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Whoever set up the tent was nowhere to be found, but Fish and Game officials had no reports of missing hikers.
An abandoned tent in New Hampshire’s White Mountains has sparked a mystery among local hikers and left search and rescue officials scratching their heads.
A hiker flagged the deserted tent to New Hampshire Fish and Game officials on Sunday, Oct. 26, after he camped at the Valley Way tent site overnight and noticed the tent remained unoccupied, according to Lt. Mark Ober.
The hiker poked around and saw no footprints in the snow around the tent, Ober said via email. The gear inside — a sleeping bag and other items — was wet, and there was still food in the bear box. Whoever set up the tent was nowhere to be found, but Ober had no reports of missing hikers.
“It is not uncommon for me to get reports of abandoned camp sites in various areas of the National Forest, so I did not consider it an urgent matter,” he explained.
Curious, however, Ober contacted the president of his local volunteer search and rescue team and asked if anyone was planning on hiking up to Mount Madison or Mount Adams in the coming days and wouldn’t mind stopping to check out the tent.
“He agreed and he actually hiked up on Monday [Oct. 27] himself,” Ober said. “He found the tent as it was reported, and it appeared to him to be abandoned.”
The search team leader poked around for any identification and found a set of car keys.
“This was a little concerning, but due to the fact that this tent appeared to have been set up for a while, and I had no reports of a missing subject, I assumed it was abandoned and I asked him to pack it up and bring it out,” Ober said. “When he got down to the Appalachia parking lot, there was no vehicle matching those keys.”
He said the search team leader posted the information to a hiking group on social media in hopes that the owner — or someone else with information — might come forward. On two separate Facebook groups dedicated to hikers who tackle New Hampshire’s 4000-footers, posts about the abandoned tent drew hundreds of comments and shares, but no solid answers. In the comments section, speculation ran the gamut from theories about an inexperienced hiker who bailed under rough conditions to more sinister scenarios.
According to Ober, at least one commenter reported the tent appeared abandoned as early as Oct. 17. He said there was an Apple AirTag affixed to the set of keys found at the campsite, but N.H. Fish and Game hit a dead end when it contacted Apple in hopes of identifying the owner.
“I have possession of the gear and have personally searched most of the area trailheads and have yet to find a vehicle that matches the keys that were found,” Ober added. He speculated the tent might have belonged to a hiker who needed to leave in a hurry, forgot their keys, and used a spare car key rather than head 3 miles back up the trail.
“That is my hunch,” Ober said. “But either way, I have no report of any missing hikers, so I’m just hoping the owner will see the social media posts and come forward to reclaim their tent and car keys.”
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