Search and rescue efforts continue today for a hiker that went missing in the Nome area over the weekend.
According to an Alaska State Trooper dispatch, 36-year-old Joseph Balderas was reported missing Monday morning after not showing up for work.
An initial search on Monday led troopers to Balderas’s vehicle at mile 44 on the Nome-Council Highway, but found no sign of him.
Megan Peters with the Alaska State Troopers said the search and rescue effort is largely being led by local volunteers.
“The Nome Volunteer Fire Department and SAR has deployed multiple ATVs to do a ground search of the area, and we’ve also established remote communications in the field so everyone can talk,” Peters explained.
Peters said the search isn’t just limited to the ground. The Alaska State Troopers chartered a small helicopter with two volunteer spotters. Wildlife troopers have their own helicopter in the air and the US Coast Guard sent a Jayhawk helicopter stationed in Kotzebue to help as well.
Jim West Jr. is the Chief of the Nome Volunteer Fire Department. He said the total number of people involved in the search is close to 60.
One of those personnel helping from a helicopter did spot an article of clothing, but West confirmed that it did not belong to Balderas.
Despite all hands on deck, West said the thick willows and soft tundra make the search especially difficult this time of year.
“It’s a big area out there,” West said. “We’re looking for a needle in a haystack because he didn’t give direction as to where he was going.”
Much of Nome is closed for the day, including the Nome Community Center, the XYZ Senior Center, the Food Bank, and the Boys and Girls Club as members of the community assist in the search.
If you have any information on his whereabouts, contact the Nome Fire Department at 443-2310.
Emily Russell is the voice of Alaska morning news as Alaska Public Media’s Morning News Host and Producer.
Originally from the Adirondacks in upstate New York, Emily moved to Alaska in 2012. She skied her way through three winters in Fairbanks, earning her Master’s degree in Northern Studies from UAF.
Emily’s career in radio started in Nome in 2015, reporting for KNOM on everything from subsistence whale harvests to housing shortages in Native villages. She then worked for KCAW in Sitka, finally seeing what all the fuss with Southeast, Alaska was all about.
Back on the road system, Emily is looking forward to driving her Subaru around the region to hike, hunt, fish and pick as many berries as possible. When she’s not talking into the mic in the morning, Emily can be found reporting from the peaks above Anchorage to the rivers around Southcentral.
