CARRABASSETT VALLEY — About 130 searchers participated in Saturday’s efforts to find missing hiker Geraldine Largay, who has been missing since Monday, said Cpl. John MacDonald of the Maine Warden Service.
Largay, 66, was hiking the Appalachian Trail and failed to meet her husband as planned in Wyman Township, north of Sugarloaf Mountain.
Largay is known as Gerry, but she uses the trail name “inchworm,” according to other AT hikers. She is from Brentwood, Tenn. Largay is 5 feet, 5 inches tall, weighs 115 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes.
She was last seen wearing a black pullover shirt, tan pants, a blue hat and was carrying a black-and-green backpack.
Largay started hiking the Appalachian Trail in Harpers Ferry, W.V. and intended to hike to Baxter State Park, wardens have said.
Her husband, George, was keeping track of her and making pre-determined stops to provide supplies for her.
Wardens say she departed from the Route 4 AT crossing in Sandy River Plantation near Rangeley on Sunday morning. Later that day, her husband received a text in which she told him she was on top of Saddleback Mountain. She planned to stay at the Poplar Ridge lean-to in Redington Township on Sunday night.
A text Monday morning indicated she was headed north on the trail and her next stop would be the Spaulding Mountain lean-to.
Largay is an experienced hiker who has supplies, MacDonald said.
He said Saturday’s searchers included Maine game wardens hiking and driving all-terrain vehicles, dog teams and aircraft, Maine forest rangers, members and a horseback search team of the Maine Association for Search and Rescue, U.S. Border Patrol officers and members of the Civil Air Patrol with their CAP helicopter.
A command post was set up at Sugarloaf Mountain Resort.
On Saturday, wardens were seeking information from hikers who are using the trail names Cowboy, Marathon, Postman, Breeze, Paranoid, Crunchmaster, Harpo/Groucho, Ice Pack/SOBO 13, Luke 11:9, Sandman, BBTGR and .com/Queen.
Appalachian Trail long-distance backpackers and hikers often get tagged with names by fellow hikers or make up their own, and that’s how they sign messages in logbooks left in lean-tos.
MacDonald said warden investigators want to speak with these listed hikers to determine and verify whether Largay was seen between the Poplar Ridge lean-to and the Spaulding Mountain lean-to on the AT in Mount Abram Township.
The investigators also want to verify whether Largay stayed overnight at the Spaulding Mountain lean-to on Monday night (July 22) and into Tuesday morning (July 23), he said.
Additionally, wardens are trying to inform bear hunting baiters in the search area to watch for Largay.
Search efforts are concentrated on the trail north of the Spaulding Mountain lean-to to the Route 27 crossing in Wyman Township. The distance from the Spaulding shelter to Route 27 is about 7½ miles, as the crow flies, but the AT meanders slightly west and south before turning north again. Numerous roads and trails cross and overlap the AT between those points.
Those with information are asked to call the Public Safety Communications Center in Augusta at (207) 624-6076 or 1-800-452-4664.
Additionally, hundreds of people are sharing updates from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s Facebook site: www.facebook.com/mainefishwildlife and suggesting ideas and locations for searchers.
People are also using Twitter to get the word out.
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- A recent photo of missing Appalachian Trail hiker Geraldine Largay
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- Maine Warden Sgt. Jeff Spencer, in front, and Maine State Police Detective Lenny Bolton hike toward Spaulding Mountain from the summit of Sugarloaf in Carrabassett Valley on Saturday while searching for missing Appalachian Trail hiker Geraldine Largay.
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- Maine Warden Sgt. Jeff Spencer stands on the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain in Carrabassett Valley during Saturday’s search for missing Appalachian Trail hiker Geraldine Largay.
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