Missing hiker's body recovered from Mount Pugh

The body of a 34-year-old Bothell man, who had been missing since he went on a hike near Mount Pugh, was found by rescue crews Tuesday.

The man failed to show up for work Sunday, and deputies were told he had been hiking alone near Mount Pugh, a North Cascades peak east of Darrington, according to the Snohomish County sheriff's office. Search-and-rescue deputies found his vehicle at the Mount Pugh trailhead and immediately began the search, which included volunteers from seven mountain rescue units.

Other hikers coming down the mountain trail helped volunteers figure out the missing hiker's possible last known locations, the sheriff's office said.

Using two sheriff's office helicopters, crews spotted hiking equipment at the top of a steep couloir, a narrow and vertical gully. Rescue teams reached the site via helicopter and found the man 800 vertical feet from the hiking equipment. His body was recovered by a helicopter and taken to Taylor's Landing, the Snohomish County Volunteer Search and Rescue's headquarters.

The hiker's name and cause of death have not been publicly released.

In 2022, an Anacortes dentist died while summiting Mount Pugh after he fell about 200 feet. In 2017, a Seattle man became separated from his hiking partner and had to be rescued from the mountain's summit.

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