When county search and rescue teams stop searching

Section:Gallery

Fri., Aug. 27, 2021

Carlton “Bud” Carr Jr. poses for a photo on Monday, Aug. 23, 2021, in the backyard of his home in Concrete, Wash Carr is holding the file containing his search notes on Rachel Lakoduk, a 28-year-old Moses Lake hiker who went missing on Oct. 17, 2019, while attempting to reach Hidden Lake Lookout - a remote fire lookout in the Mt. Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest. Carr owns and operates 49th Parallel, a private search and rescue group located in Concrete and spent at least 70 days searching for Rachel.

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Kevin Dares holds his head in his hand as Bud Carr draws out the strategy for the days search for missing hiker Rachel Lakoduk on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021, at 49th Parallel’s basecamp off of Cascade River Road near Marblemount, Wash. Due to a trail closure, the search required a climb straight up - nearly 3,300 vertical feet - over roughly 3 miles to an area near where on a prior search, Rachel Lakoduk’s father, Brad Tripp, - “Brad Dad” as Bud Carr calls him - discovered what he thought could remnants of a campfire made by Rachel. “I’m not sure if I’d normally follow a hunch like this, but Brad Dad knows his girl and I know Brad Dad,” said Carr.

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Bud Carr uses an ice axe as he makes his way up the steep terrain from Cascade River Road toward Hidden Lake Lookout as he searches for missing hiker Rachel Lakoduk on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021, near Marblemount, Wash.

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Kevin Dares, left, reacts after he found missing hiker Rachel Lakoduk’s sleeping pad and backpack, as Bud Carr radios another 49th Parallel member further down the mountain to send a satellite message to Lakoduk’s father Brad Tripp on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021, near Marblemount, Wash. For Dares, whose girlfriend Sam Sayers went missing while hiking in 2018, finding Lakoduk brought on a wave of emotion. “Why can’t I find Sam?,” he said.

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Bud Carr is overcome with emotion after finding Rachel Lakoduk’s remains on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021, at 4500 feet near Marblemount, Wash. “I don’t know (what this should feel like), I’ve never found anyone before, and we’ve been looking for Rachel for so long” he said.

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After racing off the mountain to cell phone service and first calling Brad Tripp, Rachel Lakoduk’s father, Bud Carr finds a moment of reprieve in a cigarette as he calls local enforcement to notify them he found Lakoduk on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021, near Marblemount, Wash. “I could feel Brad Dad saying ‘Hurry up Bud, where’s my girl?’ so, I ran off the mountain to tell him.” Carr said.

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The day after finding Rachel Lakoduk, Bud Carr, left and Brad Tripp, Rachel’s father, chat with members of King County Search and Rescue, as a SAR team heads up the mountain to recover Rachel’s remains on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021, off of Cascade River Road near Marblemount, Wash.

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The day after finding Rachel Lakoduk, Bud Carr, left, shows Brad Tripp, Rachel’s father, where he found Rachel’s remains on his GPS on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021, above the 49th Parallels’ base camp off of Cascade River Road near Marblemount, Wash.

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Nicole Elliott-Knopp embraces her boyfriend Brad Tripp, as he talks to Bud Carr after following the family’s meeting with Skagit County Search and Rescue after they brought Rachel’s Lakoduk’s remains and possessions off the mountain on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021, in Concrete, Wash.

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The night before finding Rachel Lakoduk, Kevin Dares created an ornate rock and flower sculpture in middle the 49th Parallel basecamp off of Cascade River Road near Marblemount, Wash. The day after the group found Lakoduk, the sculpture had more flowers added, as photographed on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021, becoming a kind of memorial. Bud Carr jokingly nicknamed, Dares “The Voodoo King,” a nod to Dares’ Louisiana roots.

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Brad Tripp stands in the home he shared with his daughter Rachel Lakoduk on Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021, in Moses Lake, a week after her remains were found. A scenic photo Lakoduk shot hangs on the wall at left. “I’m trying to keep all of her plants alive,” Tripp said. “She loved them.”

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Brad Tripp holds his girlfriend Nicole Elliott-Knopp and looks at a yellow to-do list his daughter Rachel Lakoduk planned to complete when she returned from hiking to Hidden Lake Lookout, as they stand in Lakoduk’s bedroom on Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021, at Tripp’s home in Moses Lake, a week after her remains were found. “I don’t come in here very often, it’s just too much,” Tripp said.

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Bud Carr, his son Carlton III “Buddy” Carr and the family dog Sascha stand on the banks of the Skagit River on Monday, Aug. 23, 2021, near their home in in Concrete, Wash. “My father often told me you can only be lost two ways: lost in space, or lost at sea. Any other time, you’re just disoriented,” Bud Carr said.

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Bud Carr holds his four month old daughter Bettie as his oldest child Aria, 11, snuggles up to them while his wife Melissa Carr prepares dinner for the family on Monday, Aug. 23, 2021, at their home in Concrete, Wash.

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Bud Carr takes one last look through his file on Rachel as his son Carlton III “Buddy” Carr looks over a topographical map of the search area, on Monday, Aug. 23, 2021, at their home in Concrete, Wash.

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