Missing hiker found dead in Trinity County, suffered fatal fall
WEAVERVILLE — Trinity County searchers found the body of a missing hiker who may have fallen to his death in a rocky stretch of the rugged Trinity Alps, emergency crews said Sunday.
Daniel Komins, 34, a resident of the Humboldt County town of Blue Lake, was found dead on Sunday in a mountainous stretch of the Trinity Alps, the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office stated Sunday evening.
“A preliminary investigation appears to indicate that Komins may have fallen in the steep and rocky terrain,” according to a web post by Trinity County Sheriff’s Department.
Komins was described as an experienced hiker.
Search and rescue teams became alerted to the potential whereabouts of Komins after a California Highway Patrol helicopter spotted a backpack from the air. The backpack was soon determined to belong to Komins.
Searchers who were already in the area fanned out and located Komins after the backpack had been spotted.
The searchers determined that Komins was deceased.
The backpack was found off the local hiking trail, in an area between L Lake and Mirror Lake.
Emergency crews transported Komins’ remains from the area by helicopter.
Komins was reported missing by his girlfriend Carli Hollis on Wednesday after Komins became overdue for returning from a solo, five-day backpacking trip in the Trinity Alps. Searchers soon found his empty vehicle near a trailhead.
He encountered some hikers during his journey through the mountains. He provided a group of hikers from the Bay Area with directions to the top of a local mountain, Thompson Peak.
Komins also posted a picture of himself with two other hikers that was taken at the crest of the remote mountain, which he has scaled multiple times.
“I just summited Thompson Peak and am enjoying ice-cold double IPA and shrimp tacos at 9,002 feet,” Komins stated in the post.
The search parties included members of rescue crews from Contra Costa County and Marin County.
“Although this was not the outcome that was wanted, the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office as well as family members of Komins, wanted to thank the Search and Rescue members as well as all other volunteers, for assisting in bringing Daniel Komins home,” the Sheriff’s Office stated in its web post.
The Civil Air Patrol also assisted in the search. Assets from both the California Wing and Nevada Wing of the patrol that included five aircraft participated in the search. Civil Air Patrol aircraft from Palo Alto, Fullerton, Santa Maria, and Merced in California, along with a craft from Reno in Nevada, provided high-level communications support for the search efforts.
“While the outcome was not what we would have hoped for, the efforts of CAP and the Sheriff’s Office brought this to a quick conclusion for the family,” said Maj. Craig Newton, Civil Air Patrol incident commander.”