Rosemary Teresa Kunst, disappeared August 18, 2000, Spirit Lake, Marble Mountains Wilderness, Klamath national forest, California.
Revised and expanded April 2021
On Friday, August 18th, 2000, Rosemary Teresa Kunst, 70, headed to the Marble Mountains Wilderness to spend time with a native American spiritualist organization and to recover from a personal tragedy.
After a large Search-and-Rescue effort, Rosemary's family launched their own search along with a professional hiking guide in order to look for her but came up with nothing. They felt certain that if Rosemary wasn't injured she would know exactly what to do to get herself found, with her family describing her as “physically fit as can be”.
The area Rosemary disappeared in was heavily wooded and covered with thick foliage with steep valleys and the only clue found was four strands of hair on a bush.
To this day, the disappearance baffles searchers, as the direction Rosemary had walked was virtually impossible off-trail, and the only other exit was back through her camp, where she would have been seen.
The head of the search operation said, "To go out for a short walk and to just disappear without any trace is difficult to comprehend. Usually, there will be some kind of a trace. I'm not sure what happened here”.
Vicki Kunst, Rosemary’s daughter-in-law said after the strange disappearance, “It just seems like she disappeared into thin air. They're not finding any signs. Nothing. It just seems unreal."
One of the most mysterious of all the disappearances in the American wilderness and a classic story.
Who was Rosemary Kunst?
Rosemary was from San Anselmo and was married to Charles "Bud" Kunst and in early 1999, they both were involved in a serious car accident in which Bud was killed and Rosemary was seriously injured.
As part of her recuperation from the tragic incident, as a keen outdoors lover, she decided to go on a backpacking trip with the Earth Circle Association. Earth Circle was an organization in nearby Quartz Valley that taught Native American spiritualism and environmental practices. It was led by native American Karuk Chief and Elder, Charlie "Red Hawk" Thom.
Earth Circle would use the remote Spirit Lake area of the Marble Mountains Wilderness, part of the Klamath national forest and west of Mt. Shasta.
The lake is only accessible from one direction with steep banks around it and tree cover, making entry and exit difficult apart from the trail at the northern end of the lake.
The Spirit Lake visit
Each year Red Hawk carried out spiritual ceremonies at Spirit Lake, which included spirit dances to help bring the Native American ancestors down to earth.
On August 17th, 2000, the group of about 20 people, led by Charlie "Red Hawk" headed out with Rosemary and hiked 12 miles to the small, oval-shaped mountain lake in an area known as Wooley Creek. It is surrounded by some of Northern California's most rugged terrain. The trek was supposed to be a spiritual awakening for Rosemary after the trauma she suffered in the car crash.
The group included a cook and used horses to bring in tents, food, and other equipment. When they arrived at the Lake, Earth Circle and Rosemary participated in the attempt to contact the ancient spirits, a sort of outdoor seance.
Rosemary’s disappearance
On Friday, August 18th, the day before the group was scheduled to return, Red Hawk told everyone at the camp of his plan to go for a day hike and they would return later that evening. Rosemary declined this invitation for reasons unknown and decided to stay behind.
At around 1 pm, Rosemary asked Red Hawk’s, 12-year-old son, Chalet, whether he would accompany her on a small hike to the other side of the lake. Chalet declined and stayed behind with the cook. She said she wanted, “to try to mingle with the spirit of her deceased husband.”
The cook made her a sandwich and gave her some trail mix before she grabbed her journal and headed out towards Wooley Creek, the southern part of the Spirit Lake, which had no obvious exit apart from climbing the steep hillsides with up to a 70-degree angle.
The search
At 5 pm that day, the rest of the group came back from their hike and Red Hawk enquired where Rosemary was, but she was not in the camp. Some of the group were dispatched to the Wooley Creek outlet and told to locate her. But around one hour later they came back and said they had no success in finding her.
At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing a blue fleece shirt, hiking boots, and a blue baseball cap.
The Siskiyou Sheriff's department and county rescue team were notified that Rosemary had vanished and over 50 searchers began a search and rescue operation. Later more than 150 people, including volunteers, National Guard troops and law enforcement rescue teams joined the search to comb the area around Spirit Lake.
In addition, a FLIR-equipped helicopter, sniffer dogs, horseback searchers, and California highway patrol helped.
Spirit Lake
Grizz Adams, incident commander for the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department, (see another Grizz Adams incident The mysterious disappearance of Carl Landers from Mount Shasta - Member only) was mystified as getting from the south part of the lake was virtually impossible off-trail without climbing equipment and especially for a 70-year-old lady.
The only other exit was through camp past the cook and Red Hawk's son. The sniffer dogs never picked up any scent and Rosemary’s lunch bag wasn't located. The only clue found was four strands of hair on Tuesday, August 22, 2000, in thick brush far from any trails.
Adams said investigators haven't been able to use the hairs to develop any theories as to what happened. from the area where it is believed she was walking. Unfortunately, this piece of hair was never DNA tested.
What happened to Rosemary Kunst?
In an interview by Dave Paulides with Red Hawk, the native American elder believed that Rosemary had got to a place called Devil's Back Canyon. He didn't have any direct evidence for this but seemed sure.
No clothing, body, bones, tracks, blood were ever found, which would dismiss an attack by a bear or wild cat. Grizz Adams said mountain lions and black bears were common to the area, but attacks were almost unheard of. He said it is more likely that she fell and was knocked unconscious, but some sort of evidence of such an occurrence would be expected.
The search and cadaver dogs had not picked up any scent, despite the enclosed location and lack of wind and rain at the time of the disappearance. Adams said, "She's not close, and she's not in the obvious spots, but it's extremely tough country. The brush and timber are thick and it's as steep as a cow's face up here."
Some have postulated that Rosemary committed suicide after depression caused by the death of her husband Bud, but if so why did she ask Red Hawk's son to join her on the walk? Why were no remains ever found in such an enclosed area, with steep slopes? Relatives and friends said Kuntz was not despondent or suicidal and would not want to leave her family in a lurch, especially after the death of her husband.
Grizz Adams said law enforcement officials have no reason to believe Kunst was the victim of a crime. Nor do they believe she took her own life. He said, "There's just no evidence of anything. There's nothing to go on”
Furthermore, Adams said, "To go out for a short walk and to just disappear without any trace is difficult to comprehend. Usually, there will be some kind of a trace. I'm not sure what happened here."
Rosemary’s three sons were involved in the search and reluctantly agreed with the decision to end the effort. Vicki Kunst, Rosemary’s daughter-in-law said at the time, "I think we're resolved to thinking she probably hasn't made it,. It's awful. You still want to have hope, but you have to face reality. It will take a miracle to see her again. It just seems like she disappeared into thin air. They're not finding any signs. Nothing. It just seems unreal."
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Sources
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Searchers-Give-Up-Hope-Of-Finding-Hiker-Alive-2742313.php#ixzz2S7fR1jiy
https://www.caseremains.com/post/rosemary-kunst
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Search-Is-On-For-Missing-Female-Hiker-2742996.php
