Rescuers describe harrowing effort to find missing hiker in Snohomish County

SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. — It was a harrowing effort to find a missing hiker in the Snohomish County backcountry over the weekend and get him to safety.

Rescue crews told KIRO 7 the hiker had fallen down a waterfall near the Bear Creek Trail. But it took hours to get him out, but his daughter says the lake started to flood on him and the trail was lost.

He reportedly fell a few times while trying to find his way out.

Volunteers had to rig a rope line at night to get him to safety. A lot of this happened in the dark. And because this is the Pacific Northwest, it was raining.

Hempel Creek where this hiker was found is cold and treacherous.

Those volunteer search and rescue teams had to get him across the creek to safety.

Like most missions to find the missing, the search for that 55-year-old hiker early Saturday morning was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

“You have a report that a hiker is overdue,” said Bryan Swaffield. “But you have their last location and where they were expected to be. So, you just search that area in hopes that you find them.”

Swaffield, he goes by Swaff, was the lead for the group of Snohomish County Search and Rescue volunteers. They were nine-and-a-half hours into the search through rugged terrain when they got information from a friend who had been with him.

That’s where the swiftwater rescue team came in.

“We came in with expectation that we were going to run the canyon and search this hazardous terrain to see if we could find him,” said Amie Northagen. “But before we could drop in, he was found.”

In fact, the ground teams found him.

“Yeah, yeah,” said Northagen.

“Surprisingly, so,” added Swaff.

“They were kind of following different areas along the creek bed,” Northagen said.

That was about 2 o’clock Saturday morning.

Still, they had to get the hiker across Hempel Creek. They tried to bring in a helicopter.

“We had a break in the clouds to see if they could come out and hoist,” said Swaff. “And as they were there scanning the terrain, a cloud landed right on top of them, and the helicopter team had to leave.”

So, instead, the volunteers had to rig up a rope system and a highline in the dark, using trees and solid anchors.

“He was kind of hanging from a suspended line,” said Northagen, “and we were able to move him along that line, or along a line we call a track line, to get him across the water without ever having to actually enter the water.”

By 3:30 Sunday morning, he was out, 26 hours later.

It was thanks to a dedicated team of volunteers who work for free.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” said Swaff, smiling. “No money but we get paid in other ways, emotionally, spiritually and our own personal goals.”

“It’s just a great group of people who want to make a difference,” said Northagen, “who want to help.”

Amie says you can also help by being prepared before you go. Get a personal locator beacon or satellite communication device so you can be found more easily.

We have reached out to that hiker to get his side of this harrowing story.

We’ll let you know if we hear back.

Here’s a link in case you’d like to donate to the Snohomish County Volunteer Search and Rescue.

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