Tuesday, however, will bring a substantially scaled-back effort, unless new evidence emerges as to the fate of 27-year-old Yi-Jien Hwa.
“We are still hopeful that additional information will eventually surface that will lead us to Yi-Jien,” incident commander Patrick Suddath said. “But we know that the odds for that outcome are reduced with each day that goes by. In the absence of a promising development, we will be scaling back the operation.”
“We have pursued every lead, committed necessary resources, and enlisted the help of agencies and groups that we felt could help us to resolve this puzzling case,” Cartwright said, but to no avail.
Suddath said Monday that all high-probability areas had been thoroughly searched, and that teams had moved into other areas along Hwa's route. So far, he said, more than 2,500 search hours have been spent in the rugged mountain terrain.
Hwa was scheduled to walk into the woods on Aug. 11, following the Continental Divide from Sperry Glacier to Kintla Lake, near the Canadian border. He should have emerged on Aug. 18.
But the seminary student from Kentucky never finished his rigorous 100-mile solo hike. In fact, he never even made it to the first campground.
“We talked with campers, and no one had seen him,” said Norma Sosa, spokeswoman in the park.
All backcountry travelers in Glacier must file itineraries and must pitch their tents in designated campgrounds. Those hiking permits enabled rangers to track down campers who should have shared overnight space with Hwa, but “he did not show up at the first camp, we know that,” Sosa said.
In fact, evidence suggests Hwa may have never even made it to the trailhead. He was last seen in St. Mary, on the other side of the Continental Divide, and his car was found atop Logan Pass, miles from the Sperry trailhead.
And although there was no sign of disturbance in or around the car, the vehicle did offer searchers some hints as to Hwa's plans.
Inside the car were food, clothing and gear searchers say he might have planned to collect between segments of his hike.
“We are using all the clues we can gather to use in finding Mr. Hwa,” incident commander Patrick Suddath said. “We remain very concerned about him, knowing the challenges he faced from the terrain, the weather, the wildlife, and other factors at the very beginning of his hike.”
The main search area was focused high above Lake McDonald, along a scenic approach to Logan Pass called Floral Park.
The search has keyed there, despite the many miles of trail along Hwa's intended route, because there remains no indication the hiker completed the first leg of his journey, Sosa said.
More than 50 searchers - aided by dogs and helicopters and high-tech thermal sensors - have worked over the ground since Aug. 19, when Hwa's family contacted rangers after he failed to call home as planned.
Hwa, from Malaysia, is a graduate student at Asbury Seminary School in Kentucky, and is an avid hiker. In online reviews of backpacking gear, he described hiking trips in Kentucky, Michigan and Hawaii, and detailed his plans for a hiking tour of Western national parks this summer.
His wife and family, Sosa said, now have arrived in Glacier and are assisting searchers.
“We know that Yi-Jien's family is going through a most difficult time,” Cartwright said. “We want them to know how deeply we feel for them and support them.”
Monday, crews continued to cover the mountain passes, thick forests, glaciers, melt ponds and crevasses that characterize Floral Park. Throughout the search, most were flown out by helicopter at each day's end, although one crew sometimes remained overnight to explore remote places where air evacuation was not possible.
With the search scaling back, however, far fewer will be tracking Floral Park's wilds.
Agencies involved have included the National Park Service, Flathead County, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Forest Service, Blackfeet Tribe, Glacier County and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Suddath described the primary search area as difficult and challenging, even for experienced mountaineers. The hunt also has been complicated by recent snowfall in the high country, as well as ice and snow bridges.
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