Search Underway for Missing Hiker Whose Car Was Found Near Gatlinburg's Sugarlands Center

A search is underway in Great Smoky Mountains National Park for a man reported missing days ago after his car turned up abandoned near Sugarlands Visitor Center, just south of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Park officials identified the missing man as Marcin Bachleda-Blaszczak, who was reported missing on August 24, and said his vehicle was located near the visitor center, which sits along U.S. Route 441 roughly two miles south of downtown Gatlinburg.

According to WVLT, park dispatch received the missing-person report before officials located the unoccupied car near Sugarlands. Bachleda-Blaszczak is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall and about 170 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes, the station reports. Anyone with information is asked to contact Great Smoky Mountains National Park dispatch, which can be reached by email at [email protected].

Sugarlands Visitor Center functions as the park's primary northern gateway, according to the National Park Service, housing an information desk and backcountry permit station where trails branch off into miles of remote terrain. That location places the search at a heavily trafficked entry point that connects directly to the park's deep backcountry, making the missing man's exact planned route, gear, and the timing of when his car was left behind unclear as of this report.

A Familiar Pattern in Smokies Search Operations

This is not the first time an abandoned vehicle has kicked off a large-scale search in the Smokies. In September 2025, rangers and local law enforcement launched a multi-agency search for 21-year-old Ryan Lakes after finding his car in the park's Big Creek area; he was ultimately found deceased, as reported by WBIR. In May 2024, a similar scenario unfolded when 62-year-old Timothy Cook's unoccupied vehicle was discovered at the Chimney Tops Overlook — that search ended safely five days later when Cook was found inside the park, aided by public tips submitted through the National Park Service's tip line.

Searches like these are far from rare in the nation's busiest national park. The park sees an average of 100 to 150 backcountry search and rescue operations annually, according to the nonprofit Friends of the Smokies, with individual operations often stretching six hours and requiring teams of up to 10 personnel across the park's more than 500,000 acres. Great Smoky Mountains National Park drew 11.5 million recreation visits in 2025, retaining its title as the most visited national park in the country, Hoodline has reported.

How Rangers Staff and Fund Rescue Missions

The park established a dedicated Preventative Search and Rescue team funded through revenue from its Park It Forward parking tag program, which launched in March 2023 and generated more than $10 million in its first year, according to the National Park Service. Rangers frequently draw on Backcountry Unit Search and Rescue, an all-hazards volunteer nonprofit founded in 2016 whose members are temporarily hired as emergency federal employees during active missions, per WBIR. The demand on that system has grown: rangers responded to 38 emergency calls in March 2026 alone, including 18 backcountry search and rescue operations, four technical rope rescues, and two Tennessee Army National Guard helicopter hoist extractions, the park service said, describing a notable uptick in emergency calls compared to the prior spring.

Federal parks do not maintain one centralized, public missing-persons database, with each park keeping its own case records instead, according to Islands. Independent estimates cited by the outlet suggest roughly 1,000 to 1,600 people are reported missing across U.S. national parks each year. That fragmented tracking system underscores why searches like the one now underway for Bachleda-Blaszczak rely heavily on tips called directly into park dispatch rather than a searchable national registry.