Hiker Lost in Adk High Peaks

Thanksgiving search turns up no new clues

Roughly thirty searchers spent another disappointing day in the High Peaks yesterday, trying to find 22-year-old Wesley Wamsganz.

The Saranac Lake man disappeared on Saturday and was last spotted by witnesses near a trailhead at the Adirondack Loj.

Speaking last night, forest ranger Julie Harjung said teams of searchers spent much of Thanksgiving patrolling the web of trails in the high peaks area.

“We wanted to make sure he isn’t just out walking somewhere outside of our search effort,” she said.

In all, forest rangers and members of the Wamsganz family covered about fifty miles of trail, according to Harjung.  

Full NCPR story here:

http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/16733/thanksgiving-search-turns-up-no-new-clues

No news and the search has been reduced to a "passive" effort:

LAKE PLACID - After eight days, an intense search for 22-year-old Wesley Walsganz has been scaled back.

On Sunday night, the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which led the effort in the state-owned High Peaks Wilderness, shifted the status of its search to "limited continuous." That means the end of the manhunt's active portion, which involved dozens of forest rangers, police officers and volunteers. These officials will mostly resume their regular duties and look for Wamsganz when they have time and when new leads emerge.


Full ADE Story.

That is so sad.  His family must be devastated.

I was on the search last Wed. Tough case with so little to go on. Searching is a paradox of emotions. Often you are searching in incredibly beautiful areas, but everything is tempered by the reality of why you are there.
Here's a shot from Marcy Dam at about 9 am 11/24/10:

Isn't it odd that his jacket was found based on how cold it was was?

Actually the temps were fairly warm that day. I had a high of 47 at my weather station near North Creek.

Finding a jacket is bad news...  Hypothermia causes confusion.  You think you're burning up but in reality your freezing to death.  

Not uncommon to recover victims completely naked in the middle of the woods.  Sad story

Chris wrote

Finding a jacket is bad news...  Hypothermia causes confusion.  You think you're burning up but in reality your freezing to death.  

Not uncommon to recover victims completely naked in the middle of the woods.  Sad story

Then wouldn't it be likely they would find a body in that vicinity

The Glens Falls Post Star quoted the hikers father as saying it may have been suicide, but they were hoping he just walked out and disappeared. Must have been some pior issues for the family to think that was a possibility.

After doing this for 20 years I can tell you that there is often more to the story than is let on and unless the circumstances are important to finding the individual, the searchers are often not told. In some cases the authorities are not told either, which can hinder the search.

An example: We got a call out one summer night at around 7 to search for two young brothers. Started searching at dark searched from the top of a mt. back to the road. Rangers were setting up the next string of searches when the boys were found, about midnight hiding in an abandoned camp. Why? They had broken a window and were afraid the father would beat them. No mention to the rangers that the boys might be hiding or those camps would have been checked first.