A search was continuing Friday in Olympic National Park for a 56-year-old woman who became separated from her fellow backpackers in the southeastern corner of the park.
Cheri Keller, from Olympia, Washington, was on a backcountry trek with four friends when they stopped Wednesday for a break near Home Sweet Home campsite for some water. A park release said Keller became separated from the group after it left Home Sweet Home headed for Camp Pleasant.
The group waited for her at Camp Pleasant, where they had intended to meet for lunch and ended up staying in that location overnight. Two members of the group hiked out to Staircase on Thursday morning and reported her missing to park dispatch around 10 a.m. The other members of the group hiked back to First Divide to look for her.
Keller was described as standing 5-foot-6 with gray hair. She was wearing a blue shirt and khaki pants with a blue backpack when last seen.
The backpackers had a wilderness permit for August 1-5 to hike from the Duckabush trailhead over to Staircase. Search and rescue personnel hiked into the wilderness from Staircase on Thursday to look for the woman. Two National Park Service search teams were in the field Friday covering the route from the Duckabush side and from the Staircase side.
If you were in the area of First Divide, Upper Duckabush, or Camp Pleasant on August 4 or August 5 or have any information regarding this individual, you're asked to call or text the NPS Investigative Services Branch (ISB) Tip Line at 888-653-0009; or online at www.nps.gov/ISB by clicking "Submit a Tip" or by email at [email protected]. Information from other day hikers and backpackers is often extremely valuable during searches.
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