A 21-year-old hiker who went missing near Bald River Falls and the Henderson Trail was found safe overnight, walking down Bald River Trail back toward his vehicle, after an overnight search. The man declined medical treatment at the scene. The search began after he was reported missing near the popular waterfall area.
According to Monroe County Emergency Management, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office responded to the area near the hiker's last known phone location on Monday, and additional law enforcement partners soon joined the effort. The search effort included multiple agencies.
Monroe County Emergency Management participated in the search effort, and fire departments from across the region joined in, including the Turkey Creek Volunteer Fire Department. The Tri-State Mutual Aid Association is a regional alliance linking more than 40 fire and rescue agencies across Southeast Tennessee, North Georgia, and Alabama that pools personnel and technical assets for large-scale incidents, according to the Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management.
K-9 Team Tracks Hiker Along Historic Trail
The Etowah Fire Department has a K-9 program and has placed four pet oxygen kits on its K-9 units, according to WYXI. The search continued overnight.
The Bald River Falls trail is roughly six miles long, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts. The trail connects the Bald River Falls parking area to more remote sections of the river gorge.
Rugged Wilderness Complicates Searches
The area surrounding Bald River Falls includes public wilderness under federal management, according to the same Pew account. The area's dense hardwood forest and remote terrain can complicate searches.
The Bald River Gorge Wilderness was designated by Congress in 1984 as approximately 3,700 acres, and it was expanded in 2018 when lawmakers added the adjacent 9,038-acre Upper Bald River Wilderness to protect nearly the entire watershed, according to Wilderness.net. Bald River Falls itself is a waterfall along the Tellico River near Tellico Plains.
This is not the first time searchers have combed the area for lost visitors. In August 2023, Monroe County agencies launched an overnight multi-agency search near Bald River Falls after two hikers got lost on Trail 88 without emergency equipment, an incident that involved the Monroe County EMA, the Sheriff's Special Operations division, local fire departments, and National Guard aerial support, according to WBIR. Emergency crews have also responded to incidents in the same area.
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office's Special Operations Division participated in the 2023 search for missing hikers. The response ended with the hiker's safe recovery.
