A 66-year-old man died after falling at least 800 feet while hiking Washington’s Sauk Mountain over the weekend, authorities said. His death came just one day after another hiker was found dead on the same mountain.
Gary Idleburg of Olympia may have plunged as far as 1,000 feet after going over the side of a switchback trail, according to the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office. Witnesses contacted authorities after seeing the fall at about 3:30 p.m. local time Saturday.
Hikers in the area found Idleburg and directed emergency crews to his location, officials said. Responders tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Because the fall occurred in a remote area marked by “difficult terrain,” crews did not finish recovering his body until roughly 8 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office.
Idleburg’s fatal fall occurred one day after authorities found another hiker dead on Sauk Mountain. Peter Kalapaca, 78, was discovered unresponsive Friday night in a steep section of the Sauk Mountain Trail, the sheriff’s office announced Saturday.
Kalapaca had been reported missing Thursday. A helicopter crew located him on the mountain and confirmed that he had died. The sheriff’s office said his body was in a location that ground search teams could not reach, but another helicopter later recovered his remains.
The sheriff’s office offered its condolences to Kalapaca’s family.
“While nothing can lessen the loss of a loved one, we are grateful for the extraordinary effort made by everyone involved, which allows some measure of closure for the family,” the statement said.
Sauk Mountain rises to about 5,500 feet and features a popular hiking route in northwestern Washington that spans just over 4 miles roundtrip, according to the Washington Trails Association. The organization warns that several people have died after falling along the trail, describing it as “steep and narrow” with sections eroded by hikers who cut across the switchbacks.
