UPDATED 5:30 P.M. TUESDAY, JUNE 3: At approximately 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday, June 3, a Maine Warden Service K9 search team located the body of Tim Keiderling on the Tableland, near the summit of Katahdin. Search efforts continue for Esther Keiderling.
Forest rangers in Maine’s Baxter State Park are searching for a missing father and daughter who were last seen near the summit of Katahdin on Sunday.
On Tuesday morning, Baxter State Park officials announced on the park’s Facebook account that the Abol and Hunt trails were closed effective immediately due to an active search.
Tim Keiderling, 58, and his daughter Esther Keiderling, 28, both of Ulster Park, New York, had left Abol Campground on Sunday to hike to the summit of Katahdin. They were last seen at approximately 10:15 a.m. on the Katahdin Tablelands heading towards the summit.
Baxter State Park Rangers began searching yesterday morning (Monday, June 1) after discovering that the Keiderling’s vehicle was still in the day-use parking lot. Baxter Park Rangers actively searched the Abol Trail and the Hunt Trail, including the Katahdin Tablelands, and found no sign of the father and daughter.
Baxter State Park Rangers expanded their search on Katahdin Tuesday morning, assisted by over 30 game wardens including the Maine Warden Service Search and Rescue team and the Maine Warden Service K9 team.
The Maine Forest Service is also assisting, searching the area from the air with three helicopters. The Maine Army National Guard also responded with a Blackhawk and a Lakota Helicopter outfitted with an infrared thermal imaging device.
At his point, searchers from the ground and air have not found any traces of the missing hikers. Park officials said the search will continue through the daylight hours.
Baxter State Park has closed the Hunt and Abol Trails on Katahdin in order to assist with the search. Officials said volunteer searchers are not needed at this time.
Anyone who was on or around the summit of Katahdin Sunday between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., or who otherwise has any information regarding the location of Tim and Esther Keiderling, is asked to call Houlton State Police at 207-532-5400.
