Experienced Calif. backpacker leaves no trace after wilderness search

After a weeklong search through the rugged Russian Wilderness for a missing 77-year-old backpacker, investigators have found no evidence of his whereabouts.  

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James “Roger” Carol, a longtime Yreka resident, was last heard from on July 13 after telling a friend he planned to hike from Little Duck Lake to the off-trail High Lake, where he intended to fish. His friends told investigators with the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office that he was known to be an experienced backpacker who had made the trip annually and was comfortable traveling off trail. 

“He was extremely self-sufficient out there, so we did consider the possibility that he could just be doing well out there and not particularly in danger,” Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sage Milestone told SFGATE. “But he was religiously committed to checking in with his friends every 24 hours. … The fact that he didn’t was the big red flag for us.” 

He was expected to leave the backcountry on July 18 but never checked in, prompting a friend to report him missing to the sheriff’s office. 

Milestone said this prompted a large-scale search that drew about 60 personnel at its peak, including local search-and-rescue teams, the California National Guard, California Highway Patrol Air Operations, Civil Air Patrol and specialized rescue crews from across Northern California. Teams searched daily through Sunday, with some rescuers camping overnight to cover steep, technical terrain. 

Despite days of searching, crews found no sign of Carol or any equipment believed to belong to him. 

“We’ve covered every trail in that area, every drainage,” Milestone said. “Unfortunately, Mr. Carroll was prone to going off trail.”

Friends also told investigators Carol had postponed hip surgery, though Milestone said the condition did not appear to slow him at the start of the trip because he “made good time” reaching Little Duck Lake. Investigators now believe Carol’s last known location was the Duck Lakes-High Lake area of the Russian Wilderness near Etna, where he had planned to fish. 

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“He had a backpack with him. He had a jacket. He had gear, and we came across none of that, which was surprising to us,” Milestone said. “Our next step will be to look at anomalies.”

With ground searches complete for now, investigators are shifting their focus to about 15 “anomalies” identified by aerial imagery analyzed with artificial intelligence. The technology flags unusual colors, shapes or objects that appear out of place in the landscape, such as camping equipment or other manufactured items. 

For now, mutual-aid teams have been released, and the sheriff’s office plans to continue investigating the flagged locations with local resources. 

“We’ve thrown a lot of resources at this,” Milestone said. “We’ve really given it everything we can as of now, and we’re not going to give up yet because there are a few boxes to check.”

Anyone who was in the Duck Lakes, High Lake, Sugar Lake, Paynes Lake, Statue Lake or Music Creek areas on or after July 13 and may have seen Carol is asked to contact the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office at 530-841-2900.