The search for missing Juneau hiker 48-year-old Sharon Buis, who was reported missing late Saturday night at the trailhead of the Mount Roberts trail continues into its third day today, still with no clue as to her whereabouts.

Buis was reported missing at 10:14 PM on Saturday after she failed to meet a companion that morning for a planned group hike on the Mount Roberts trail. The group was to hike to the Hawthorne Peak on Saturday. It is likely that Buis went to the trailhead on Friday.

After Buis did not show up at the appointed meeting place, searchers located her vehicle at a parking lot adjacent to the trailhead. Volunteer searchers did a limited search of the immediate trail on Saturday night. At daylight on Sunday morning, 30 volunteer searchers as well as search and rescue canines began scouring the trail system for Buis. 

Throughout Sunday the search would expand to cover the Mount Juneau Trail, the Perseverance Trail, and the Granite Creek Trail, but still no sign of Buis could be found. The ground search for Buis was augmented by helicopters with spotters on board to cover areas that ground searchers could not access due to the snow conditions and broken terrain. A United States Coast Guard helicopter also took part in the search on Sunday to search the area with its forward-looking infrared during the evening hours.

On Monday, the search again began in earnest. 28 volunteers as well as search and rescue K-9 continued to search on the ground. Helicopters placed some of the searchers into remote areas. Once again, helicopters took to the air with spotters to cover additional areas that could not be safely searched by ground searchers.

The search area covered by the Alaska State troopers, Juneau Mountain Rescue, SEADOGS, and the United States Coast Guard consists of very rugged mountainous terrain with severely deteriorating snow conditions at the higher elevations and very thick vegetation in the lower regions of the search area.

The search was picked up again on Tuesday. Currently, there have been no further developments.

  Alaska, hiker, juneau, missing person, rescue, search, sharon buis