Harrison grad missing after hike

NORTH CASCADES NAT. PARK, Wash. (WLFI) - A Harrison High School and Purdue University graduate is missing after hiking in the North Cascades National Park, northeast of Seattle. 22-year-old Mark Albrecht set out for a two night camping trip on Monday. When he did not show up for work on Thursday, people began to worry. Including family friend Mike Zachman, who lives in the area.

"He was by himself. He was an Eagle Scout and so he knows how to handle the outdoors a little bit but something obviously happened because he's never missed a day of work, even when he worked in the summer. He's a very responsible young man," Zachman said.

Albrecht recently got a permit to hike to a glacier. He was going to camp at 6,000 feet Monday night and Tuesday night at 7,200 feet. Rangers located his car Friday night at a trailhead and later found footprints on Mixup Mountain.

"It's between 4,000 and 8,000 feet. The snow line is at about 5,000 feet," he said.

Rangers did not find any signs that he had set up camp at either location. A ground search of the area is now under way.

"He could have slid off of one of these ice shelves or glaciers. But we hope he didn't do that, he just got really disoriented. If he got completely disoriented he could have come out of one of the other trailheads," Zachman said.

Albrecht had just moved to the area and started a job as a mechanic with ATS, an aviation company in Everett, Washington. He graduated from Harrison High School in 2005 and Purdue University in 2009.

"The good news is that the rangers didn't find any empty tents or sleeping bags or anything like that. The question is, which route did he take and where did he go," Zachman said.

Zachman said the next step in the search is to bring in helicopters. But rangers have to wait until the weather clears before moving forward with the air search.

Rebecca Hover with the Snonmish County Sheriff's Office said Atbrecht called his dad earlier this week and said he was hiking to a campground that was five miles up a trail.