Crews to return to search for missing hiker

In spite of a search that mobilized early yesterday afternoon, a Foothills Trail hiker in Oconee County remains missing. County Emergency Services says crews will resume their search this morning—this time to be augmented by teams from Anderson and Pickens counties and Haywood and Buncombe counties in North Carolina. Yesterday searchers from Oconee and Jackson and Translyvania counties in North Carolina covered about 15 miles of the trail. Their focus was a 4.4 mile section in the area of Sloan’s Bridge. The missing man is considered to be experienced and has an extensive backpacking background. He and a family member set out Friday from Table Rock with intent to reach Oconee State Park by tomorrow afternoon. The two became separated, and the family member called 9-1-1 to say that they became separated along the trail between SC 107 and 130.