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StrangeOutdoors 11/29/17 StrangeOutdoors 11/29/17

The baffling disappearance of Sylvia Apps from Strathcona Provincial Park

Sylvia Apps, disappeared July 8, 2014, Castlecrag Mountain, Strathcona Park, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada.

Revised July 2024

Sylvia Apps, 69, left at 11 a.m. on July 8, 2014, for a five-day solo hiking trip to Vancouver Island's Strathcona Park in British Columbia, Canada. She lived in Courtenay, B.C..

She began her hike in the Paradise Meadows area of Mount Washington and was expected back on July 13 at 4 pm. She was equipped with navigation and safety equipment and had done many long hikes. Sylvia was last seen on July 11, south of Castlecrag Mountain. After that, she vanished!

Searchers said they were baffled as they had never had a search and rescue operation like this case where belongings were located but not the missing person. It was a unique case for the Comox Valley Ground Search and Rescue (CVGSAR), and they described it as “it’s very mystifying”

What is and where is Strathcona Provincial Park?

Strathcona Provincial Park is a rugged mountain wilderness of 607,404 acres that dominates central Vancouver Island. Created in 1911, it is the oldest provincial park in British Columbia and the largest on Vancouver Island. The triangular-shaped park practically spans the entire width of Vancouver Island, in that it borders on Herbert Inlet off Clayoquot Sound on the Pacific Coast. It extends eastwards to within 10 miles of the sea near Comox.

It contains some of the highest summits of the Vancouver Island Ranges, including Golden Hinde, Elkhorn Mountain, Mount Colonel Foster, Mount Albert Edward, Mount McBride, and Rambler Peak. The Karmutsen Formation, an incredibly thick, volcanic sequence of tholeiitic pillow basalts and breccias, is the most abundant rock unit in the park. The tallest mountains in the park are carved from these basalts.

The park is named after Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, a wealthy businessman and railway pioneer who later became one of the British Empire’s leading philanthropists.

Strathcona is famous for its rugged topography, housing dozens of glacial-fed alpine lakes and tarns, striking glaciers (including Vancouver Island’s last remaining icefields), and one of the highest waterfalls in Canada, Della Falls.

Ancient forests of Douglas fir, western red cedar, grand fir, and western hemlock forest cover the park's lower regions and valley, providing the perfect habitat for native wildlife. Interestingly, because Vancouver Island is separated from mainland British Columbia by the Johnstone and Georgia Straits, wildlife here has evolved from their mainland relatives. Vancouver Island wolf, Roosevelt elk, and Vancouver Island marmot are all unique to the island.

The search for Sylvia Apps

Search and Rescue crews from Comox Valley, North Shore Rescue, and many other organizations stepped in to help find Sylvia. In total, 119 searchers and 54 volunteers were involved.

Comox Valley Ground Search and Rescue (CVGSAR) began searching the area around Castlecrag Mountain with helicopter support. Search and rescue teams then conducted targeted searches to ensure the most likely areas in which Sylvia may be found were checked again.

CVGSAR confirmed that Sylvia was at the summit of Castlecrag Mountain on July 10th, as she had signed in on the register. They also found Sylvia’s blue backpack in mid-July 2014, containing everything except her walking poles and camera. These were found in a different area from where the backpack was located. Searchers believe these items could have fallen, and she could have lost them then, and she might have been looking for them the following day.

A week after the search started the official SAR operation was scaled back. Paul Berry, the president of the Comox Valley Ground Search and Rescue explained the decision to stand down the search was based on two factors: the level of coverage and survivability, “We look at the high probability of the search area and the covered areas. Also, we know Sylvia was without her belongings for at least seven days in extreme heat and extremely challenging terrain.”

Berry also said, “We felt like we were getting close, and then coming up with nothing is very mystifying.”

Berry said he expected the family to continue the search. He explained that the route Apps took is a very well-traveled area of Strathcona Park, and if any information or clues come in, the search could resume.

What happened to Sylvia Apps?

Paul Berry of CVGSAR said it was the first time they had found all of someone's belongings but not the person.

Berry said: “It has provided a real roller coaster for the family and the SAR teams. Clues you think are pointing in the right direction don't pan out to give you anything more. Talking to members who have been SAR members for many, many years, this is unique.”

Paul Berry believes Sylvia, who was adequately equipped for the hike, likely suffered a medical emergency, like heat stroke and was unable to think clearly while awaiting rescue.

To this day, Sylvia's remains have not been found.

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