November 7, 2025 • 14 mins
In 2010, 22-year-old Wesley Wamsganz left his job in Lake Placid and walked into the Adirondack High Peaks—without gear, food, or a known plan—and he never returned.
And his body has never been found. Another tragic story from the ADK High Peaks and a family left without answers.
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Wesley Wamsganz, please contact the New York State Police Troop B in Ray Brook at (518) 897-2000.
Follow on Instagram & Facebook:
@46of46podcast
@jamesappleton46
Does your physical fitness ever hold you back from fully enjoying your hiking adventures?
Here's 2 ways I can help you:
1.) Work with James 1-on-1 (online)
Apply to work with directy with James 1-on-1 in his Seek To Do More program where he'll help you build the right kind of strength & conditioning for better hiking adventures, along with the nutrition and daily habits needed to support long term transformation.
Book a call with James to see if it's the right fit for you HERE like it was for over 100 other hikers around the world.
www.seektodomore.com
2.) Join the next GREAT RANGE ATHLETE Team training program
A 6-week online fitness program to help you imporve your strength and endurance for hiking mountains. Train alongside a likeminded team of fellow hikers who will give you the support, guidance, and accountability you need to succeed.
Over 200 hikers worldwide have joined the Great Range Athlete team program with great sucesss from first time hikers to multi-round Adirondack 46'ers and everywhere inbetween.
Plus, enjoy an Adirondack group hike at the end of the program with your coach and teammates
Join the next team HERE
www.GreatRangeAthlete.com
Get my Adirondack hiking books:
1.) The Adirondack 46 in 18 Hikes: The Complete Guide to Hiking the High Peaks
2.) Adirondack Campfire Stories: Tales and Folklore from Inside the Blue Line
3.) Pick up my digital eBook "From 1-to-46" instantly HERE
Visit my websites:
www.46OUTDOORS.com
www.46OF46.com
And his body has never been found. Another tragic story from the ADK High Peaks and a family left without answers.
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Wesley Wamsganz, please contact the New York State Police Troop B in Ray Brook at (518) 897-2000.
Follow on Instagram & Facebook:
@46of46podcast
@jamesappleton46
Does your physical fitness ever hold you back from fully enjoying your hiking adventures?
Here's 2 ways I can help you:
1.) Work with James 1-on-1 (online)
Apply to work with directy with James 1-on-1 in his Seek To Do More program where he'll help you build the right kind of strength & conditioning for better hiking adventures, along with the nutrition and daily habits needed to support long term transformation.
Book a call with James to see if it's the right fit for you HERE like it was for over 100 other hikers around the world.
www.seektodomore.com
2.) Join the next GREAT RANGE ATHLETE Team training program
A 6-week online fitness program to help you imporve your strength and endurance for hiking mountains. Train alongside a likeminded team of fellow hikers who will give you the support, guidance, and accountability you need to succeed.
Over 200 hikers worldwide have joined the Great Range Athlete team program with great sucesss from first time hikers to multi-round Adirondack 46'ers and everywhere inbetween.
Plus, enjoy an Adirondack group hike at the end of the program with your coach and teammates
Join the next team HERE
www.GreatRangeAthlete.com
Get my Adirondack hiking books:
1.) The Adirondack 46 in 18 Hikes: The Complete Guide to Hiking the High Peaks
2.) Adirondack Campfire Stories: Tales and Folklore from Inside the Blue Line
3.) Pick up my digital eBook "From 1-to-46" instantly HERE
Visit my websites:
www.46OUTDOORS.com
www.46OF46.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
This is the forty six and forty six podcast October
sessions where we'll talk all things spooky and Iarondacks and more,
from bigfoot encounters on the NPT to ghostly sightings in
the trees. We'll dive deep into the heart of these
mountains and the people who.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Dare to climb them.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
From Adirondack bigfoots to haunted lakeside bar huts, it's all
here on the forty six and forty six October sessions.
(00:48):
The Adirondacks are a place where people come to find peace, solitude, adventure,
and maybe even redemption.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
It's vast, over six.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Million acres of forests, mountain and wilderness, But every so
often the wilderness reminds us that it's not ours to control.
It keeps secrets, and it swallows stories whole. In fact,
it can't be controlled. This October Sessions on the forty
(01:20):
six of forty six podcast, we're shining the spotlight on
the stories of people who have vanished in the Adirondacks.
Stories without answers, families without their loved ones.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
And this next story hits close to home.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
In late November twenty ten, a young man from Saranac
Lake walked away from his job in Lake Placid and
headed towards the mountains alone, without gear, into the high peaks,
and he never came back. This is the story of
Wesley whims It was Saturday, November twentieth, twenty ten. Winter
(02:09):
was creeping into the high peaks, the kind of called
that bites harder once the sun dips behind the ridgelines.
Twenty two year old Wesley wims Gans had just finished
his shift at the Downtown Diner in Lake Placid around
two o'clock that afternoon that day. He was quiet, coworkers set, calm,
not really upset, but not joyful, just distant. He left
(02:35):
the diner that day and started walking. And he started
walking south in the direction of the Adirondack Lodge Road,
the main access point for the High Peaks. But the
Adirondack Lodge trailhead is more than eight miles from downtown
Lake Placid on foot. That's nearly a three hour walk
(02:57):
just to reach the start of the trail, and that's
before stepping into the back country itself. You see, Wesley
didn't have a car. He walked everywhere. But why was
he walking there?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
And at that hour?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Why head toward the mountains in a cold November afternoon,
with no gear, no food, and no backpack, nothing but
a green car heart jacket, a hoodie, cotton pants, and
a striped beanie. And why walk away from Lake Placid
when his home was in Saranac Lake more than ten
(03:36):
miles in the opposite direction. It's a question that's haunted
this story from the beginning.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
What was Wesley doing? Where was he going?
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Whatever his reason, he kept walking, and at some point
that afternoon or that evening, Wesley vanished. When Wesley didn't
return home, concerns spread quickly, and he was familiar with
the area. A lifelong North Country local from Saranac Lake,
(04:10):
he knew what the mountains were capable of this time
of year. He had been a boy scout, and within
twenty four hours of him not coming home, a major
search effort was underway.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
New York State Police, forest.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Rangers and local volunteers mobilized across the High Peaks corridor
between the Adirondack Lodge and Marcy Dam looking for Wesley.
But then came the first clue. Searchers found his green
car heart jacket, lying directly on the trail leading towards
Avalanche pass. His jacket was intact, not ripped, not bloodied,
(04:51):
just sitting there across the trail, no signs of a.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Struggle, no footprints, nothing else around it.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
That jacket would be the only piece of physical evidence
ever recovered. Over the next several days, hundreds of searchers
covered terrain from Marcy Dam through Avalanche Pass toward Lake Colden.
K nine units swept the drainages. Helicopters circled overhead when
the weather allowed, but low clouds, high winds, and sleep
(05:23):
often grounded the helicopters. Temperatures dropped into the single digits
with sleet and freezing rain those nights. It lasted for
eight days until the search was scaled back, even over Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
But they never found anything.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
No footprints, no body, no gear, just the silence of
the mountains. It leads you to wonder where was Wesley going,
What was he doing out there? He knew what he
was getting himself into this time of year in the mountains,
(06:08):
you know. The simplest theory is he may have succumbed
to the elements right walking into the high peaks without
winter gear. It's kind of a death sentence. Once those
temperatures plummet. But in cases of exposure, searchers almost always
find something. Clothing remains, signs of shelter, But for Wesley,
(06:29):
outside of the jacket nothing, You know. He could have
straight off trail, followed a drainage, or you know, slipped
into a ravine where a thick blowdown concealed him. But
this area was comed exhaustively by trained search and rescue
helicopters with infrared, and still no trace. Then there's the
(06:54):
darker possibility. You know, some wonder if he ever even
made it to the trailhead, could even a ride from
someone along the way. Could something have happened before he
even got into the woods?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Was the jacket placed there?
Speaker 1 (07:09):
No confirmed evidence points to foul play, but the lack
of any evidence does leave the door wide open, at
least in our thoughts. Then there's the other theory. Did
Wesley voluntarily disappear given the facts? You know, some people
(07:35):
have compared his case to Into the Wild, a famous
book movie, you know, where a young man walking into
nature to escape the world, to seek meaning to disappear.
But Wesley wasn't described as an outsider chasing adventure.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
You know, he was an Adirondack boy. He knew these mountains,
this weather, these woods.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
He knew that heading into the high peaks in November,
at that time of day without a backpack, food, clothing,
it wasn't.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Just dangerous, it was fatal. So if he did choose
to walk.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Away from his life, it wasn't into some romantic wilderness journey.
It was into the cold, into darkness, into the high peaks,
and likely into despair. Whatever happened, it's tragic anyway you
look at And of course, as with every Adirondack disappearance,
(08:39):
there are the whispers, the strange theories that grow in
the void left by unanswered questions. The woods are a
unique place, and when the sun goes down they're a
very different place than they are during the day. No
(09:01):
matter which way you look at it, nothing adds up
in this story. Answers are hidden, and so many questions arise.
Was his jacket a result of paradoxical undressing that happens
right before you die when you are hypothermic. After all,
(09:23):
he was out there with no clothes and no gear.
Is that why his jacket was on the trail neat
and tidy? Or was there another reason? You know, we
may never find out. Years have passed now and Wesley's
name remains etched in the missing person's database. No new leads,
(09:47):
no new discoveries, just the same empty question, why did
he walk into the high peaks that day? In small
Adirondack towns like Lake Claset and Sarah Lake, people haven't.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Forgotten Wesley's name.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
We all wonder where was he going that day? And
maybe that's the most haunting part of it all, the
possibility that maybe he meant to disappear, but maybe not.
Whatever it is, his family is left without answers and
(10:25):
without their son. So if you have any information about
the disappearance of Wesley Williamscans, contact the New York State Police.
Even the smallest memory or sighting or ride offered could
finally bring closure to a family that's waited more than a.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Decade for answers.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
The Adirondack Forrest can keep its secrets, and it knows
what happened to Wesley. Out there, beneath the snow and
the silence of the wilderness lies the truth about what
really happened to Wesley that cult November day. Be safe
(11:07):
out there, be prepared, and always respect the mountains.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
You're climbing in.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
My name is Shane Kayshak and I came across James
through his forty six of forty six podcasts and I
joined the Seek to Do More program in June of
twenty twenty two after watching James on Instagram with the
program and seeing people be successful with it, I needed
to get myself out of a rut, and with the program,
I was able to break free from old habits and
(11:44):
really reclaim my life and my confidence. I found such
a fulfillment in myself and I am stronger, bold physically
and mentally, and more confident in the choices that I make.
My adventures have become unstoppable with what I'm determined to do.
I've hiked multiple peaks by myself, backpack by myself, I've
started doing ultras, and I really found myself also dealing
(12:05):
with unexpected things in everyday task in a more confident way.
I highly suggest this program if that's what you're looking
for in your life and if you're just ready to
start making changes both mentally and physically, this is where
you want to be.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
It's a new year and another opportunity to become the strong,
the confident, and the unstoppable person that you know inside
you're capable of becoming.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
You know, sometimes we find.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Ourselves in a rut, just like Shane was, But it
takes three things to break out of that rut. One
making a choice to put a stop to it. Two
having a plan of action to take you from where
you are in life to where you want to go,
and three following through with that choice by putting in
the effort to execute the plan. You see, Shane is
(12:51):
a prime example of going from being in a rut
to becoming an absolutely unstoppable woman both in the mountains
and in her mindset. On how Shane approaches challenge and
how she approaches life, how she shows up for herself
and for those around her. So, if you find yourself
in a rut just like Shane was, and you are
ready to break out of it and improve not just
(13:13):
your strength and conditioning for climbing mountains, because you know
we all want to do that, but if you also
want to improve your mindset and how you show up
in the world every day beyond the backcountry, then my
seat to do more one on one coaching program might
be the trail map that you've been looking for to
take you to the top of that mountain. You know,
if you've had enough and you're ready to make twenty
twenty five the year that everything changed, book a call
(13:36):
with me over at Seek to Do More dot Com
and let's get you moving up that mountain. Because new
summits are indeed within your grasp, you just have to
go get them.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
So if you want to become.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
The strongest version of yourself on the trail and off
the trail, head over to Seat to Do More dot Com.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Book a call with me and I'll see you on
the call
This is the forty six and forty six podcast October
sessions where we'll talk all things spooky and Iarondacks and more,
from bigfoot encounters on the NPT to ghostly sightings in
the trees. We'll dive deep into the heart of these
mountains and the people who.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Dare to climb them.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
From Adirondack bigfoots to haunted lakeside bar huts, it's all
here on the forty six and forty six October sessions.
(00:48):
The Adirondacks are a place where people come to find peace, solitude, adventure,
and maybe even redemption.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
It's vast, over six.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Million acres of forests, mountain and wilderness, But every so
often the wilderness reminds us that it's not ours to control.
It keeps secrets, and it swallows stories whole. In fact,
it can't be controlled. This October Sessions on the forty
(01:20):
six of forty six podcast, we're shining the spotlight on
the stories of people who have vanished in the Adirondacks.
Stories without answers, families without their loved ones.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
And this next story hits close to home.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
In late November twenty ten, a young man from Saranac
Lake walked away from his job in Lake Placid and
headed towards the mountains alone, without gear, into the high peaks,
and he never came back. This is the story of
Wesley whims It was Saturday, November twentieth, twenty ten. Winter
(02:09):
was creeping into the high peaks, the kind of called
that bites harder once the sun dips behind the ridgelines.
Twenty two year old Wesley wims Gans had just finished
his shift at the Downtown Diner in Lake Placid around
two o'clock that afternoon that day. He was quiet, coworkers set, calm,
not really upset, but not joyful, just distant. He left
(02:35):
the diner that day and started walking. And he started
walking south in the direction of the Adirondack Lodge Road,
the main access point for the High Peaks. But the
Adirondack Lodge trailhead is more than eight miles from downtown
Lake Placid on foot. That's nearly a three hour walk
(02:57):
just to reach the start of the trail, and that's
before stepping into the back country itself. You see, Wesley
didn't have a car. He walked everywhere. But why was
he walking there?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
And at that hour?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Why head toward the mountains in a cold November afternoon,
with no gear, no food, and no backpack, nothing but
a green car heart jacket, a hoodie, cotton pants, and
a striped beanie. And why walk away from Lake Placid
when his home was in Saranac Lake more than ten
(03:36):
miles in the opposite direction. It's a question that's haunted
this story from the beginning.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
What was Wesley doing? Where was he going?
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Whatever his reason, he kept walking, and at some point
that afternoon or that evening, Wesley vanished. When Wesley didn't
return home, concerns spread quickly, and he was familiar with
the area. A lifelong North Country local from Saranac Lake,
(04:10):
he knew what the mountains were capable of this time
of year. He had been a boy scout, and within
twenty four hours of him not coming home, a major
search effort was underway.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
New York State Police, forest.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Rangers and local volunteers mobilized across the High Peaks corridor
between the Adirondack Lodge and Marcy Dam looking for Wesley.
But then came the first clue. Searchers found his green
car heart jacket, lying directly on the trail leading towards
Avalanche pass. His jacket was intact, not ripped, not bloodied,
(04:51):
just sitting there across the trail, no signs of a.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Struggle, no footprints, nothing else around it.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
That jacket would be the only piece of physical evidence
ever recovered. Over the next several days, hundreds of searchers
covered terrain from Marcy Dam through Avalanche Pass toward Lake Colden.
K nine units swept the drainages. Helicopters circled overhead when
the weather allowed, but low clouds, high winds, and sleep
(05:23):
often grounded the helicopters. Temperatures dropped into the single digits
with sleet and freezing rain those nights. It lasted for
eight days until the search was scaled back, even over Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
But they never found anything.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
No footprints, no body, no gear, just the silence of
the mountains. It leads you to wonder where was Wesley going,
What was he doing out there? He knew what he
was getting himself into this time of year in the mountains,
(06:08):
you know. The simplest theory is he may have succumbed
to the elements right walking into the high peaks without
winter gear. It's kind of a death sentence. Once those
temperatures plummet. But in cases of exposure, searchers almost always
find something. Clothing remains, signs of shelter, But for Wesley,
(06:29):
outside of the jacket nothing, You know. He could have
straight off trail, followed a drainage, or you know, slipped
into a ravine where a thick blowdown concealed him. But
this area was comed exhaustively by trained search and rescue
helicopters with infrared, and still no trace. Then there's the
(06:54):
darker possibility. You know, some wonder if he ever even
made it to the trailhead, could even a ride from
someone along the way. Could something have happened before he
even got into the woods?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Was the jacket placed there?
Speaker 1 (07:09):
No confirmed evidence points to foul play, but the lack
of any evidence does leave the door wide open, at
least in our thoughts. Then there's the other theory. Did
Wesley voluntarily disappear given the facts? You know, some people
(07:35):
have compared his case to Into the Wild, a famous
book movie, you know, where a young man walking into
nature to escape the world, to seek meaning to disappear.
But Wesley wasn't described as an outsider chasing adventure.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
You know, he was an Adirondack boy. He knew these mountains,
this weather, these woods.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
He knew that heading into the high peaks in November,
at that time of day without a backpack, food, clothing,
it wasn't.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Just dangerous, it was fatal. So if he did choose
to walk.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Away from his life, it wasn't into some romantic wilderness journey.
It was into the cold, into darkness, into the high peaks,
and likely into despair. Whatever happened, it's tragic anyway you
look at And of course, as with every Adirondack disappearance,
(08:39):
there are the whispers, the strange theories that grow in
the void left by unanswered questions. The woods are a
unique place, and when the sun goes down they're a
very different place than they are during the day. No
(09:01):
matter which way you look at it, nothing adds up
in this story. Answers are hidden, and so many questions arise.
Was his jacket a result of paradoxical undressing that happens
right before you die when you are hypothermic. After all,
(09:23):
he was out there with no clothes and no gear.
Is that why his jacket was on the trail neat
and tidy? Or was there another reason? You know, we
may never find out. Years have passed now and Wesley's
name remains etched in the missing person's database. No new leads,
(09:47):
no new discoveries, just the same empty question, why did
he walk into the high peaks that day? In small
Adirondack towns like Lake Claset and Sarah Lake, people haven't.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Forgotten Wesley's name.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
We all wonder where was he going that day? And
maybe that's the most haunting part of it all, the
possibility that maybe he meant to disappear, but maybe not.
Whatever it is, his family is left without answers and
(10:25):
without their son. So if you have any information about
the disappearance of Wesley Williamscans, contact the New York State Police.
Even the smallest memory or sighting or ride offered could
finally bring closure to a family that's waited more than a.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Decade for answers.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
The Adirondack Forrest can keep its secrets, and it knows
what happened to Wesley. Out there, beneath the snow and
the silence of the wilderness lies the truth about what
really happened to Wesley that cult November day. Be safe
(11:07):
out there, be prepared, and always respect the mountains.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
You're climbing in.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
My name is Shane Kayshak and I came across James
through his forty six of forty six podcasts and I
joined the Seek to Do More program in June of
twenty twenty two after watching James on Instagram with the
program and seeing people be successful with it, I needed
to get myself out of a rut, and with the program,
I was able to break free from old habits and
(11:44):
really reclaim my life and my confidence. I found such
a fulfillment in myself and I am stronger, bold physically
and mentally, and more confident in the choices that I make.
My adventures have become unstoppable with what I'm determined to do.
I've hiked multiple peaks by myself, backpack by myself, I've
started doing ultras, and I really found myself also dealing
(12:05):
with unexpected things in everyday task in a more confident way.
I highly suggest this program if that's what you're looking
for in your life and if you're just ready to
start making changes both mentally and physically, this is where
you want to be.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
It's a new year and another opportunity to become the strong,
the confident, and the unstoppable person that you know inside
you're capable of becoming.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
You know, sometimes we find.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Ourselves in a rut, just like Shane was, But it
takes three things to break out of that rut. One
making a choice to put a stop to it. Two
having a plan of action to take you from where
you are in life to where you want to go,
and three following through with that choice by putting in
the effort to execute the plan. You see, Shane is
(12:51):
a prime example of going from being in a rut
to becoming an absolutely unstoppable woman both in the mountains
and in her mindset. On how Shane approaches challenge and
how she approaches life, how she shows up for herself
and for those around her. So, if you find yourself
in a rut just like Shane was, and you are
ready to break out of it and improve not just
(13:13):
your strength and conditioning for climbing mountains, because you know
we all want to do that, but if you also
want to improve your mindset and how you show up
in the world every day beyond the backcountry, then my
seat to do more one on one coaching program might
be the trail map that you've been looking for to
take you to the top of that mountain. You know,
if you've had enough and you're ready to make twenty
twenty five the year that everything changed, book a call
(13:36):
with me over at Seek to Do More dot Com
and let's get you moving up that mountain. Because new
summits are indeed within your grasp, you just have to
go get them.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
So if you want to become.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
The strongest version of yourself on the trail and off
the trail, head over to Seat to Do More dot Com.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Book a call with me and I'll see you on
the call
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