{"id":9321,"date":"2023-10-21T08:42:55","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T14:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/?p=9321"},"modified":"2025-04-26T16:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T22:31:11","slug":"when-hikers-go-missing-in-idahos-backcountry-who-is-looking-for-them-and-for-how-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/?p=9321","title":{"rendered":"When hikers go missing in Idaho\u2019s backcountry, who is looking for them? And for how long?"},"content":{"rendered":"

READ FULL STORY<\/a> BY NICOLE BLANCHARD Idaho Stateman
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\nA pair of khaki pants on the ground, off-trail in Central Idaho\u2019s Sawtooth Range, was the first sign to Sandy Epeldi that something was not right. The 59-year-old Boise man was exploring near remote Benedict Lake north of Atlanta during a six-day backpacking trip in late July when he found the clothing. The pants had obviously been outside for some time, Epeldi told the Idaho Statesman in an interview. They were inside out, with undergarments still attached. \u201cI knew something bad had probably happened,\u201d Epeldi said. \u201cThat\u2019s not something you usually find in such a remote place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within a few moments of searching, Epeldi and his hiking companion, Frank Burke, located a boot. Then they found the contents of a wallet that contained the ID of a man they\u2019d already heard of: Jack Forest Thomas. The 66-year-old Nampa man went missing while hiking in 2016. \u201cHe just happened to vanish into the part of the wilderness that\u2019s my favorite part to go into,\u201d Epeldi said. \u201cThe year after Jack went missing, I did a route really similar to his and it was always in my mind: \u2018Are we going to stumble upon something out here?\u2019 \u201d When Thomas went missing in 2016, law enforcement looked for about two weeks before calling off the search.<\/p>\n

After that, it was up to Thomas\u2019 loved ones to find him. Boise County officials recovered Thomas\u2019 remains a few weeks after Epeldi and Burke found his belongings \u2014 more than seven years after he disappeared. Idaho is one of many states where missing person searches fall largely to volunteers who are led by a mishmash of local sheriffs\u2019 offices and nonprofits that are often short on resources. Search-and-rescue officials from around the state told the Idaho Statesman the system works quite well, with the exception of funding shortfalls.<\/p>\n

But families of the missing said finding answers becomes much more complicated once sheriffs decide it\u2019s time to call off a search. Search-and-rescue experts say a more formalized system could make it more likely that missing people are found alive or their remains are recovered in much less time \u2014 all while saving families the pain of taking on their own investigation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

READ FULL STORY BY NICOLE BLANCHARD Idaho Stateman A pair of khaki pants on the ground, off-trail in Central Idaho\u2019s Sawtooth Range, was the first sign to Sandy Epeldi that something was not right. The 59-year-old Boise man was exploring near remote Benedict Lake north of Atlanta during a six-day backpacking trip in late July […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-around-the-campfire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9323,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9321\/revisions\/9323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}