'Trail of the Lost' is a gripping tale of hikers missing on the Pacific Coast Trail

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Andrea Lankford left a decorated career as a park ranger after growing tired of the bureaucracy involved. But years later, three young men went missing on the Pacific Crest Trail in relatively similar circumstances — and she couldn't stop thinking about them.

Trail of the Lost was her answer.

It's a gripping nonfiction narrative that delves deep into the cases of these three hikers who vanished while traversing the PCT. It digs into their lives and those of the people looking for them but also explores the history of the PCT and the rich, nuanced subculture, practices — and even literature — that surround it and those who undertake the 2,650-mi. journey from Mexico to Canada.

As a park ranger with the National Park Service's law enforcement team, Lankford won several awards for her investigations. She also led search and rescue missions (SAR) in wild areas all across America. With the knowledge and expertise of her years on the job, Lankford started looking into the cases of the missing hikers, and soon found herself immersed in the world of Facebook groups whose goal was to share information and help find them.

Lankford launched her own investigation into the disappearances and soon found herself working with the families of those missing hikers, authorities who were on the case—with varying degrees of communication and cooperation—and with other hikers and people who developed an interest in the cases and wanted to help. Together, Lankford and all those involved in the searches canvassed the areas where the hikers had last been seen, visited and interviewed those who'd had contact with them around the time of their disappearance, and followed families as friends as they desperately followed any leads."...

Looks like a good read

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel thank you for sharing Shipmate.