Aug 19 2024
TL;DR Volunteers needed to help Dubal Family members visit the Last Known Point of Sam Dubal 9/04 – 09/05
Some members of TMRU may know, some may not that we help bring some peace to the family of a missing hiker in the Carbon River part of Mount Rainier NP.
Sam Dubal went missing Oct 9th 2020 after leaving his camp at the Carbon River Campground en route to Mowich Lake. After several weeks the park called off the search and the family, like many others were left without the knowledge of what really happened to Sam.
3 years ago the family reached out to TMRU in hopes of getting a unit member to spend time with them in the park, visiting the places that Sam had travelled. I (Steve Brown) volunteered to take them to Spray Park and to the location of the washed out bridge across the Carbon River. Since that first encounter with the Dubals (Bharat and Saroj)
I have become close friends with their family and have welcomed them back to Washington the following year for a trip to Carbon River Camp. Accompanied by Chris Hill last year we walked with the Dubals from the Carbon River parking lot to the Carbon River Camp and back.
The past 2 years we have been trying to convince them that camping would allow us to better reach one of the places they want to visit, which is where Sam’s water bottle was located. This year they have agreed to camp one night and with the help of a couple more unit members we can make this journey happen.
The Dubals are slow but capable of doing the miles required to get to where Sam’s bottle was found but we would need “porters” to get the necessary camping gear into the Carbon River Camp and back out. I will lay my tentative plan out below and the Dubals, TMRU and I appreciate any help you can provide. The Dubals have been gracious supporters of TMRU the past 2 years providing very large donations after each trip back to Washington.
What we need:
- People to hike the Dubals overnight gear for the Trailhead to Carbon River Camp on 9/04 – This will include a tent, sleeping pads cookwear and sleeping bag.
- People to hike the gear out on 9/05
- Depending on the Dubals fitness the year we may hike from Carbon River Camp to Mowich Lake in this case we would need a ride from Mowich back down to the Carbon River Trailhead.
We have the option of reserving the Carbon River Group Site on 9/04 – 09/05 which would allow anyone from TMRU wanting to help to stay the night there and can also reserve a site at Isput for the 3rd – 5th if you wanted to use this as an option.
I know this is a huge ask of anyone but this family deserves the peace that these yearly trips.
Feel free to reach out to me at 425-591-4210 with any questions or to volunteer your time.
Cheers
Steve
