Britt Jones
A note found at the top of a Wyoming mountaintop was revealed to have belonged to a missing hiker who hasn’t been seen since.
Austin King was last heard from on September 17 when he called his mom, Pandora King, who was back home in Minnesota.
The 22-year-old had been on a solo climb of Eagle Peak in Yellowstone National Park, which is 11,400 feet tall, when he left a strange note at the top just three days before he was supposed to check into camp.
However, when the day came and passed, nobody could say where King was.
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He had been spending the summer working in the park, however, his friends claimed that he had been talking about the mountain for ‘weeks’ leading up to the climb.
King was due to return home within days, but mysteriously disappeared.
His dad, Brian King-Henke, has now shared the note King wrote, which described the harsh weather conditions he had to endure to reach the top.
As reported by the Daily Mail, he wrote: “I can't feel my fingers and my glasses are so fogged from the ruthless weather of the mountains.
“I truly cannot believe I am here after what it took to be here. I endured rain, sleet, hail and the most wind I have ever felt.”
He went on to share that the climb changed something within him.
He wrote: “I free soloed too many cliffs to get here and walked up to the peak from the connecting peak – AKA not the right path. I am 22 years old and I will never forget today (for) the rest of my life.”
He ended his note with a smiley face, signing his name and ‘life is beautiful, go out and LIVE IT!'
According to the National Park Service, he also last spoke to his family from the summit of Eagle Peak around 7 p.m., after it was believed that he reached the area at 6 p.m.
This was around the time that sunset was occurring, according to reports, which would have left him little time to make it down with any light.
Before long, he’d be in complete darkness.
As he reached the peak, he phoned his oldest friend Desmond McGroarty, 22, who was also working at the park.
McGroarty told cowboystatedaily.com: “He was super ecstatic.
“He did say his hands were cold and stuff, but it sounded like he just didn't care, because he was so excited he made it to the top.”
The alarm was raised after he didn’t show up to his scheduled boat ride back to his RV at Grant Village three days later, and on the Saturday after he went missing (September 21), a search team were called.
According to King’s grandfather who posted on social media, ‘2 helicopters, 4 boats, a drone, 48 people on the ground’ were deployed to find the missing hiker.
His father, who set up a GoFundMe account in his name, said to KTVQ when he arrived in Yellowstone: “I'm the one who told him to come out here.
“You know, I was like, ‘You're 22. Go see the United States.’ He took on something he was not prepared for.”
Park rescuers searched for 11 days, and it then changed to a body recovery mission on October 2.
So far, no clues have been found as to Austin's whereabouts.
Superintendent Cam Sholly said: “Despite significant search efforts we have not been able to locate Austin.
“Although we will continue to hope for the best, I want to extend my deepest sympathies to Austin’s family, friends and colleagues. I also want to thank the teams from Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, and Park and Teton counties, Wyoming, who have all worked tirelessly to find Austin in some of the most difficult and remote terrain in Yellowstone.”
John Lamb, an experienced hiker who has been helping with the search told Cowboy State Daily that he sounded ‘disorientated’ in a voicemail left for his father and the ‘you can tell he’s scared’.