{"id":840451,"date":"2026-08-01T13:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T13:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/840451\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T13:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T13:36:12","slug":"missing-b-c-hiker-found-dead-in-alberta-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/840451\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing B.C. hiker found dead in Alberta mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Waterton townsite at Waterton Lakes National Park, Alta., is seen on June 25, 2025.Curtis Ng\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

A British Columbia man who set out to hike the Great Divide Trail has been found dead in mountainous terrain in southern Alberta.<\/p>\n

The body of the 81-year-old from Golden, B.C., was located Thursday after a week of searching in Waterton Lakes National Park, RCMP in Alberta said Friday. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlberta RCMP sends their condolences to the family and friends of the deceased,\u201d a release said. <\/p>\n

Police did not release his name or say how he died, but during the search, Parks Canada officials identified him as Bob Toothill. <\/p>\n

They said he was hiking the Great Divide Trail, a long-distance wilderness route that follows the Continental Divide.<\/p>\n

The man set out on July 16 and was expected to arrive in Coleman, Alta., a week ago.<\/p>\n

When he did not show up, Mounties and Parks Canada officials searched on the ground and in the air with the help of dogs and drones.<\/p>\n

Parks Canada discouraged volunteers from helping with the search, citing the remote, rugged and mountainous terrain as a hazard for people not familiar with the area. <\/p>\n

Throughout the search, several items belonging to Toothill were found, helping canvassers narrow their search efforts, Waterton Lakes National Park said in a Facebook post on Friday. <\/p>\n

\u201cParks Canada extends its deepest condolences to the family, friends and others who have been impacted by this tragic incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natalie Neustaedter, Toothill\u2019s daughter, wrote in a Facebook post that the avid outdoorsman died after a \u201csudden slip and fall\u201d while hiking in the Lineham Ridge area of the Great Divide Trail. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough we are devastated by this news, we are grateful that he was found and can now be brought home,\u201d the post said. <\/p>\n

\u201cBob loved the outdoors \u2013 in many ways, he lived for it. It is a heartbreaking irony that the place he loved most is where he spent his final moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The windswept ridge is described as a difficult, 20-kilometre trail that offers views of the Rowe Valley, Upper Rowe Lakes and numerous Lineham Lakes. It reaches elevations of 945 metres. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Waterton townsite at Waterton Lakes National Park, Alta., is seen on June…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-840451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}