Teacher Reported Missing on Backpacking Trip in Sequoia & Kings Canyon Parks

Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks officials have issued a missing hiker alert for a Santa Cruz man who is an elementary school teacher in Fremont.

Parks officials said Gregory Muck, 46, was scheduled to backpack in the parks from Aug. 10 to Aug. 17 but has gone missing. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks lie side-by-side in the southern Sierra Nevada, east of the San Joaquin Valley.

Muck teaches at Gomes Elementary School in Fremont, according to the Fremont Unified School District’s website.

Parks officials said Muck is 6 feet tall, weighs between 160 and 170 pounds, has a big beard and was wearing a bright blue shirt, green wool pants, black boots and a blue bandana.

They said he had a red internal frame pack and a blue tarp or possible orange tent as well as fishing gear. Muck was planning to travel from Roads End in Cedar Grove to Gardiner Basin via Gardiner Pass, parks officials said.

After several days, he was planning to go from Gardiner Creek to Woods Creek to Road’s End in Cedar Grove, parks officials said.

Authorities said people who may have seen Muck in the parks between Aug. 10 and Aug. 17 should call Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks at (510) 565-3118 or (888) 677-2746.

--Bay City News