DOUBLE TRAGEDY

Father and Daughter Found Dead on Appalachian Trail Hike

Tim Keiderling went missing alongside his daughter Esther after setting out to hike Maine’s Mount Katahdin on Sunday.

Search teams have found the bodies of a father and daughter who went missing while climbing the Appalachian Trail’s northern mountain terminus. Tim Keiderling, 58, and his daughter Esther, 28, both of Ulster Park, NY, began hiking toward the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine on Sunday morning. Park rangers launched a search for them after their car was still parked at the trailhead on Monday morning, ABC News reported. Esther’s body was found Wednesday afternoon in a wooden area between two trails, WMTW reported. A search team equipped with dogs had located Tim’s body near the summit of Katahdin on Tuesday. Joe Keiderling, Tim’s brother, remembered him as a “storyteller like no one I’ve known with a rich sense of humor” in a statement to WMTW. “Tim lived exuberantly.” The park’s website notes that the hike up Katahdin—Maine’s highest mountain at 5,269 feet—is “a very strenuous climb, no matter which trailhead you choose,” typically taking eight to 12 hours roundtrip. The day before setting out on the trail, Esther wrote on her Substack, “I’m a little nervous after everything I’ve read about the Abol trail but I’m going to do it if weather permits!” A summit forecast for Sunday had anticipated “very windy” conditions and rain showers. Kevin Guether, a hiker who climbed Katahdin on Monday, told WMTW he faced “snow, heavy winds, and sleet,” when he reached the area where Tim’s body was eventually found.