Mt. San Gorgonio Hiker Sought for a Second Day

Rescue teams continued searching Tuesday for a Seal Beach man reported missing over the weekend on Mt. San Gorgonio, a popular hiking and camping area near Yucaipa in San Bernardino County.

Eugene Kumm, 25, left home Saturday morning to hike about 9,800 feet up the 11,500-foot-high mountain, spend the night at High Creek Camp and return home Sunday. When he hadn’t returned by dark, said Cindy Beavers, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department, Kumm’s girlfriend called authorities, who began searching Monday.

“We’re told that he’s an experienced hiker who had all the necessary equipment for the conditions he was facing,” Beavers said. “Even so, though, there’s real concern because he was alone, it’s icy up there, there’s snow on the ground and the temperatures are very cold.”

Kumm is the latest of several hikers to encounter difficulties recently in the mountains of San Bernardino County, including four who have died since the beginning of the year. On Saturday -- the day Kumm left home -- searchers found the body of Chung Hun “Charles” Koh, a 53-year-old hiker from Buena Park who’d been missing on Mt. Baldy since New Year’s Day.

“I think we had one person die during all of last year,” Beavers said.”

Searchers on Monday found Kumm’s car at Big Falls, a recreation area where hikers often park. “There was nothing suspicious about it,” Beavers said. “It was locked and the vehicle’s still there.”

Working with a sheriff’s helicopter, several volunteer search-and-rescue teams spent Monday scouring Vivian Creek Trail, believed to be Kumm’s most likely route. Beavers said the search continued Tuesday minus the helicopter, which was grounded for much of the day because of fog.