The father of a missing Yellowstone hiker has shared a despairing update on the “hardest part of the journey in my life” as his son’s disappearance hit 42 days.
Austin King, 22, made it to the summit of Eagle Peak, the highest mountain in Wyoming, on September 17. But after reaching the 11,372-ft summit he has not been seen or heard from since.
His father Brian King-Henke previously revealed his gut-wrenching decision to head back home to Minnesota without his son while he “figured out” his options as search efforts were wound down by Yellowstone National Park Service.
The search for King has faced many challenges in the last few weeks including halted search plans by officials, mechanical issues with planes, and heavy snow.
But King-Henke has clung to hope and the thought of recovering Austin ever since he was first reported missing last month. He now faces an agonizing wait over the winter to resume any search.
“Having to make the decision to wait until the snow melts in July or August is still hard for me to process since I had to come back without Austin,” King-Henke told The Independent on Tuesday.
“This will be the hardest part of the journey in my life. The day when I’m back on the ground in Wyoming seems like an eternity yet it’s going on 42 days since Austin was heard from.
“Which is crazy to think about because I wake up every day as if it’s Saturday that I got the text from his Mom about him being reported missing.”
King-Henke said that he was being supported by family and friends and plans on returning to work this week in an effort to gain some normality back.
But he insisted that the search for his son was not over.
“With family and all the amazing people that have opened their hearts to me and my family has been a journey all of its own. Tomorrow is another day closer to bringing my boy home. Together we are one.”
A GoFundMe page has raised nearly reached $20,000 for the search effort. King-Henke previously urged anyone “able-bodied” and an “experienced hiker” to volunteer in the search effort on Facebook but has now returned to his home state as winter has fallen over Yellowstone.
Austin King was supposed to return by boat on September 20 to Grant Village – his home while he worked as an Xanterra Parks and Resorts employee in Yellowstone, Cowboy State Daily reported.
On October 2, the Yellowstone NPS announced that an extensive search composed of more than 100 people including helicopters, search dogs, ground teams equipped with spotting scopes, trackers, as well as a drone, have so far been deployed to locate the man across a 3,225-mile search radius.
But they decided to scale back search efforts from a “rescue to recovery” mission.
King-Henke said he “will have to see how it goes day by day” as he plans on going back to Wyoming “at least once a month to touch base in person” with everyone helping out with the voluntary search and rescue.
He said that communication with the NPS had “minimized” in the last couple of weeks.
The Independent contacted Yellowstone National Park Service for comment.
