Authorities are looking for a man who was hiking the Appalachian Trail and hasn’t been seen or heard from in over two weeks, according to Vermont State Police.
Robert Kerker, 67, of Rhinebeck, New York, was last seen July 9 at the Inn at Long Trail in Killington, state police said in a press release.
Rain that caused massive flooding around the state earlier this month began that day. Police did not indicate if weather conditions may have played a role in Kerker’s disappearance.
Adam Silverman, a state police spokesperson, said Thursday afternoon that it’s too early to conclude if the incident is flood-related.
“It could be anything from a hiker who just hasn’t checked in with his family in a few days to someone who is lost,” Silverman said. “We just need to get more information before we are able to characterize this as anything more than as a missing person.”
Vermont Public reported last week that some people hiking the entire Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine were skipping parts in Vermont, at least at that time, because of the flooding in the state.
According to the release from state police, Kerker had been hiking the northern half of the Appalachian Trail, and his intention was to travel north on the trail. He had been checking in weekly with family, according to the release, but had not done so since July 9.
His family reported he was overdue to the National Park Service on Monday, and Vermont State Police were contacted Monday evening to assist with trying to find Kerker, the release stated.
A family member’s Facebook post stated that, when Kerker left Killington, he was heading to Norwich, but never arrived at his hotel reservation at the Norwich Inn for July 14.
Kerker is 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs 150 pounds, and has short white hair and a beard. He goes by the trail name of “Steady Eddie.”
He started the hike June 1 in Bear Mountain, New York, according to Silverman, the state police spokesperson.
“The biggest thing that we’re doing is putting out public information and hoping to generate some kind of tip or lead,” Silverman said.
“By putting this out to the public,” he added, “hopefully we can get some information that will allow us to narrow the scope of the search and focus our efforts on some portion of the trail, because right now it’s just an incredibly broad potential search area.”
