Aug 24 2008
“Where’s Joe?” Hiker Missing Near Paradise
The Marquette Mining Journal has a story related to the disappearance of Joseph Clewley, a hiker who simply vanished six weeks ago along the North Country Trail near Paradise, MI. The story has had several hiking forums in which I participate completely baffled. Excerpts and link:
PARADISE - What has become of Joseph Robert Clewley, an elderly retiree who mysteriously vanished six weeks ago near his cabin at Tahquamenon Falls State Park?
So far, the answer to that question has escaped the best efforts of what sheriff’s deputies are calling the largest missing persons manhunt in the history of Chippewa County.
“You never know what could have happened. He was 73 and had health issues,” said his son Joe Clewley Jr. of downstate Mason. “We’re missing a piece here somewhere. We need new clues. Any information is good information, anything that could help.”
Based on telephone records, the elder Clewley was last known to be at his 1920s era cabin on the morning of Saturday, July 13. The rustic two-room camp situated along the north bank of the Tahquamenon River - called the Chippewa Hunting Post - is where Clewley spends summers doing daily chores, fishing, hiking and watching wildlife.
Clewley’s wife Lorraine works as a part-time bookkeeper downstate near Higgins Lake at Industrial Control Resources, the company Clewley founded.
Less at ease without the comforts of home, Lorraine visits the cabin infrequently, while Joseph would spend weeks at a time there on his own. The couple winters in Florida.
Clewley was described by his children as a fit and resilient off-trail hiker who knew the rugged wilderness terrain of the Tahquamenon River mouth country “like the back of his hand.”
But he had been slowed down over the past year with chest pains, blocked arteries and stomach aneurysms, his son said. He’d lately limited his hikes to about a mile, staying on the North Country Trail and visiting beaver dams on Lynch Creek, where he’d sit silently on stumps watching for moose and other animals.
Full story:
http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/514558.html
