A Minnesota hiker has been missing for more than a week after disappearing in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains, and his wife has stated that she is “trying to stay strong for the kids.”
Grant Gardner contacted his wife on July 29, “letting her know he’d made it to the summit” of the 13,000-foot Cloud Peak, but has not been heard from since, according to the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office. The agency launched a search and rescue operation under “extreme and very challenging” conditions.
“He solo hikes, and he’s been hiking for over a decade,” his wife Lauren Gardner told Cowboy State Daily. “He’s used to this stuff, and he’s very detail oriented.”
“It’s all definitely surreal,” she reportedly added. “And I’m in shock, I believe, and trying to remain strong for the children. This has never happened in all the years he’s been out. He knows exactly what he’s doing and has the necessary skills. “I am just hoping right now.”
The 38-year-old missing father has two children, ages 13 and 11, according to the outlet.
According to the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office, Gardner planned a three-day hike “through the Misty Moon Lake area, eventually summiting Cloud Peak, and returning to his vehicle, completing his journey.”
According to phone records, he reached the summit of Cloud Peak around 7 p.m. on July 29 and texted his wife that “the climb was more taxing than he expected and he was tired,” according to authorities.
“The late summit of 7:00pm at 13,000 feet was and is concerning due to the lack of visible trails through cliffs, timber line, boulder fields, and other hazards that had to be navigated after dark before reaching clear trails and safe terrain,” Ken Blackburn, Sheriff of Big Horn County, disclosed.
According to police, Gardner’s vehicle was later discovered by searchers in the same parking lot where he began his trip.
“The search in the Cloud Peak Wilderness is rapidly evolving and ongoing. In addition to high altitude and terrain challenges, difficult weather patterns such as winds, thunder, and lightning storms have hampered search efforts at different times of day,” the Sheriff’s Office stated in a search update this week.
“Search and rescue teams from South Big Horn County, Sheridan County, Johnson County, Washakie County, and Park County Wyoming along with other rotor aircraft from First Flight of Wyoming, Wyoming Army National Guard, and private aircraft” are contributing to the effort, they added.
“The Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office is requesting anyone who may have had contact with Gardner, please report to the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office at 307-568-2324 or the Wyoming Missing Person Tip line on the Wyoming DCI website,” police said.
