A trail crew discovered a missing hiker in Washington’s North Cascades National Park a month after he went missing, officials said Thursday, and the man’s rescuers believe he may not have lived another day. The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office reported 39-year-old Robert Schock missing several days after he was last seen at the park on July 31. Witnesses noticed the hiker near the Chilliwack River with no overnight supplies.
Schock was discovered “alive and well” on August 30 in the park’s Chilliwack Basin, according to a sheriff’s office statement released Thursday. However, the trail crew that rescued him and his mother offers a grimmer picture of Schock’s condition. Jan Thompson, Schock’s mother, told the Cascadia Daily News that her son was frail and emaciated. “He’s in a lot of pain and doesn’t speak very well, but he’s coherent and seemed in pretty good spirits,” Thompson told the outlet from her North Carolina home. “I didn’t push him too much.”
Schock’s dog was located after he went missing:
Concerns about Schock’s absence began on August 3, when an abandoned vehicle and his dog were discovered 8 miles from the hiking trail, according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies discovered the vehicle with its windows rolled down and Schock’s wallet on the dashboard. Several ground and air searches in the isolated area were carried out through August 16, but no leads were found until his discovery last week.
Thompson told the Cascadia Daily News that her son was discovered by a Pacific Northwest Trail Association crew working in the field when they heard Schock pleading for assistance. The National Park Service did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for additional information.
Schock ‘just had another day left in him’:
Jeff Kish, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Trail Association, stated that Schock was “found alive, but not well.” “It is the belief of those who came to be involved in the rescue that Robert may have only had another day left in him before the outcome of his discovery would have been much more tragic,” Kish had written. According to Kish, Schock said he had been motionless and stuck in one location for two weeks. “His condition was dire,” Kish explained. “I won’t provide most of the details that I learned about his health issues today because I think that Robert himself is the sole appropriate person who can determine whether those details should be shared publicly.”
