After being disappeared for almost a month, a man who had gone to a three -day walk in Wyoming was found dead in the Bighorn National Forest, authorities said.
“While it is not the result we expect, we hope this will provide peace and close to the family,” said the Big Horn County Sheriff’s office in a statement on Thursday.
Grant Gardner, a Minnesota man who had planned on a three -day walk “through the Mrsty Lake area, who finally invited Cloud Peak,” which is the highest peak within the Bighorn National Forest, was heard for the last time on July 29, when he contacted his wife, saying that he had reached the summit, said the Sheriff’s office.
The telephone records revealed that he had reached the summit in Cloud Peak, which is about 13,000 feet, at approximately 7 pm, which was worrying for the officials due to the “lack of visible paths through cliffs, timer line, rock fields and other dangers that had to navigate after reaching clear and safe paths,” said officials, “said the officials.
Grant Gardner, a Minnesota man who left for a three -day hiking trip and was last heard on July 29, was found dead in the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming, according to the Sheriff’s office of Big Horn County.
Big Horn County Sheriff Office
Since then, the authorities said “there has been no contact with Gardner.”
On Tuesday, a professional climbing team of North Carolina “Complaced Cloud Peak and descended to the northern route of the peak,” said the Sheriff’s office. When the team was establishing a great altitude camp for the night, “they noticed a slight reflection to a few hundred feet on them under a shelf”, and “they trusted it to be a backpack,” said the Sheriff’s office.
But because the night is approaching, a greater investigation would be “too dangerous”, so the team notified the Sheriff’s office through the satellite, authorities said.
Then, on Wednesday, teams from the Sheriff’s office were released and “Gardner’s remains were located near the backpack” and wore “clothes that matched the land in which he was climbing,” authorities said.
The body recovered in one of the two main search areas, “very closely coinciding in one of the most probability scenarios,” authorities said.
“It is noteworthy that this area has been covered by the air and other media, which underlines how difficult this mission has been,” said the Sheriff’s office.
Grant Gardner, a Minnesota man who left for a three -day hiking trip and was last heard on July 29, was found dead in the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming, according to the Sheriff’s office of Big Horn County.
Big Horn County Sheriff Office
Bighorn National Forest has more than 1 million acres, with 191,000 acres dedicated to Cloud Peak Wild Areawhich is where it is believed that Gardner was traveling, according to him US Forest Service..
While the case has been transferred to the Big Horn County Forensic Office to determine the time, the way and cause of death, the authorities said they believe that Gardner “succumbed to a tragic accident as we have all meant.”
Before the discovery of Gardner’s body, officials had suspended search efforts for the hiker, saying that their “more optimistic survival probabilities have been exhausted.”
“I have made the heartbreaking decision and difficult to suspend active search and rescue operations for Mr. Gardner. Our teams have exhausted all resources and personnel in the last 20 days. With the climatic conditions and other factors updated in our search models, we have to face the reality that the most optimistic probabilities of survival have been exhausted,” said the Sheriff of Big Horn County last week’s statement.
Now, after this “dangerous” recovery, Gardner’s body will be “brought to his family,” authorities said.
