The father of a missing Yellowstone hiker has spoken out about the agonizing 8-month wait that he must endure before resuming the search for his son.
Austin King, 22, was last in contact with his dad Brian King-Henke on September 17 after he endured extreme weather conditions and eventually made it to the summit of Eagle Peak in Wyoming — Yellowstone’s highest mountain. The young man had set off on a solo expedition only three days before he made the climb but has not been seen since.
“Yellowstone is unforgiving in the winter, if you’re not prepared for it”, King-Henke said. “I know it’s more of a recovery than anything but it’s just knowing that he’s out there.
“I don’t want somebody to come across him and find him torn to pieces or anything like that. I couldn’t, I couldn’t. I don’t think I could live with that and hear someone say ‘hey, we found his hand’ or something like that.”
Austin’s father said that he was doing everything in his power to fundraise for a huge search effort being scheduled for July 20 2025 once the snow has melted off the mountain ranges in Yellowstone.
The search would involve scouring private rental cabins scattered over Yellowstone that are not on ordinance survey maps. The idea his son might have made it to one of them gives him some glimmer of hope.
“I’m hearing that all these hunters that go out there, there are quite a few cabins spread out in those mountain ranges and those basins,” he said. “So, if he [Austin] was able to get out there and find them then he’d have supplies. They all have blankets, firewood, food, you’re out of the weather – so there’s always the possibility.
”Like I’ve been saying all along, you know, I believe in the impossible.”
King-Henke has managed to raise almost $20,000 dollars on GoFundMe – funds he said were being held for helicopter rental, fuel, camping aid, transport, and any resources he could club together in a final search effort next summer.
“I’ve been through a journey of anger, sadness,” he said. “I’ve been going through a rollercoaster of emotions. But I have to keep reminding myself that I’ve made it through things in the past which have given me the foundation ground to keep level-headed and do what I need to do as Dad.
“It’s going to be a daunting task to bring this army [of helpers] together and be ready in July.”
Austin was due to complete a seven-day expedition alone in Wyoming after he was dropped on September 14 by boat at Terrace Point in Yellowstone National Park. His last official contact with a backcountry ranger occurred at Howell Cr. cabin on September 16, the National Park Service said.
An eerie note recovered from the summit gave Austin’s family an insight into the last few hours leading up to his disappearance reading: “I could not see Eagle for most of the day due to the most fog I have ever seen in my life. I free soloed too many cliffs to get here and walked up to the peak from the connecting peak – AKA not the right path.
“I am 22 years old and I will never forget today (for) the rest of my life.”
He concluded his registry diary entry: “Life is beautiful, get out and LIVE IT!” before signing his name and etching a smiley face beside it.
