OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Olympic National Park officials recovered the bodies of three people in three different areas of the park this week.
Two of those found appeared to not have been missing long, said Penny Wagner, acting spokeswoman for the park:
• The body of a 60-year-old man was found in a boulder field near the Norwegian Memorial on Saturday.
• A woman’s body and a vehicle were found 200 feet down an embankment along Obstruction Point road Sunday.
• And the Mason County coroner said that a body found Saturday about 2 miles north of Lake Cushman is likely to be that of missing hiker Zach Krull.
Wagner said the park would not identify either the 60-year-old man or the woman until their families are notified and autopsies performed.
Rangers and firefighters tried to recover the man’s body the day it was found, but because of the terrain they waited at the scene until morning to recover the body by helicopter. The man had a recent backcountry permit showing that he was a solo hiker in the coast area, Wagner said.
She was not aware of him having been reported missing.
Wagner said the woman’s body was recovered after a park visitor reported Sunday seeing what he thought was a trash dump down an embankment along Obstruction Point Road. The woman was reported missing from Issaquah, but Wagner did not know when she was reported missing.
When rangers arrived, they found the woman’s body and a vehicle down the embankment. Rangers rappelled down the 200-foot embankment to recover her body, Wagner said.
“Due to the nature of the scene, it seems we can assume it was a matter of days before she was discovered,” Wagner said.
An autopsy is scheduled and Wagner said the woman should be identified next week.
Officials said Monday they believe they recovered missing hiker Zach Krull’s remains Sunday from an area near Flapjack Lakes, about 2 miles north of Lake Cushman, according to Mason County Coroner Wes Stockwell.
The body was found by Eric Davis of Tacoma, who was hiking in the area Saturday, Stockwell said.
Stockwell said an autopsy was scheduled for Friday.
Missing hiker Jacob Gray, who disappeared in April, still has not been found. His bike and camping equipment were found in the brush along Sol Duc Hot Springs Road.
This story originally appeared in the Peninsula Daily News of Port Angeles. Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
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