Skull discovered in Skamania County believed to belong to hiker missing since 2013
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Human remains discovered at the Gifford Pinchot National Forest earlier this month are believed to belong to a hiker who went missing more than a decade ago.
On Thursday night, the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office revealed that a hiker in Big Lava Bed reported finding a human skull on Aug. 10.
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The hiker recorded the GPS coordinates where he found the skull, but a Skamania County deputy was unable to locate it when he responded to the scene the following day. Officials said the hiker volunteered to return to the forest with a county sergeant on Aug. 15, when the skull was recovered.
A preliminary investigation has led authorities to believe the remains belong to a hiker that has been missing since 2013. According to SCSO, the hiker was last seen in the Big Lava Beds area and unable to be located despite “numerous coordinated search efforts.”
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The Sheriff’s Office transported the skull, and other remains found nearby, to the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The investigation is ongoing and the suspected identity of the person has not been released.
Tanner Hoskins, spokesperson for the nonprofit Pacific Northwest Missing Persons Project, told KOIN 6 News the Gifford Pinchot National Forest is a place no hiker should venture into alone.
“It is truly some of the scariest terrain I’ve been in and I don’t get scared easy,” Hoskins said.
Hoskins and his crew hope to find the nearly three dozen people missing and accounted for in the Skamania County wilderness.
“To be able to do this for families and to make a non-profit out of it is what we’re doing now,” Hoskins said.
The Big Lava Beds, in particular, is so treacherous, the PNWMPP team had to turn back while searching for a missing hiker there in April 2022, Hoskins said.
“The Big Lava Beds themselves, we’ve tried to go in a couple of times. Everything looks the same once you go in there. There’s holes everywhere,” he said. “Some of them are deep caves, but all of a sudden you’ll take a step and be at a hole that’s six, seven, 10 feet down, something that — if you fell in — you’re not coming back out on your own.”
Hoskins’ group is aimed at helping people who have lost someone.
“I can’t imagine what grief feels like,” he said.
Hoskins said they haven’t had much of a success rate. However, each time they enter the forest, they always have the same goal.
“We know that we’re some of the few people that are paying attention to the gear that was left or possibly somebody had with them, and it’s every time we enter we’re just trying to make a difference in some, some way, shape or form, for people that we’ve never met.”
Hoskins said there are some ways you can stay safe even on the most simple hike. That includes always letting someone know where you’re going and when you’ll be back, packing at least 72 hours’ worth of supplies just in case and taking a buddy with you.
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