SEATTLE (AP) - Rescuers were searching for four hikers Tuesday in remote parts of southwest Washington, including three people who walked all the way from Mexico on the Pacific Crest Trail only to run into early season snowfall on their trek to the Canadian border.
Skamania County Undersheriff Dave Cox says two of the Pacific Crest Trail hikers, Matt Margiotta and Kyla Arnold, wisely called for help Monday after snow obscured their route. Six ground searchers had obtained their GPS location and expected to reach the pair later Tuesday.
"The problem with all the snow on the ground is you can't even tell where the trail is," Cox said. "Some folks try to push on and wind up getting lost."
Another Pacific Crest Trail hiker, Alejandra Wilson, was reported overdue after she failed to call her father, Dane Wilson, of Portland, Ore., to check in as expected. She was believed to be about a day's hike ahead of the other pair, or about 20 miles farther north. Searchers from Lewis County were headed south on the trail, hoping to run into her.
Her father reported that he last heard from her Friday as she was leaving Trout Lake, a tiny hamlet south of Mount Adams, for White Pass, Cox said.
Meanwhile more than three dozen rescuers continued looking for Kristopher Zitzewitz, 31, of Portland, who became separated from his partner in the Big Lava Beds area of Gifford Pinchot National Forest on Saturday.
Margiotta, Arnold and Wilson all kept online journals of their travels. Arnold last updated hers on Friday and described having recently encountered Wilson.
Arnold also wrote of having nearly run out of food after storms forced her and Margiotta to huddle under a tarp for four days - long delaying their arrival in Trout Lake.
"We finally made it to Trout Lake today and another huge storm is rolling in," Arnold wrote. "Everyone says we can't make it because of the weather situation, and to be honest it's quite terrifying, but I can't fathom coming this far and giving up."
Snow has been falling in the Washington mountains since the weekend, which was likely the first snow to fall on Pacific Crest Trail hikers, Cox said. Searchers had encountered two other hikers on the trail and persuaded them to turn around.
The Pacific Crest Trail runs 2,650 miles from Mexico to the Canadian border.