Helicopters join search for hiker

Searchers continue to scour a vast wilderness area in Western Montana for signs of a Post Falls hiker missing since July 19.

Bob Noble, 41, was last seen in the Little Rock Creek area of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness near Hamilton, Mont. His family called authorities after the experienced hiker didn’t return home when expected.

Search and rescue crews spent Friday preparing a helicopter landing site near the spot where Noble last made his camp, said Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman. Helicopters were expected to deliver two search dog teams to the area today. The helicopters are being used to spare the search teams from a hike into the area, estimated at least six miles from the trailhead.

“It is extremely rugged terrain,” Hoffman said, adding that he can’t recall any other search during his four years in office that has taken so long. Military helicopters have already been used to scour the 1.3 million-acre wilderness.

Noble has been an avid hiker since he was 8 and has made numerous trips into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, said his mother, Beverly Noble, of Dalton Gardens. Noble had planned to visit the area to photograph El Capitan Mountain. He spoke with another hiker on July 19 and said he was planning to hike out two days later.

Neither his tent nor his backpack have yet been found, Beverly Noble said. Noble lives with his brother and works at Huntwood Custom Cabinets in Liberty Lake, Wash. Although he was a skilled carpenter, Noble had hoped to someday turn his landscape photography passion into a job.

“We’re just waiting and coping,” Beverly Noble said. “We’ve always known the risk, but this is what Bob has loved to do. He’s always come back. We haven’t really worried before about his skills or his abilities. He has a very level head when he’s out there.”