Colorado officials ask hunters to help find Chicago hiker

Colorado wildlife officials have asked hunters and hikers to help them discover the fate of a Chicago man who has been missing since last fall, hoping someone will find clues that will give the family closure.

Officials said James Nelson, 31, was dropped off at the Fall Creek trailhead on Oct. 3 at the start of a 25-mile hike into some of Colorado’s most challenging terrain. His fiancée planned to pick him up at the trailhead five days later, but he never showed up.

Dozens of hikers go missing in Colorado every year, but most are found by volunteer search groups or specially trained rescuers. Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesman Mike said authorities rarely call for outside help, but the hiker’s father asked.

“This is not a routine practice, but this is not in a place where people usually go,” Porras said.

The father told wildlife officials that his son was well-prepared for an extended hike.

“He knew what he was doing, and we can only imagine that he had an accident of some kind,” Jim Nelson said in a statement.

Friends and family reported that before he left on his trip, he was prepared and followed many of the recommended rules of hiking in the back country. He packed the necessary supplies and he was careful to let several people know where he was planning to hike by mapping his route, which would take him over several of the areas tallest peaks including one of Colorado’s most well-known “fourteeners”, the rugged Mount of the Holy Cross that stands 14,003 feet tall, located 100 miles west of Denver.

Nelson was last seen wearing an orange long-sleeve shirt, khaki slacks and brown hiking boots. He may have also been wearing wire-rimmed glasses or sunglasses. A pair of hikers reported that they had seen a man matching Nelson’s description on Oct. 3. Then he vanished.

Trained search and rescue dogs seemed to pick up Nelson’s scent off a trail near Lake Constantine on Nelson’s planned route, said Dan Smith, of the Vail Mountain Rescue Group. But no trace of Nelson was ever located, despite an intense four-day search with helicopters, search and rescue crews and trained dogs.

Porras said there was no indication of foul play.

Rescuers say they are counting on hunters because Colorado’s big-game rifle season is just weeks away.

“Hunters head into off-trail areas that most hikers avoid. We’re asking that they keep an eye peeled for evidence that could help bring closure to Mr. Nelson’s family,” Area Wildlife Manager Perry Will said in a statement.

They’re asked to look for discarded hiking equipment, an abandoned tent or human remains, and if they find anything, mark the location, take photos and report it.

Porras said hunters have helped solve several high-profile cases. In 2007, a Colorado hunter found the body of an Alzheimer’s patient who had been missing for month. The hunter found the remains seven miles from the missing man’s home in Cotopaxi.