Searchers find father's body near top of Katahdin
Tim Keiderling's body was found in the Katahdin Tablelands at approximately 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday. The search for his daughter, Esther Keiderling, 28, continues.
Park officials say the Keiderlings, both of Ulster Park, New York, left Abol Campground on Sunday morning to hike up Katahdin. They were last seen around 10:15 a.m. that day as they headed toward the summit.
Rangers began searching for the pair Monday morning after finding their vehicle in a day-use parking lot. They searched the Abol Trail, the Hunt Trail and the Katahdin Tablelands, a level area near the summit, officials said.
Searchers found no signs of the pair and on Tuesday expanded the search to include helicopters, more than 30 game wardens and K-9 teams.
The Hunt and Abol trails on Katahdin are closed while the search is ongoing.
The Maine Forest Service is assisting in the search with three helicopters. The Maine Army National Guard responded with a Blackhawk and a Lakota helicopter equipped with an infrared thermal imaging device.
The Abol Trail, a popular but challenging hike with 3,982 feet in elevation gain, is the shortest route to Baxter Peak from a roadside trailhead. The trail used to include the prominent Abol Slide but was relocated in 2015 after soil and rock movement increased hazards for hikers. The relocated trail uses the ridge west of the slide. The rocky terrain requires hikers to climb over large boulders.
Forecasts for Sunday by the National Weather Service in Caribou called for scattered showers at Katahdin's summit with winds peaking at 30-40 mph and low temperatures in the mid-30s. The low temperature was expected to hit the mid-30s again on Monday night, when scattered showers were also predicted.
A representative at the Caribou Office on Tuesday said the agency only provides forecasts for the summit and doesn't track temperatures and wind speeds.
Nearby Millinocket, which is roughly 350 feet above sea level, saw a low of 36 degrees Monday night. Temperatures were likely much colder on Katahdin's summit, nearly 5,000 feet higher.
In a blog post shared to Substack on Saturday, Esther Keiderling wrote that she and her father planned a sales trip around a weekend so they could hike Katahdin. In other posts, she talked about working with her father at Rifton Equipment, where she is a customer service representative, and documented a recent trip they took to Niagara Falls.
In her most recent post, Esther Keiderling said she and her father planned to start hiking up the Abol Trail between 6-7 a.m. Sunday if it wasn't pouring rain.
"I'm a little nervous about everything I've seen about the Abol trail but I'm going to do it if weather permits!" she wrote. "If you don't see me back on Substack notes again, that's where I am."
The search for Esther Keiderling will continue through daylight hours. Volunteer searchers are not needed, park officials said.
Anyone who was on or around the Katahdin summit on Sunday between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. or has any information about the Keiderlings is asked to call state police in Houlton at 207-532-5400.
Staff Writer Drew Johnson contributed to this report.
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