Kevin Robert O'Keefe, disappeared October 8, 1985, Wolf Bay, Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
In late September 1985, Kevin O'Keefe, 36, went alone to the isolated Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska for a series of hikes in the wilderness. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve occupies the northernmost section of the southeastern Alaska coastline, between the Gulf of Alaska and Canada. Keith was an experienced outdoorsman and lived in Sacramento, California. He arrived in Juneau, on September 20th. Two days later, he took a floatplane to Muir Inlet, north of Wolf Point, to establish a base camp.
On October 8th, 1985, National Park Ranger, David Nemeth, and his partner spotted O'Keefe's tent near the high tide line as well as various bits of debris and after further investigation, they found a broken center pole. Since the rangers believed that the occupant of the tent was on a day hike had secured the tent and left the belongings they found in place, they decided they would return the following day to check on the occupants.
The day following the initial discovery of the tent, rangers went back to the campsite, but again there was no sign of life and the tent looked like it had not been slept in overnight. The Rangers left and informed Alaska State Troopers for additional assistance to search the vicinity of the camp location. An air and ground search failed to find any sign of Kevin.
After discovering that Kevin O'Keefe was the owner of the campsite and due to return from the park on October 10th, officials contacted relatives and they confirmed that he would be making short day hikes and would not be making overnight trips. Rangers found supplies at several locations around the site including food, sleeping bag and backpack, indicating he had not left the campsite for a day walk.
A pair of boots, a glove liner, and a hat were also discovered several hundred yards from the campsite in a gully out of sight from the camp. Not have these items would be potentially deadly in Alaska at this time of the year.
Rangers reported there were no bear tracks or any signs of an animal attack.
It is very strange that Kevin's tent was damaged and that his boots were found nearby. Was he disturbed whilst he slept? No sign of O'keefe has ever been found.
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