73-year-old hiker spends two days in mountains after vanishing, Montana cops say
A 73-year-old hiker was rescued after vanishing in the Montana mountains for two days, deputies say.
The Billings hiker was first reported missing the evening of Saturday, Aug. 23, Stillwater County Sheriff Charles E. Kem said in a news release shared on Facebook.
As rescuers searched for the man the evening of Monday, Aug. 25, an Air Force helicopter crew using thermal imagery spotted the man about 7 miles from Beartooth Plateau where he was last known to be, Kem said.
The Air Force lowered a medic to the hiker, “who assessed and spent the night with him,” Tammie Mullikin, the sheriff’s office public information officer, told Stillwater County News.
“They were incapable of getting him out that night and needed a bigger helicopter,” Mullikin told the newspaper.
The next day, rescuers with the National Guard airlifted the man, who “was in good overall condition,” from the area at about 10:30 a.m., Kem said.
Multiple agencies aided in the man’s rescue, Kem said, calling it “was a very large, coordinated effort.”
“Thanks and well wishes go to the missing individual,” Kem said, adding that the hiker’s determination “made his rescue possible”.
The Beartooth Mountains are about 75 miles southwest from Billings.
This story was originally published August 27, 2025 at 2:30 PM with the headline "73-year-old hiker spends two days in mountains after vanishing, Montana cops say."
