The strange disappearance and death of Karen Sykes on Mount Rainier
Karen Sykes disappeared June 18, 2014, Owyhigh Lakes Trail, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington. Body found June 2014.
Revised July 2024
70-year-old Karen Sykes headed for the wilderness around Owyhigh Lakes in Mount Rainier National Park in June 2014.
Karen hiked ahead of her partner when the two reached snow level at about 5,000 feet on the east side of Mt. Rainier. She told him she would walk up the trail a bit and be right back. But amazingly, she was never seen alive again. What happened to Karen?
Who was Karen Sykes?
Karen Sykes was well known in Northwest America’s hiking community. She had written many stories for online publications and newspapers and was a photographer and author of a book about hikes in western Washington. She co-wrote another book about hikes in wildflower areas, authored a popular trail column in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and produced additional stories about Washington treks for The Seattle Times. She also kept a blog called “Karens Trails”, posting hiking-related stories, photographs, and trail reports.
Lola Kemp, a close friend said "She is the guru of trails" adding that Sykes hiked at least twice a week and had a background in climbing and scrambling.
The trip to Mount Rainier National Park
On June 18, 2014, Karen and her boyfriend were hiking near or on the Owyhigh Lakes Trail to research an article she planned to write.
Mountain Rainier is a 14,410-foot peak, but she had adequate survival gear to camp overnight in an emergency.
At some point during the day, Karen headed up the trail faster than her hiking partner and vanished.
Greg Johnston, a former outdoors writer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, said Karen was an avid, strong hiker who knew the mountain well. "She's the last person anyone would expect to get lost, particularly on Mount Rainier," said Johnston, who recruited Sykes to write a weekly hiking feature for the newspaper, which ran for over a decade. 'If anybody can survive it, it's her. She's really tough and really savvy.'
The search
Six ground crews, two dog teams, and aircraft scoured the area. The search was suspended after three days when rescuers found a female body in rough, steep terrain, an area difficult to access and not heavily used.
Autopsy
An autopsy by the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office said that Karen had died of hypothermia. During the period she was missing, temperatures were as low as 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the park.
A secondary cause of Karen's death was heart disease, but she did not have other injuries, and officials ruled her death accidental. Despite the autopsy finding of heart disease, Karen’s daughter and friends said she was healthy and fit.
What happened to Karen Sykes?
Karen seemed to have gotten lost on the well-marked trail. One minute she was with her boyfriend, the next she was gone. Who knows what happened - hypothermia, a heart attack, something spooked Karen?
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