OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Rescue teams will continue their search at 7 a.m. Saturday for a Port Angeles man missing since he set out on a Monday day hike on popular Olympic Hot Springs Trail.
Friends reported James Thomas Griffin, 60, of Port Angeles, missing after he failed to show up for a Christmas Eve dinner.
Although people had hiked on the Olympic National Park trail since Monday, as of today (Friday) “nobody had seen him,” said Jacilee Wray, acting park spokeswoman.
Teams called off their search for the night as darkness fell, with plans to resume Saturday.
Anyone with information on Griffin’s whereabouts or who has seen him in the park is asked to call park officials at 360-565-3000 and press zero to talk to a park official.
In the second full search day Friday, 10 rescuers from the park and Olympic Mountain Rescue were aided by state Department of Emergency Management search dogs and their handlers.
Joining the hunt for Griffin was his own dog, Bud, a Labrador-mix.
Searches will continue scouring the rugged, steep terrain Saturday, remaining in the general area for the time being, she said.
Two of the search dogs and their handlers will return Saturday — though Bud will not be back.
“Little Bud didn’t prove to be too helpful,” Wray said.
Family members said Griffin is an avid hiker but makes slow progress because of an old leg injury, Wray said.
But they also said he was not thought to be overly distraught and was hiking in familiar terrain when he seemingly vanished.
Griffin, a six-year Port Angeles resident, is retired, single and lives alone, Wray said.
His open pack was found mid-day Thursday just a half-mile from the trail head, where he had parked his car, and 2 miles from the hot springs.
The pack, which was 50 feet off the trail, was leaning against a log.
“It was sitting there like it had some things pulled out of it,” Wray said.
In the pack was a container of water, Griffin’s camera, a stove and no overnight gear.
A towel was lying on the pack.
On a nearby log sat a coke can and a plastic coffee mug.
Also close by was a pouch of freeze-dried food with water already in it.
The pouch had been resealed.
There were no signs of a struggle in the area, Wray said.
Three rescuers searched Wednesday night beginning at about 10 p.m. and spent the night in the field before looking for Griffin all day Thursday.
Two teams of searchers joined the effort after noon on Thursday.
Two, three-person mountain rescue search teams and four additional personnel set out in search of Griffin this morning.
Wray said the park’s average search protocol calls for at least seven complete days of searching for missing hikers, but that could change.
“It’s whatever the circumstances dictate,” she said.
She said searchers are concentrating their efforts on the area where Griffin’s backpack was found and a nearby waterfall, a photo of which was on the camera.
The photo was date-stamped June 29.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
