First of all, thank you everyone for your patience, consideration, and information. I'm in awe at the amount of information that we've received, consolidated, and have been able to pass along to VA SAR.

Second, the ATC has been notified and their information officer will likely be the liaison to the individual trail clubs. If trail clubs would like to help, they should call ATC.

Third, a statewide VA SAR callout has been issued. There are going to be a very large number of searchers on the ground by morning. This is a huge, complex search encompassing an area of more than 300 square miles for the initial search focus. It's heavily wooded, steep, and almost futile to scan from the air. Spend some time in Google Earth and you'll appreciate what these guys are up against.

Today, NPS, along with some private parties, were the first on the ground to do a preliminary trail sweep. This was vital to making sure nobody was missing anything obvious. Tonight large search parties are being organized, and in the morning, a massive search begins in earnest.

We've had the opportunity to work with the VA SAR tracking team and we hope to God Ken is wearing his Inov-8's because they have one of the most unique sole patterns found anywhere...

SAR Trackers are on the ground TONIGHT working the area before it gets too contaminated. This is a key reason why the search must be organized and directed by VA SAR. Tracking and K9's may be really important in this type of search, and minimizing contamination of the area early is key.

In addition, our friends in Ann Arbor were able to go into Ken's house this evening and secure laundry items that will be delivered to VA SAR tomorrow evening for the K9 search teams. We were unable to make the last flight out of Detroit that could have gotten the items into Amhurst early tomorrow, so they are being driven across the country and delivered by hand.

I have been flooded with emails from people offering support and have a willingness to help with the search. I'm humbled, and thankful for that.

However, it's really important at this point to let VA SAR take the reigns and do what they are trained to do. VA SAR is somewhat unique in that it's one of the few states in the nation where statewide SAR teams can be mobilized quickly and consistently. They have good infrastructure, good support, and a lot of people.

Adding more people to the mix *right now* who are not VA SAR trained is probably going to slow things down rather than help. The next 24-48 hours are extremely critical and SAR operations must happen as efficiently as possible.

However, stay alert. If this search winds down and Amhurst County starts pulling back resources, then that might be the right time to jump in. I've been involved in that situation before, having served on SAR teams in both WA and MT, and all I can say is that Ken is resourceful enough to survive out there for a pretty long time. Not finding Ken is not an option for me.

Finally, please don't stop distributing this information. My hope is that somehow, somewhere, we can find somebody who ran into Ken since Sunday morning so that we can update is last known location and make this search area smaller. 300 square miles of steep woods out there is a crazy big area to start on.

Again, thanks for your patience, and prayers.

Stay tuned,
Ryan Jordan
President/CEO
Backpacking Light

Edited by ryan on 04/30/2009 21:57:23 MDT.