, one of the park’s granite faces, during a sudden rainstorm, the Los Angeles Times reported. NYTIMES