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Search Suspended For Man Missing In Olympic National Park

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Published Date

December 29, 2014

At the end of the day, after five days of fruitless searching, Olympic National Park rangers had no leads to follow to find Jim Griffin.

So after Sunday's effort to locate the 60-year-old Port Angeles, Washington, man, park officials suspended the search.

The man went for a short, 2.5-mile hike last Monday for a soak in a favorite hot springs. When he failed to show up for a Christmas Eve dinner, friends reported him missing. Three park staff went in search that night, and on Christmas day a renewed search effort turned up Griffin's day pack about 50 feet off a trail, about a half-mile in from the trailhead.

On Friday, the day after Christmas, eight search groups, including three dog teams, searched until dark. Saturday turned up a positive, as staff spoke with a party who were in the same hot spring pool as Griffin on Monday.

"They believe he left the springs at about 4 p.m. or 4:30 p.m., which would have him hiking back to the trailhead in the dark," a park release said. "Griffin was a well-prepared hiker, and likely had a headlamp."

Saturday’s search effort covered 100 percent of the area within a 500-foot radius of the location where Griffin’s day pack was found. On Sunday, Sunday, the search continued on a smaller scale, with three search teams. The teams expanded the perimeter that had been searched Saturday. They also searched Cougar Creek drainage to the east of where Griffin’s pack was found, and the area on the south side of the Hot Springs Trail above Boulder Creek.

"The search areas are dense with heavy brush and downed-trees, and the slopes are dangerously steep and precipitous.  A group of Griffin’s friends searched in the area today as well," park officials said. "The field search will be suspended after today, but investigations will continue."

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