Search suspended for missing hiker

BUFFALO (WNE) — Search and Rescue organizations in north-central Wyoming suspended the search for missing hiker Grant Gardner in the Cloud Peak Wilderness area on Aug. 20.

Gardner, a 38-year-old Minnesota resident, was reported overdue on Aug. 1. The Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office has led the search with assistance from several counties and agencies, including Johnson County Search and Rescue and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.

Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn wrote in a Facebook post that his office, in consultation with family members, “made the heartbreaking and difficult decision to suspend active search and rescue operations for Mr. Gardner.”

“Our teams have exhausted all resources and personnel over the last 20 days,” Blackburn wrote. “With weather conditions and other factors updated in our search models, we have to face the reality that the most optimistic survival odds have run out.”

Gardner summited Cloud Peak at more than 13,000 feet around 7 p.m. on July 29. He texted his wife at the summit and told her that the climb was more taxing than he expected and that he was preparing to return to a lower elevation.

From the start of the search, personnel were concerned both about the late hour of the summit and weather patterns that have come through the area, including a thunderstorm the night of Gardner’s summit.

Johnson County Search and Rescue’s Captain Layne Qualm previously told the Bulletin that volunteers with his team put more than 470 hours into the search. Local volunteers primarily searched the east face of Cloud Peak and other areas within the county boundary.

This story was published on August 28, 2025.