Update – Friday, July 31

The search for Bob Toothill has come to an unfortunate end in Waterton Lakes National Park. Seven days after he was reported missing, the 81 -year-old man from Golden, B.C., was located deceased July 30.

His daughter, Natalie Neustaedter, shared in a Facebook post that he died from “a sudden slip-and-fall while hiking the Lineham Ridge area of the Great Divide Trail.”

The search began July 23 after Toothill failed to arrive in Coleman (Crowsnest Pass) as expected. The seven-day effort included Pincher Creek RCMP, Parks Canada, Alberta Search and Rescue Teams, Parks Canada Drone pilots, Alberta RCMP Air Services and specially trained police service dogs.

Condolences are extended to Bob Toothill’s family and friends.

Search for missing Waterton Hiker remains active

Update – Tuesday, July 28

“Please help us bring him home.” That’s what Natalie Neustaedter asked of the community after her father, 81-year-old Bob Toothill, went missing on the Great Divide Trail.

RCMP confirmed late Tuesday afternoon the search remains active and Toothill has not yet been found.

His pack was located Sunday, July 26, and RCMP say this has tightened up the search to an unspecified area of the park.

Toothill, of Golden, B.C., set out from the Alderson-Carthew Summit trailhead in Waterton Lakes National Park on July 16, and Neustaedter says he was expected to reach Crowsnest Pass by July 22.

He was last seen July 19 at the Rowe Lakes trailhead. Other hikers he chatted with expected to see him at Lone Lake that night but he didn’t arrive.

Neustaedter says the family contacted RCMP and Parks Canada on July 23, after realizing her father was overdue.

RCMP say Parks Canada, Pincher Creek RCMP, Southwest Alberta Regional Search and Rescue and police dog services are all taking part in the search. Air searches have also been conducted.

Neustaedter describes her father as an experienced outdoorsman, fitter than most people half his age.

While public support is appreciated, RCMP and Parks Canada ask people not to search independently.

The search-and-rescue tip line is no longer accepting calls, but anyone with information they believe could be important is asked to contact their local RCMP detachment.

Updates will be posted they are received. RCMP do not know when the next update will be available.

Search narrows for Bob Toothill, hiker missing in Waterton backcountry

Update – Monday, July 27

Parks Canada says the search for Bob Toothill of Golden, B.C., has narrowed to a specific section of Waterton Lakes National Park.

His daughter, Natalie Neustaedter, says searchers found his backpack in the Tamarack Basin area late Sunday afternoon. High winds kept a helicopter from flying a team in, she says, and a two-person team went in early Monday for a more focused search.

Parks Canada says it is concentrating its efforts in the western part of the park, with Southwest Alberta Regional Search and Rescue covering areas outside it and aircraft assisting. No trail closures are in place.

Toothill may be wearing dark blue shorts or pants and a light blue shirt.

Both Parks Canada and Toothill’s family are urging people not to search on their own. Parks Canada says the terrain is remote, rugged and mountainous, and that unauthorized searches could put people at risk and pull resources from the operation.

The most helpful thing the public can do, the agency says, is share official updates.

Neustaedter says the family is grateful for the messages and offers of support, calling the response overwhelming.

Anyone with information, or who was in the area and saw someone matching Toothill’s description, is asked to call 1-855-727-6825, extension 2.

Search underway for Bob Toothill, missing in Waterton backcountry

Original post – Sunday, July 26

Somewhere on Section A of the Great Divide Trail, in the mountains between Waterton and the Crowsnest Pass, an 81-year-old hiker is missing, and his family is asking for help bringing him home.

Bob Toothill, of Golden, B.C., is an experienced outdoorsman his daughter describes as fitter than most people half his age. According to Parks Canada and his family, he set out from the Alderson-Carthew Summit trailhead in Waterton Lakes National Park on July 16 at 11 a.m., and was seen by other hikers as he started.

His daughter, Natalie Neustaedter, has pieced together the days that followed from calls, campground records, a trail camera and the hikers who crossed his path.

On July 17, she says, he phoned family to say hikers ahead of him had been charged by a grizzly and that he’d seen a sow and cubs himself. Bob told one family member he was heading down into a meadow to get around the bears but did not ask to be picked up at that time. It is unknown if he camped on the trail that night.

Neustaedter has confirmed that Bob arrived at the Waterton townsite campground Saturday, July 18 and checked out July 19. That Sunday morning, around 11, he got off a shuttle at the Rowe Lakes trailhead with two other hikers and was caught on a trail camera there.

Bob mentioned to other hikers that he might try to flag the bus to carry on toward Tamarack Trail. He was expected at Lone Lake that night, Neustaedter says, but other hikers say he never arrived.

The Parks Canada notice lists the Rowe Lakes trailhead as the last place he was seen, and says he was expected to reach Coleman by July 22.

When the pieces stopped fitting together, Neustaedter says, the family raised the alarm, reaching out to Parks Canada and Crowsnest Pass RCMP on July 23.

The response since has been considerable, according to the family. Search and rescue teams from Crowsnest Pass, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat have been out on the ground and in the air, Neustaedter says, with helicopters and riders on horseback in the search. B.C. search and rescue are assisting across the border as well. RCMP have asked businesses in Coleman and the surrounding area to keep watch, and notices have been posted along the trail.

As of Friday night, she says, the entire trail had been walked twice, with no sign of him.

Neustaedter says the worry is that her father is hurt somewhere. He’s a strong hiker who can cover 15 to 20 kilometres or more in a day, she says, which means the ground he might have reached is wide. His cellphone is powered off, and a satellite phone he carried was never activated.

“If you have seen Bob, or have noticed anything on the trail or outside the trail that seems unusual, please contact the search team,” she says.

Neustaedter says the family is grateful to the RCMP, the search crews, Waterton park staff, and the friends and hikers who’ve never met her father and have turned out to help anyway.

“Please help us bring him home,” she says.

The Parks Canada notice asks anyone who saw Toothill, or who hiked Section A of the Great Divide Trail since July 19, to call the search team at 1-855-727-6825, extension 2.

Bob Toothill points to a location on the Alderson-Carthew Summit trail map in Waterton Lakes National Park.

Photos courtesy of Natalie Neustaedter