Austin King - Yellowstone National Park - Wyoming - Locations Unknown

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Thousands of people have mysteriously vanished in America's wilderness. Join
us as we dive into the deep end of the
unexplainable word and try to piece together what happened. And
you are listening to Locations Unknown. What's up, everybody, and

(00:55):
welcome back to another episode of Locations Unknown. I'm your
co host, Joey Rottling with me is always is a
guy who can totally build a new studio by himself
while I'm hiking Mike bandon Boguart. Oh.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Thank you, Joe, and thank you to all of our
loyal listeners for tuning in.

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We're pack. We're back in the new studio. Like Joe said,
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If you're watching this, watching the video of this, this
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Probably actually, per your normal action is you didn't really
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I did tell it'll probably be ready in a month
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Mike's mom. So my mom signed up and that's the
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Yeah, but no, thank you to my mom, Danny Klaza,
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Thank you to everybody who is signing up and supporting
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out to another show on our network, Crime Off the Grid.
We're gonna be doing a show with them in a
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Speaker 1 (02:35):
Very excited for Yeah, if you were on our live stream, yes,
and did you repost just that interview. Yeah, so that
was a lot of fun. Yeah, that was one of
my favorite interviews that we did.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
So yeah, there are two retired law enforcement officers that
worked in the national parks and National forests for many,
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They went under during COVID, Yeah, that's right, and then
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Speaker 1 (03:25):
Show is some playing cards here I gave to him earlier.
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If you want to call a show, leave a voicemailer
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(03:55):
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anything from you, Joe?

Speaker 1 (04:04):
All right, everybody, let's gear up and get out to
explore locations unknown. September seventeenth, twenty twenty four, a young

(04:29):
adventurer embarked on a solo seven day trek through rugged,
isolated terrain fraught with grizzlies, sudden storms, and treacherous cliffs
in Yellowstone National Park. Amid fog, sleet, and howling winds.
He reached the summit of Eagle Peak, leaving a chilling
note about his ordeal before vanishing without a trace. Join

(04:50):
us this week as we investigate the strange disappearance of
Austin King Henke. So this is one of the few

(05:17):
major parks that I still have yet to visit. I've
driven through it. I hiked Teton, which is just south
of it. Oh wait, no, I was a Yellowstone. I'm
thinking of the other big one, Grand Teton. No I
was in Teton as well. Oh my gosh, I'm the
half Dome. Here's half Dome, Yosemite. Yosemite. It's been a
long July. We'll just put that way. I've done a

(05:39):
lot of traveling. I'm not back to my normal hiking
for the whole month. It sounds terrible that I'm not complaining.
I'm saying my brain hasn't stopped. It's not functioning at
full power. That's all I'm saying. So never mind. I've
been yellow Stone and Teeton. I just went three years
ago for the first time. Anyway, So we're in Yellowstone

(06:01):
National Park, where I have been. We think, yeah, remote
southeast backcountry is the region. The last visible contact for
our friend was at Hull Creek Patrol cabin area is
dropped off at Terrace Point and the last known location
with the summit of Eagle Peak at eleven three hundred
and sixty seven feet. For those of you who don't know,
ninety six percent of the park is in Wyoming. Smaller

(06:21):
portions extend into Montana and Idaho. It was established on
March first of eighteen seventy two. Believe it's the oldest
park in the country. It is the oldest park in
the country. It has four point seven million visitors per year.
That was last year, so that's a lot of people.
It's a busy park, and you know how you know
it's busy. Nine out of ten four point seven million

(06:42):
pale videos.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
Of people getting mauled by bison or falling into something,
or from Yellowstone bison.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
Gore people people. There's mall, well, okay, there we go.
I'm just stopping anyone who is just picking up their
phone to go comment on Spotify. But yeah, dumb, we are. No,
you gotta call number four out of five of them
come from Yellowstone. I mean every video I feel like
I see like viral videos from Yellowstone when they're not
falling into the guys are because they went off the platform.

(07:12):
Do you see that crazy video a few weeks ago
the bison that fell in, Yes, I did. That was wild.
You should have stayed on the path. We followed directions.
That is natural selection right there. It's always funny when
you see a video like that. Obviously that's probably happened
in the past, but there's always comments like why didn't
somebody help it. Yeah, it's like it's a bus that

(07:34):
does what it wants.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, like, oh, someone's gonna run out there and grab
the bison out of the two hundred degree water.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah. Anyway, and so some interesting facts about Yellois National Park.
Yellowstone sits atop one of the world's largest active super volcanoes,
with a massive caldera measuring forty five by thirty miles,
capable of eruptions a thousand times more powerful than Mount
Saint Helens. So off were pretty much screwed. The whole

(08:01):
planet's done. It doesn't matter anymore. Yes, the park experiences,
but I'd actually rather be on it than in the
nuclear winter. Thankfully it go it erupts very infrequently, So yeah,
I'm not a big fan of nuclear winter. No, I
don't think we'll Yeah, we experienced that, but we would
be dead here, yes, hopefully right away. Yeah, anyway, the

(08:24):
park experiences between one thousand and three thousand earthquakes annually,
most too small to feel due to its volatile volcanic underbelly.
The Yellowstone boasts over ten thousand hydrothermal features, including more
than five hundred geysers. Half of all the geysers on
Earth are within Yellowstone. At three four hundred and seventy
two square miles, Yellowstone is larger than the states of

(08:47):
Rhode Island and Delaware combined. It was established as a
world's first national park on March first, eighteen seventy two,
nearly two decades before Wyoming, Montana or Idaho. Even became states.
That's wild. Yeah. Yellowstone is home to the largest concentration
of mammals in the contiguous United States, with sixty seven species,
including grizzlies that can run up to thirty five miles

(09:09):
per hour despite weighing over seven hundred pounds. That's why
you just don't want to have a running with one
of them. No, if it's black, fight back, if it's brown,
lay down. If it's white, good night. I think that's
how you know your bears. Yes, Bison have roamed Yellowstone
continuously since prehistoric times, making it the only place in
the US where they survived without interruption for thousands of years,

(09:32):
except for the ones that fall into the geothermal pools. Yes,
speaking of the park's geothermal pools and springs can reach
temperatures over two hundred degrees fahrenheit, hot enough to dissolve
a body overnight if someone falls in, though swimming is
strictly prohibited. Yeah, you would not make it. Nope. Your
average hot tub is like one hundred two hundred and four,
so double that. Yeah, and there it's a cidic I believe. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah,

(09:56):
it's no bueno. Yeah. The Yellowston's landscape includes Petrified Force,
where ancient redwoods were buried by volcanic ash millions of
years ago, preserving them in stone. Despite its beauty, the
park has death zones where toxic gases from vents can
kill animals and pose risks to humans, contributing to its eerie,
other worldly reputation.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
Oh so some guysers there are not acidic, but some
are all right, It depends on the minerals they interact.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
With either way. Don't go in the water, yeah, I
don't go swomen in it, ye, just stay on the
wooden path. Ye. We shared that video last year when
that one erupted, and remember like blue debris everywhere in
blue part of the path up. We shared another video
of woman.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
She was she just wanted to dip her toe in,
and I think she did and then ran off screaming.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
As one does when you get your toe in two
hundergree water. Yeah all right. In depth description of the climate,
the region where Austin King went missing is characterized by cool,
temperate continental climate. This area experiences significantly significant variability due
to its high elevation, which is generally seven thousand to
eleven thousand feet. The mountainous train in the Absuraca Absuraca

(11:05):
Range and isolation, leading to rapid weather changes, cold temperatures,
and potential for precipitation in any form year round. The
climate is influenced by orographic effects mountains forcing your upward,
causing cooling and moisture release, resulting in cooler, wetter conditions
compared to lower park areas. Annual average temperatures, however, around

(11:28):
thirty five to four degrees fahrenheit or two to four
degrees celsius, with precipitation averaging fifteen to twenty inches or
thirty eight to fifty one centimeters, but higher in the
mountains due to enhanced snowfall. Eagle Peak, the park's highest point,
amplifies these traits with subalpine to alpine conditions, including persistent winds, fog,

(11:48):
and snow pack that can linger into summer or arrive
early in fall. Yellowstone seasons are distinct but unpredictable, with
elevation playing a key role. At higher spots like Eagle Peak,
temperature can be ten to twenty degrees fahrenheit five to
eleven sea colder than the park's averages. The snowfall can
double up to one hundred and fifty to three hundred
inches annually versus the park seventy two inches down. Lower spring,

(12:13):
which is March to May, transitional with warming days thirty
to sixty degrees fahrenheit, but frequent snow, rain nights often
below freezing. Higher elevations like Eco Peak retain deep snowpack,
increasing avalanche risks. Summer is June to August, mild days
seventy to eight degrees fahrenheit at lower elevations, fifty to
seventy at peaks, with cool nights potentially below freezing above

(12:35):
nine thousand feet. Afternoon thunderstorms are common, which brings lightning, hazards, hail,
and brief snow at these heights. Fall, which is September
to November, you've rapid cooling thirty to sixty degrees during
the day, teens of single digits at night. Early snow possible,
especially in September. At elevations, winds increase and fogg and
sleet are common in the mountains. And then winter December

(12:57):
to February, it's cold zero to twenty degree Fahnheit during
the day, sub zero at night. Record low is sixty
six degrees below zero, a heavy snow up to three
hundred plus inches at the peaks, blizzards and wind chills
below thirty degrees fahrenheit. That country axis is pretty much
unhikeable during that time of the year unless you're crazy.
Unless you're crazy. The terrain the area where Austin King

(13:20):
went missing, the remote southeast backcountry of Yellowstone National Park,
including Eagles Peak, How's Howell Creek, Tears Point on Yellowstones
Lake's southeast arm An adjacent thoroughfare region is part of
the Absa Roca Absroca a Range. Yeah, in the Greater
Yellowstone ecosystem. That was a mouthful. It was this rugged

(13:44):
that yeah, this rugged roadless wilderness is one of the
most isolated spots in the contiguous United States, with near
the nearest road over fifteen to twenty five miles away
requires boat axis or multi day hikes for entry. So
it's real backcountry. It's backcountry. That's awesome. Those are my
favorite places. The terrain is dominated by volcanic mountains shaped

(14:05):
by ancient eruptions, glacial erosion, and ongoing geological processes, featuring
steep ridges, deep drainages, cliffs, and expansive plateaus. Elevations can
range from seven thy seven hundred feet at Yellowstone Lake
to three hundred and seventy two feet at Eagle Peak.
That is the park's highest point, as we said, and

(14:25):
it creates a challenging subalpine to alpine environment with limited trails,
high exposure to natural hazards. So the landscape is a
mix of forest, valleys, open meadows, rocky summits, and water features,
making navigation difficult without GPS or maps due to dense
vegetation and untrailed sections. Sounds like my kind of hike. Honestly,
this is very treacherous, training difficult. You need to be

(14:49):
very experienced to hike out here, partly because of the remoteness. Absolutely,
something happens, it's going to be a while before help
gets to you. Yeah, So slope and relief. We already
went over to the elevation, so slope in there's steep gradients
up to five thousand and forty five feet of gain
over fourteen to sixteen hours for Eagle Peak hikes. That's wild.
That's a lot of tense with ridges, plateaus and valleys

(15:09):
creating complex navigation. It's really difficult. I think I just
did two thousand feet of elevation gain in seven or
eight hours and that was tough, and I wasn't carrying gear.
That's a day hike. You're just old. Yeah that's true,
that's true. But I'm just saying basically doubling that time
and you're having way more weight on your back. Oh yeah,
that's difficult. Yeah. As we said, there's no direct roads,

(15:32):
so access is via boat to Terrace point than twenty
to forty miles of hiking and bushwhacking. Trails like Eagle
Pass or Mountain Creek are partial, often fading into unmaintained wilderness.
It's like, I know it sounds bad. I just want
to do it now. Yeah, over five days. He did
it in September. I would suggest doing it in July
or June. Yeah, it'll be hotter, but if you have

(15:54):
some cover a little bit, or probably July would be
your best month because that's the least likely you're going
to have snow. Yeah up there. Yeah, snow is the
only thing that would get at me types of dangerous
present outside of all the ones we just let's sag
just from being there. Grizzly bears, so on top of
all that stuff, there's grizzlies, a lot of them. Yeah,
they're abundant. Largest concentration lower forty eight. So tracks, digs,

(16:17):
and encounters e g. Sows with cubs are common near
the campsites and rivers, major hazards requiring bear spray. That
sows are sows. Sows, so I said sows. So you
don't want to upset the bear people. Yeah, black bears
present and forested areas, less aggressive than grizzlies, but still
a risk. Then you have elk, moose, white bison, gray wolf,
red foxes, wolverine, big horn sheep, mountain goats, mountain lions, bobcats,

(16:41):
you everything, you two have every If the land won't
kill you, the animals will.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
Every large land mammal in North America. Polar bears is present, really.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
And on that trail they're all after you. Hazard's Austin
or anyone hiking in the area that at that time,
sudden storms and poor visibility, you know, and ice, as
we said, it can linger into July cold weather and hypothermia, wildfires, falls,
an unstable ground. So Eagle Peak involves Class three and
four scrambling on the Talus slopes. So that's like you're

(17:14):
kinda sometimes on all fours almost, and then it's like
one step forward one step back, one step forward, half
a step back.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
I've hiked on it and it almost feels like trying
to it's almost like there's like an escalator under your
feet as you're trying to go up.

Speaker 1 (17:28):
It just crowded under you was going down. Yeah, it's
just it's so demoralizing, Yeah, and exhausting. Yes, So loose
footing and uneven terrain are common with the higher elevation gains,
so that leads to fatigue. Yeah, there are river and
creek crossings, and then just general getting lost because of
the unmaintained trails. So the trail trailers, wilderness and dense

(17:51):
forest brush, combined with fog, increased navigation ears, no cell
service in much of the area delays help. So yeah,
on top of that, even if you're good at e
a map yep, if you don't have GPS and fog
rolls in, you either got to hunker down and wait
till it clears up. Yeah, or if you're really good
with your compass and you know you're heading, but there's

(18:12):
a lot of risk in doing that.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, you don't want to hike this without a GPS
backup GPS.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
And a beacon. Honestly, you beacon. Yeah, rent a beacon.
They're cheap.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
Know how to use a compass, and have waterproof maps
as a backup, a backup, backup, backup.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, altitude related issues coming to effect. There's hot springs
and geysers, so they're thin crusts over the scalding water,
so you could just step on what looks like solid
ground and fall right through. And then if all that
doesn't get you, the toxic gases and fumes could then too.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
And in this part of the park there are some
unmarked geysers and hot springs that aren't going to be
on a map.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
I mean, if you're aware of in the fog ye
wandering around falling into water. It's a tough but would
be a lot of fun. Yeah, it's a legit. It's
a legit one. So Mike tell us a little bit
about Austin King.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yeah, he was born around two thousand and two. I
don't have a specific date of birth. He went missing
on September seventeenth of twenty twenty four. He was a male,
age twenty two. Body description, he was described a white male, slender,
athletic build, six feet one hundred and sixty pounds, brown hair,
hazel eyes. He wore glasses. Gear he was last seen

(19:26):
and so he had glasses, black sweatshirt, gray pants. Backcountry
gear included a backpack, a tent, sleeping bag, and other
hiking essentials like food and navigation. When we get into
the timeline, think about the time of the year he's hiking.
Joe went through the climate. It already sounds like he's

(19:46):
not quite prepared for the weather he might experience, So
keep that in mind as I'm going through the timeline. Personality,
he was described as a very adventurous and exploratory person.
He was encouraged by his family to experience new places
and challenges. He was described as being very determined and
optimistic everyone around him, family friends. He was someone who

(20:12):
embraced outdoor adventure and solitude in nature. Just learning a
little bit about him, this place sounds like the perfect
place to go hiking. It's very You're just gonna get
his solitude. It's very rugged, and for someone who's adventurous,
that that is amazing.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
You don't want to be it's the coup de gras.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
You don't want to be hiking like the paved trails
where Grandma's and Grandpa's are walking by.

Speaker 1 (20:36):
That's not fun. I mean it's fun, but it is
for a different reason if you want to experience nature
and solitude and like in the way. See, I always
feel like I like to think about how they explored
it before it was all settled. You get a little
bit of that feeling when you're going off trail and
you're actually having a bush.

Speaker 2 (20:52):
No, we experienced this very in a very stark manner.
Remember the narrows. We started top down, Yes, the vast
majority of it. It was just our group going through
the narrows. And then we had to swim across this
big I guess you called it pond and we got
to the other side. It's where all the tourists were.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yes, remember that. Yeah, that's how we knew we were close.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
Khaki shorts and sandals and big cannon cameras and we're like, oh,
I guess we're done.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yes, So I'll have that video playing in the background
while you're talking. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
So occupation hobby. He was a concession employee at Yellowstone
National Park that summer and likely was living in Grant Village.
Hobbies obviously were hiking, backcountry, truking, outdoor exploration. He did
you know, solo multi day trips, experience in the wilderness.
Pretty experienced hiker at age twenty two. He had prior

(21:44):
backcountry adventures, including trips and other remote areas. He was
comfortable navigating the wilderness, is shown by you know he
planned to do a seven day backcountry hike here in Yellowstone.
I would say pretty experienced. Twenty two is a pretty
young age. I don't know that you've experienced everything by
twenty two, but for most twenty two year olds, he

(22:04):
pretty darn experienced.

Speaker 1 (22:06):
Yes, I loved that trip. That was a good trip,
especially that hike. Yep, how long ago of those twenty
sixteen JAYZ you sharing the video? Yep, Okay, I know
we haven't done this in NOI I'm just making sure.
Oh that was Yeah, we had the leg it. See
how we unclipped our bags. Everybody, it's a big thing
when you go through the water on clipped. I don't think

(22:27):
Ben did. Dan didn't either. Yeah, they didn't listen. I
had mine unclipped. That water was cold. It was so cold.
Experience in this location.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
So obviously he worked and lived in Yellowstone that summer,
so he was gained familiarity with the park. Overall, However,
this was his first known solo trek into this remote
area of the park, which, like Joe said, is one
of the most isolated sections and requires boat access, so
he never had been to this area before. Oh there's

(22:56):
angels landing.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Yep, yep, that's cool, super cool. Stop being distracted, I know,
I want to go back. Okay, jumping right into timeline.
So it's August fifteenth, twenty twenty four to early September
twenty twenty four, so King, obviously an experienced hiker, planned
a seven day trek to Eagle Peak. A missing Person's

(23:19):
flyer would later note that he would travel to Terrace
Point by boat and then hike towards Eagle Peak, sum
at the mountain, and returned to the for a boat
pick up at Yellowstone Lake's southeast arm. He had told
friends and family he wanted to see the remote area
south of the mountain. So King was already living and working,
like I said, in the park as a concession employee,

(23:41):
so the planning phase may have occurred while he was
on site. He obviously attained a backcountry permit for the trip,
which is standard protocol for something like this in an
area this remote It's now Friday, September thirteenth of twenty
twenty fourth. So King travels from Minnesota to Yellowstone National Park.
Used his family's RV and he checked into the Grant

(24:03):
Village area, where many concession employees lived.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
He set up base at his RV and prepared his
gear for the trip. It's now Saturday, September fourteenth of
twenty twenty four. So King now has been dropped off
by a park boat at Terrace Point on the southeast
arm of Yellowstone Lake, and this would be the beginning
of his trek towards Eagle Peak and a missing person's

(24:29):
flyer later reported that he planned a hike towards Howell
Creek and then ascend to Eagle Peak. It's now Monday, September. Sorry,
just laughing at something on the video.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
Dan attempting to not get wet. Yeah, after we had
been swimming basically in it.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yes, it's now Monday, September twenty sixth of twenty twenty four.
Two days into the hike, King visits the Howell Creek cabin.
This cabin was not on his intended route, so for
some reason he deviated.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
From the original plan. He actually did speak with a
backcountry ranger and explained that he intended to climb Eagle
Peak the following day. That night, he stayed at a
nearby near by camp site six d B. This so
this would be the last in person sighting of King.
The ranger noted that he appeared in good spirits and

(25:21):
adequately equipped, though the cabin visit obviously raises questions about
why he deviated from his original plan. It's now Tuesday,
September seventeenth of twenty twenty four. It's late afternoon, maybe
early evening, so King climbs Eagle Peak in very poor weather.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
It's around seven pm. He actually telephone friends and family
from the summit, and in his calls he described fog, rainsleet, hail,
and windy conditions. So Joe's got the area pulled up
on all trails here right away.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
This would be something I wouldn't do. I don't think
you would do either, Joe.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
I if I'm there for seven days, I would not
be summoning a eleven thousand foot peak in fog, rain, sleet,
and hail.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
Not in those conditions. If it wasn't doing that stuff,
I probably wouldn't do it. Yeah, but so I think
anyone listening like you, just your life's not it's unnecessary
worth losing over you just wait an extra day. Yeah.
He'd also left a voicemail for his father that arrived
a week later. It indicated that he was disorientated. I

(26:33):
said that right, Nope, disoriented disoriented, although I think you
can say them both ways.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
I know we go through this every time disoriented and
may have ascended the wrong route. So we've got a
couple issues here now. And this is why Joe mentioned
earlier that the train is so hard to navigate in
good conditions. Try doing it in fog and sleet and hail,
and he, you know, he went down the mountain the
wrong way. So this is now a major issue for him.

(27:01):
It's Tuesday, September seventeenth of twenty twenty four, six pm.
King wrote a lengthy entry in the register at the
summit of Eagle Peak. This was very important for the
case because it gave insight into his condition. He wrote
that he couldn't feel his fingers, his glasses were fogged,
and he endured rain, sleet, hail, and the most win

(27:22):
I've ever felt. He also had free soloed climbed, which
is climbing without ropes too many cliffs before reaching the peak.
He admitted he had hiked up the hiked up from
the connecting peak not the right path, and said he
could not see Eagle Peak due to the dense fog.
He also added that he was twenty two years old
and would never forget the day, including with life is beautiful,

(27:45):
get out and live it. So he's still in pretty
good spirits for the condition he's in. And Joe's got
the actual and image in the image of the.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
Note, and he even drew a smiley face.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, so at the end of it, I would say,
at this point he's in pretty rough condition.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
You know what that is though, what that looks like
to me if I can take some liberty and we've
been through some pretty hard moments and hiking and you're
kind of like jacked up in a little jazz, like
what did I just go through? Like we made it through.
It seems more like, holy crap, Like this is the
most fog I've ever seen. This is the craziest thing
I ever did. I'm here like I made it. Yeah,
Like it's he's probably in decent spirits but beaten down

(28:25):
a little bit. Yeah, worn out, but like optimistic, Probably
what I just did soaked. I've been in rain like
that on mounta Rainier and I had rein gear on
and it soaked right through it.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
He's cold, he said, his fingers were numbed. Probably hypothermia
of some stage is setting it at this point, and.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
I wasn't sharing it right now, I am, I ask ye.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
So, yeah, we did that episode a month or so
ago where I had the timeline of the body breaking down.
He's in some rough shape at this point, and it's
in another park. This might not be as bad of
a situation, but this area is so remote it's I
don't know, this would be tough for anyone to endure

(29:11):
this condition. So the entry was timestamped around six pm,
and that would be about an hour before sunset. The
note was later discovered by searchers and photographed, which Joe
had up on the screen, and like I said, it
provided crucial insights into his physical and mental state and
suggests that there were some hypothermia risks already setting in.

(29:33):
And now Joe is clicking through some photos from the
actual search of the area, and you can just see
how insanely rugged it is.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yeah's nothing yeah, I mean it's beautiful, but absolutely beautiful.
That looks like a little road or cross is it's
some power power lines and it's just a shot of
the mountain from far away. Yeah, it's a helicopter search helicopter.
You don't have to describe it. They're seeing it. I'm
just for those lists. I mean that, don't watch the video.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
So Wednesday, September eighteenth of twenty twenty four, after leaving
the summit note and the calls, he began his descent.
At this point there were no more communications. Volunteers later
speculated he may have become lost on the descent, particular
because he had used an unmarked route to ascend and
the visibility was very poor. That's a cool map, so Joe,

(30:24):
is a map up here of every area searchers. I mean, look,
they covered so much ground.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah, they covered most of the mountain. Now, I don't
know if there's a does it tell what the colors mean?
So browned ground, helicopter? Okay, yeah, is that red colorblind? Yeah?
Ground is red, blue is helicopter, and then drones are
the black. So they covered a very and there's Eagle
Peak and you can see there are areas where they

(30:52):
didn't really get in there though on foot you're saying,
or just in general, like the section right above Eagle
Peak doesn't really have any Now there's some blue. Oh,
I guess I think that's how many passes, like they're
probably using, Like they probably doubled over a lot of areas. Yeah,
I mean they covered a lot. Yeah, it's just really interesting.
That's really interesting. That's crazy.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
It's now Thursday, September nineteenth of twenty twenty four, so
we're not entirely sure, but people have speculated that he
likely attempted the hike back toward the southeast arm of
Yellowstone Lake to meet his scheduled boat pickup, and there
were still no communications at this point. So it's Friday,
September twentieth of twenty twenty four. Afternoon King failed to

(31:36):
arrive at his arrange boat pick up near Yellowstone Lake's
southeast arm. He was reported overdue to the Yellowstone Interagency
Communications Center at this time. It's the same day, so Friday,
September twentieth of twenty twenty four, it's the evening now,
so after he was reported overdue, rangers attempted to contact
King via calls and texts. There were obviously no responses.

(31:58):
The overdue report triggered immediate protocol checks. It's now Saturday,
September twenty first of twenty twenty fourth to the morning,
so at first light, Yellowstone and Grand Teetown Rangers, Park
County search and Rescue teams and volunteers began searching the
Eagle Peak area right away. He was reported overdue Friday.

(32:18):
It's the morning on Saturday. They already had twenty ground searchers,
two helicopters, unman aired systems, and a search dog team
in the area. So pretty big response for being less
than twenty four hours overdue. Sadly, he could have been
missing for several days at this point, because this was
just he was reported overdue when he was supposed to meet.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
The boat to get picked up. Yeah, I could have
been right after he summit. Did could have been. I
mean it sounded like he was in pretty rough shape.
So it's Saturday, September twenty first of twenty twenty four,
it's the evening now, and searchers actually find King's campsite
and personal belongings in the Upper Hull Creek area north
of Eagle Peace. And this was important because It suggested

(33:03):
that King had set up camp before attempting his summit,
and items found at the camp included a tent, backpack
in food, and importantly no signs of a struggle, so
keep that in mind during theories. It's now Sunday, September
twenty second of twenty twenty four. The MPs announced that
King had called friends and family from the summit on

(33:23):
September seventeenth, and that he had encountered fograin, sleet, hail,
and windy conditions. At this time, searchers were focused on
Eagle Peak, Eagle Pass, Mountain Eagle Pass, Mountain Creek Trail,
Eagle Creek Trailhead, and Shoshone National Forest. It's now Monday,
September twenty third of twenty twenty four. At this time,

(33:44):
Yellowstone officials asked anyone who had traveled near Eagle Peaks
in September fourteenth to report potential sightings. Media outlets were
now picking up on the story. They were widely reporting
the search and King's physical description. It's now Tuesday, September
twenty fourth. Search teams now are encountering deep snow drifts

(34:04):
up to six feet and this is only September and
fog near Eagle Peak. At this point, they had over
eighty five personnel searching, two helicopters, a search dog, in
a drone and they were searching ridges, drainages all in
kind of the Howell Creek area. And they also followed
up on cellular activity from King's phone on the seventeenth,

(34:27):
and they were able to get some pings from it
that kind of pinpointed and confirmed that he was up
on the peak on that day.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
And I believe they'd weren't able to get any other
cell phone pings after that point, which doesn't necessarily mean
anything because cell service in this area is pretty poor.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah. So and if he's turning it off in between
using it, yeah, I do that a lot in backcountries.
I'll just have it off when I'm not using it.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
I'll turn it on to take pictures as I turn
it off. Yeah, you want to conserve the battery, or I.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
Put it in air plane mode so it's only a
camera mode. Yeah, like super low power. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
Friday, September twenty seventh, the MPs now reports that ninety
six personnel, two helicopters, a search dog, and a drone
were deployed in the Skip train. So the search is
still ramping up. What did I say, what was the
first day he was reported missing, So they said when
the boat was due, So yeah, the twentieth, and then
the search started the morning of the twenty first, and

(35:27):
they kept ramping up the search. It's now Friday, the
twenty seventh, and they're still ramping up the search. So
that's pretty cool to see that more personnel are getting
into the area. And you really need as many people
as you can get out here just because of Look
at this trail.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Yeah, it's wild. That is wild. Once you're like fifteen
miles in, that's when it starts getting real hard.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
It's impressive that he made it to the summit in
those conditions.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
Yeah, just even made it up there along that backbone.
That's wild. That's wild. I couldn't what do you think
he was thinking like going up there, Like do I
turn around or just keep going? Wheel power? Yeah, like
I've made it this far. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Wow.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
Teams continued to follow leads from King's cellular data and
thoroughly searched ridges and valleys, and like I said, this
was on the twenty seventh, which was a Friday, it's
now Tuesday, October one of twenty twenty four, so snow
and severe weather repeatedly hampered ground crews. At this point,
King's family and volunteers in Cody, Wyoming began organizing private

(36:31):
search teams, which they were coordinating with Yellowstone staff. October
second of twenty twenty four, after eleven days of searching
and covering more than three thousand, two hundred and twenty
five miles by aaron ground, over one hundred personnel, two helicopters,
search dog teams, trackers, and a drone, the NPS announced

(36:52):
that they were scaling back and transitioning from a rescue
to a recovery. I say it every episode, but they
can't keep the search going forever. Yeah, And based on
the evidence they had, he was already in pretty rough
condition on the seventeenth and it's now the second of October,
and these conditions are bad, The weather conditions are bad,

(37:16):
and the chances of someone surviving that long. And like
I remember when I told you about his gear that
he had, he didn't really have the proper gear for
this weather. And he sounds like he left most of
it at his campsite, and he had a sleeping bag
but it was unaccounted for, so he had no shelter.
Even you might be able to hunker down in a

(37:38):
tent if it's snowing, rain is going to soak right
through it.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
How many reviews there are? Twelve? Twelve? Like that is
how what are some of the There's only I mean,
there's only one written one. It's his popular horse trail
bridges closed off but still accessible trail ends at the
past bushwhacking ridgewalk to mountain face. Lucas wrote great views.

(38:04):
That's wild. Yeah, not crowded, that was one of the comments.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
So Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Shaley explained that future operations would
be limited and weather dependent. It's now Friday, October eleventh
of twenty twenty four. King's father released a copy of
the note that Joe was showing earlier found at the summit.

Speaker 1 (38:25):
Cowboy State Daily and other outlets published the full text.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
The note obviously described his suffering and emphasized that he
had taken the wrong path. So at this point, volunteers
are organizing under John Lamb and Bill Doze. They were
planning multi day searches and establish established a base camp
on the Cody side of the mountain at this point, though,
MPs actually denied helicopter drops in the mid October timeframe

(38:54):
due to wilderness regulations and risk, so these were all
ground only searches at this point. And one interesting note
technology wise is someone donated a bunch of starlink systems
and they used that for remote communications on the.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
Search on the private search, so that's nice, kind of interesting.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
It's mid October of twenty twenty four and now, so
private search teams they had about a dozen volunteers. Search
dogs and drones combed steep drainages and cliffs around Eagle Peak,
while Yellowstone provided limited aerial support. Volunteers noted falling rocks,
grizzly bears, and impending snow as hazards everything Joe mentioned
in the location profess.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
So it's not like that kind of comes up.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
It's just always like there's just always bears around, so bears.
Park officials did caution the volunteers about these dangers with
the train and inclement weather. So the worst case scenario
is that you have all these volunteers out there and
then they start going missing. While the Park Service a
great that these people are out there searching, they're probably

(40:02):
very nervous whenever these volunteer private search and rescue operations
go out there.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
Yeah, it might turn into an additional person to search for. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
It's now late October twenty twenty fourth through the winter
of twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five, So at
this point, heavy snow is hitting the peak and the
volunteer searches had to wind down and Yellowstones limited operations
were paused and King remained missing at this point. So
obviously this is a very recent case, so we have

(40:34):
activity going on up until last couple of days. It's
now May of twenty twenty five, just a couple months ago.
So with the snow receiding, King's family requested renewed search efforts.
Yellowstone officials and private search coordinators evaluated when conditions would
allow teams to return to the mountain. So between May

(40:55):
twenty twenty five in early August of twenty twenty five,
there were someditional searches that happened. There was a fundraiser
between May and June that raised funds for drones, canine units,
and helicopters. Early July of twenty twenty five, Yellowstone issued
a new statement that teams would attempt another search for
King's remains in July. The mission would be smaller, obviously,

(41:16):
because of resource constraints and the hanzarous terrain. The park
again cautioned the volunteers that were going out there. On
July eleventh of twenty twenty five, less than a month ago,
Brian King returned to Wyoming to help with a recovery mission.
He worked with mountaineers and search dogs to plan for
an attempt to reach the steep areas that had been

(41:38):
snow covered during the previous search. Between July eighteenth and
July twentieth of twenty twenty five, about a dozen expert
climbers and a can nine teen hiked into Eagle Peak area,
exploring cliffs and ravines not previously searched. Unfortunately, weather once
again limited this search and no remains were found. It's

(41:59):
now late July and into early August. Just days ago,
volunteer and park teams revisited the area when the weather allowed,
and as of the current date, which is August sixth,
Austin King has not been found, so he's still missing.
No remains have been found, So kind of interesting. We've

(42:22):
never really done we don't really do very recent cases,
but it's pretty amazing. They're still out there right now
conducting searches for him. So I'll get into we're gonna
do the thing again, Joe, where I have three buckets
of theories?

Speaker 1 (42:39):
Got likely? All right? I will make mention too. There
is a there's still a go go funme going for
helicopter support, okay search. I mean two hours ago there
was a donation for fifteen hours, so it's very live.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
Will you a link to this GoFundMe and anyone listening
if you want to help the search effort, I head
over to this go fundme and even give them a
few bucks. Anything can help. Those helicopter searches are not cheap.

Speaker 1 (43:06):
Yeah, they're looking for fifty thousand. They have four percent,
so they got they get a thousand dollars donation from somebody.
They raised eighteen hundred. Yeah, so I'm not sure if
you can donate like a dollar on these things. Maybe not.
I don't know if there's like a lower limit, but yeah,
we'll post a link to it. Anyone who wants to
help the search. I'm just trying to think of anyone's like, hey,

(43:27):
if you want to help a little bit, if you
get fifty thousand people to donate a buck. Yeah, you
hear your goal. So yeah, if you can donate a
little bit five dollars, get a coffee one day and
give them five bucks, maybe our locations of none will
drop a donation. There we go, we'll lead the charge. Boom,
So Joe, We're gonna do a little thing. I've done
for some episodes for theories. So we've got three buckets.

(43:49):
We've got likely theories. We've got theoretically likely but theoretically
possible but not likely so highly unlikely, yes, high, and
then holy cowe should be an X Files episode off
the deep end. Yeah, all right, likely theories. I'll go
through those quick here. Hypothermia exposure is top of the list.

(44:12):
We already know he was probably experienced in early stages hypothermia.
From his letter, he described himself as being cold, wet,
numb in the fog. Never good.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
When your hands are numb from the cold, that's always
a bad sign. He was experiencing rain, sleet, hail, high
winds during his summit calls at Eagle Peaks eleven three
hundred and sixty four feet of elevation in mid September.
Temperatures can drop below freezing with windshills just speeding hypothermia up.

(44:43):
And obviously he had light clothing black sweatshirt, gray pants
would be soaked.

Speaker 1 (44:47):
Yeah, wet, windy, cold, yeah, not a good combination. And
he had no shelter. His sleeping bag was unaccounted for.
This could it had led to rapid deterioration, especially if
it was overnight. Searchers encountered six foot snow drifts shortly after,
and family and experts, including his father, have emphasized whether

(45:09):
is the likely culprit. The second most possible theory of
what might have happened to King was a fall from
a cliff or ridge. He admitted that he had been
free soloing cliffs via a wrong path and dense fog
on eagle peaks steep trails train. This has sheer drops,
loose talis. The poor of his ability could have slip

(45:33):
and fallen into a ravine, a drainage where remains might
be hidden by rocks, snow vegetation. He could have slipped
on a tallis field and then there could have been
a rock fall that covered up his remains. That's entirely plausible,
and searchers may never find that and This is again
consistent with reports and the focus of searches on steep

(45:54):
ridges and valleys north of the peak, and similar falls
have occurred in this area in the past, so this
is not something that hasn't happened before. Third theory on
the most likely list is just getting lost. So bog
was obviously obscuring views, and he was in an area
where a lot of the trails are unmarked, and it

(46:16):
likely he easily could have gone off trail on his descent,
wandering into remote wilderness where he succumbed to exhaustion, injury,
or exposure. His campsite was found north of the peak,
but no further traces and sell pings ended in No
further traces of him are found, and the cell pings
ended at the summit. And like Joe had mentioned, this

(46:39):
area that he was in was thirty plus miles from
a road, very remote and easily could have just wandered
out of the search area, though in his condition, in
those weather conditions, I don't know how far in this terrain,
I don't know how far you could get. Yeah, he was,
like I said, I think he was in pretty rough
shape by the time he hit the summit.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
All right, we're into the second bucket. Possible, but less likely,
so animal attack. Obviously, this place is crawling with grizzlies,
and the southeast back country area of Yellowstone has a
very high grizzly density. Nothing you never want to hear
that if you're going hiking somewhere. Yeah, high grizzly density,

(47:21):
and bears could have scavengermains after his death. However, there
were no signs of a struggle. There was no scat
or drag. No drag marks were found at his camp
or along the routes, and attacks are rare. There's only
been eight fatal attacks in park history. And like Jo said,
this is the oldest park in the US. Yeah, and
there's only been eight fatal grizzly attacks with that many

(47:43):
grizzlies in the park, So probably extremely rare, and grizzlies
probably aren't going to be up that high in those
terrible weather conditions. So could be wrong, but I think
King's gears showed no damage, and this really makes this
unlikely as a primary cause, though it's obviously speculated in

(48:03):
online discussions. Another interesting theory was drowning in a creek
or lake, so if lost, he might have fallen into
Howl Creek or a drainage during descent, with swift currents
carrying him away. However, September runoff in that area is low,
but it's cold. I mean, if he's already somewhat hypothermic
and falls into that water, that could be game over.

(48:25):
At this time of year, the runoff is low, so
it's not going to be too swift moving. It's not
like the spring melts where some of the creeks and
rivers are you know, turned into Yeah, falling into the
water could induce shock, but there was no evidence near
water crossings, and his planned return was lakeside, but searchers

(48:45):
didn't yield items in waterways, so they really reduce the
likelihood of this scenario happening. Another theory that could have
happened but really not likely is suicide or intentional disappearance.
So his notes tone life is beautiful, get out and
live It could be interpreted as a farewell, and some
have speculated that emotional distress from the trek's hardship could

(49:10):
have pushed him to the state. However, the family like
I mentioned in the character profile, described him as adventurous
and optimistic, with no history of mental health issues or
motives to vanish, and I.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
Will never forget today the rest of my life. Yeah,
life is beautiful, go out and live it. Smiley face. Yeah,
doesn't sound negative at all, So no, Yeah, whoever said
that's wrong?

Speaker 2 (49:34):
And he was calling loved ones and checking in with him,
So yeah, it's a theory, but obviously very terrible, not
very likely, yeh. Final theory in this bucket is foul
play by another person. So theoretically an encounter with another
hiker or poacher in the wilderness could lead to harm,
but the area's extreme isolation so few visitors and no

(49:56):
reports of others nearby, makes this very improbable.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
And theoretically I could win the lottery this week. Theoretically
you could.

Speaker 2 (50:04):
I could, and there's no evidence of conflict, and King's
communications showed no distress from interactions with people. Finally, we'll
get into some of the X files theories Bigfoot or
ENCRYPTID encounter. Yellowstone is a Bigfoot sighting hotspot, with theories
that a sasquatch abducted or attacked King, dragging him to
a hidden layer. His disappearance without a trace fuels this,

(50:28):
echoing stories.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
Of wild men in this range.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
Though this is obviously easily dismissed by experts as a myth.
Another one is alien abduction or UFO involvement. So the
park's vast unmonitored skies and history of UFO reports tied
to its volcanic energy lead to ideas that extraterrestrial beamed
him up from the summit. Fog and isolation could cover this,

(50:56):
So beamed up on the summit.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
Okay. Dimensional portal or time slip folklore claims Yellowstone's geothermal
features create portals to other dimensions or times. King might
have stepped through one on the foggy peak, explaining no remains.
This draws from obviously pseudoscience about the parks called era
as a vortex, with parallels to the Bermuda triangle style tales.

(51:23):
So I went to the organ vortex. Do you feel anything? No?
But remember we covered that on the episode with the
House that sideways. Oh you went there? I went there? Cool,
take some pictures I did all right.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
Finally, this one will fit right in with the missing
four on one books. So we shall not name the
person's name.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
He who shall not be named. He shall not be named.
I got some stuff to talk about him in our
Patreon episode next. All right, yeah, if you want to
hear all the juicy gossip, the venting. I got some
theories on that guy. The final one is, if we
want to the show up, maybe you should drop him
now and then we'll get a lawsuit and then we'll
become national news. I'd rather tease it and then get

(52:06):
fewer patreonss all right, let's do that.

Speaker 2 (52:09):
Government conspiracy or cover up speculation swirls. The MPs or
secret agencies hid his body to conceal park dangers. Either
they're worried about unstable geology or experiments, or that he
stumbled on a classified hidden facility. The transition to limited
searches and wilderness restrictions fuel this paranoia, but are baseless.

(52:33):
So those are but our baseless but are baseless, So
the best part those are the theories.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
Joe, what are you thinking? I think exposure or a
fall exposure. I think what really stuck out to me
was if he was writing about all the fog and
the hardship of getting up there. Yeah, going down, you're
going to be a little bit more reckless. If he's
already experiencing hypothermia, he's not making good decisions. He could
step off of a cliff, had a major fall, like

(53:03):
you said, maybe get buried in scree I think, yeah,
so come to the elements for sure. It's a matter
of how and where. Yeah, that's my guess. No, I'm
on your train with this one.

Speaker 2 (53:13):
I think he was already getting he was already experiencing
hypothermia when he wrote that note, and he descended on
the wrong path. In those conditions, he was probably soaking wet, lost,
couldn't see.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
It was night.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
He probably slipped and fell, And I think, yeah, maybe
he was covered by debris, which is why the search
teams weren't able to find his remains, and why his
remains may never be found. If it's covered under a
rock fall, you're probably not going to find those remains.

(53:53):
And he didn't have a ton of gear with him.
They found a lot of his gear at the campsite.
There's not necessly going to be like years. If he
fell down the side of the mountain, maybe like gear
would fly off and they would find something to indicate
that he might be in the area. But he didn't
have a lot of gear with him. They may not
find his remains sadly, or he just wandered off into

(54:16):
an area that wasn't searched thoroughly, and maybe a couple
of years down the road somebody will find something.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
You never know.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
Sometimes these cases can go five, ten, fifteen years and
then someone will find a bone that was Paul Miller,
Like our second episode, that was a couple years but
same thing, but in that regard, and he was like
right near the trail exactly. That took several years, yeah
to get so that's and that.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
Terrain was nowhere near that was Joshua Tree. Yeah, it
was a heavily traveled area. Yeah, it was combed over thoroughly.
Still heavy vegetation either. Yeah, So it took him three
years to find his remains. Absolutely, it's a lot of
space to cover. Yeah, yeah, I think elements and unfortunately
just that's what happened. Yeah, you agree, I agree.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
So yeah, anyone listening, if you want to help the search,
we'll post the GoFundMe and our show will donate something
to help it.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
Yep. Absolutely, thanks again for tuning into our show. We
appreciate all of you for listening and sharing locations and
known with your friends and family. Be sure to liken
though us on Facebook Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, where you
can find the videos of each episode. Also, if you
want to support the show monetarily, please visit our website
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Hikers Cash now available, and you can subscribe to our

(55:30):
patron account, YouTube and Apple subscriptions where you have access
to special events and additional shows for paid customers only. Lastly,
when enjoying the beauty of nature, whether backpacking, camping, or
simply taking a walk, always remember to leave no trace.
Thanks and we will see you all next time.

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Austin King - Yellowstone National Park - Wyoming

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Austin King - Yellowstone National Park - Wyoming