An Illinois man who had been missing for more than a week in Great Smoky Mountains National Park was found alive Tuesday, roughly 90 miles from where he was last seen, park officials confirmed.
Marcin Bachleda-Blaszczak, 29, of Lockport, Illinois, was reported missing on August 24 after he was last seen two days earlier at the Sugarlands Visitor Center, near the park’s Tennessee entrance close to Gatlinburg. He was found safe on September 1 in Murphy, North Carolina, a town well outside the park’s boundaries and a roughly 90-mile drive from Sugarlands.
The search involved at least 47 park rangers and volunteer searchers combing trails, backcountry areas and surrounding terrain over more than a week, according to reporting from WSMV, CBS Chicago and NBC Chicago. Search efforts expanded beyond the park’s boundaries in the days before he was located, a shift that ultimately led rescuers toward Murphy rather than deeper into the Smokies.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park spans more than 500,000 acres across Tennessee and North Carolina and is the most visited national park in the country, drawing more than 12 million visitors a year. Its dense forest cover, steep terrain and limited cell service make search operations for missing hikers logistically difficult, and multiday searches are not unheard of, though outcomes are not always as fortunate as this one.
Park officials have not yet detailed how Bachleda-Blaszczak ended up so far from where he was last seen, and the circumstances of his disappearance and the following nine days remain under investigation. Fox News and WVLT reported that authorities have released little beyond confirming he is safe and that the case is still active.
For now, family and searchers are simply relieved the outcome was a good one. A search of this scale, run for more than a week across rugged mountain terrain, ending with the missing person found alive is the result rescue crews train for and don’t always get.
BeezLoop News will update this story as park officials release more details about the investigation. Read the original reporting at WSMV and CBS Chicago.
