PORTLAND, Ore. - The search for a 24-year-old Portland woman lost in the Skamania County wilderness continued Tuesday as her father arrived from the East Coast to help.
The only clue placing Katherine Heuther on Table Mountain was a credit card receipt found by another hiker on Sunday.
"It really comes home how rugged and how difficult this is," Bob Huether said Tuesday , after flying in from New Jersey. "We are still holding out hope that Kate will come back to us alive and we'll be able to hold her and talk to her again.. and tell her how much we love her."
The Coast Guard resumed overhead flights near Table Mountain Tuesday as nearly 40 specialists searched the area. A winter storm was moving out and skies were clearing. But snow had fallen overnight and rain was forecast all week.
Searcher Sharon Ward, who spent time Monday looking for Heuther, told KGW that the trails had been searched "really well" and that "it was frustrating" that she had not been located.
Heuther's car was found early Friday morning at the Columbia Crest Trailhead, near the Bonneville Dam. No missing person report had yet been filed.
Table Mountain offers a popular, easily accessible day trip for Columbia Gorge hikers.
A suspect was reportedly flashing others on the Pacific Crest Trail the same day she was thought to have headed there for a day hike, Skamania County officials reported Tuesday.
It was one of "many leads" that investigators were considering.
