Search continues for 28-year-old woman missing on Katahdin
By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff
The search continues for a hiker last seen alive Sunday near Katahdin’s summit in Baxter State Park.
Tim Keiderling, 58, and his daughter, 28-year-old Esther Keiderling, both of Ulster Park, New York, were last seen on Katahdin’s Tablelands heading toward the summit about 10:15 a.m. Sunday.
In a Saturday afternoon post to her Substack blog, Esther Keiderling wrote that she was on a sales trip with her father. The duo planned the trip around a weekend so they could attempt a hike up Katahdin’s Abol Trail, planning to start — weather permitting — between 6 and 7 a.m.
“I’m a little nervous after everything I’ve read about the Abol trail but I’m going to do it if weather permits! If you don’t see me back on Substack notes again, that’s where I am,” she wrote.
Her father’s body was found Tuesday afternoon on the Tablelands. Both the Abol and Hunt trails are closed until further notice while rescuers comb the mountain for Esther.
On Wednesday, searchers returned to Katahdin early in the morning with helicopters while ground crews began working their way up about 8 a.m., according to Mark Latti, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Wednesday’s effort centered around the Tablelands and trails and streams on Katahdin’s east side, Latti said.
Nearly 30 game wardens and four dog teams and 21 Baxter State Park rangers are searching for Esther Keiderling, along with Maine Forest Service and Maine Army National Guard crews searching from the air in helicopters. The helicopters also have been used to ferry searchers and gear on and off the mountain.
The Maine Army National Guard on Tuesday night flew a Lakota helicopter over Katahdin using a thermal imaging device to search for Esther but found no trace.
Anyone who was on or around Katahdin’s summit between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sunday or who has any information about the Keiderlings can call the state police in Houlton at 207-532-5400.
No additional information was immediately available.