Yosemite Has More Unsolved Missing Person Cases Than Any Other National Park

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Staff Report –

Yosemite National Park has more unsolved missing person cases than any other national park in America, and the number keeps climbing.

Yosemite currently has 10 unsolved disappearances as of 2026, more than the Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains or any other park in the system. The cases span decades and involve hikers, climbers and visitors who entered the park and were never seen again.

The report comes at a time when Yosemite’s missing persons problem is getting renewed attention. Researcher David Paulides, a former law enforcement officer who has spent over a decade investigating disappearances on public lands, told Joe Rogan that more than 50 people are currently unaccounted for in the park. Paulides has described a pattern of cases where search dogs refuse to track, professional trackers cannot find footprints and the National Park Service has blocked access to case files.

One case Paulides highlighted involved a 14-year-old girl who vanished near the High Sierra Camp 46 years ago. She walked away from her father to take photos and was never seen again. A Freedom of Information Act request for the case was denied, and a special agent told Paulides he would never see the file.

Yosemite’s terrain makes searches exceptionally difficult. The park covers more than 750,000 acres of granite cliffs, dense forest, deep river canyons and high-elevation backcountry. A person who goes off trail can disappear into landscape that may never be fully searched.

The missing hiker search currently underway in nearby Desolation Wilderness, where nearly 200 personnel are looking for 60-year-old Jason Coughran, underscores just how challenging these situations can be.

A massive search is underway for a 60-year-old man who went on a Memorial Day hike in California’s Lake Tahoe area and has not been heard from since, authorities said.

The hiker, Jason Coughran, went missing in the Desolation Wilderness area, southwest of Lake Tahoe, according to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office.  

Coughran was hiking into Desolation Wilderness from nearby Fallen Leaf Lake, according to authorities.

He was believed to have been near Angora Peak around 11 a.m. on May 25 and was last heard from later that day, at approximately 4 p.m. local time, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office said.

The following day, the sheriff’s office put out an alert about the overdue hiker while urging other hikers to contact them if they came across Coughran.

In the days since he was reported missing, nearly 200 personnel have joined the search and rescue effort, according to the sheriff’s office. Over two dozen agencies and community partners, including the California Air National Guard, are involved in the search, authorities said.

The search and rescue effort has included volunteers on the ground and in vehicles, helicopter crews and K9 teams. Search and rescue personnel with high-altitude experience are also involved, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, which said the “highly trained teams are equipped to operate in complex and challenging terrain.”

Coughran is described as 6’2″ and 150 pounds, with brown hair, hazel eyes and an athletic build. His clothing is uncertain, though he may be wearing khaki shorts.

Reported by ABC News and Active NorCal.

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