Searchers continue their race against the clock to find 70-year-old Seattle hiker, half-marathoner, and outdoors writer, Ms. Karen Sykes. Ms. Sykes, a prolific writer, photographer and blogger who focuses her work on Western Washington state, was last seen Wednesday during a hike up the Owyhigh Lakes Trail as she worked on a story.

According to Don Geyer, a friend of Ms. Sykes, Ms. Sykes and her partner, Mr. Bob Morthorst, had reached an elevation of about 5,000 feet on the snow-covered trail when Mr. Morthorst stopped to take a lunch break.  Ms. Sykes continued on the trail, saying she would return in about an hour and meet Mr. Morthorst on the way down.  When Ms. Sykes failed to return by 10:30 p.m, Mr. Morthorst reported her overdue.

Ms. Sykes, a Seattle, Washington resident and  a former writer for the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post Intelligencer, is known as a strong, tough, smart and savvy hiker who knows the mountain extremely well. “If anybody can survive it, it’s her,” said Mr. Greg Johnston, who had recruited Ms. Sykes to write a weekly hiking column for the Intelligencer .

Seven teams have been searching for Ms. Sykes since Wednesday. The searchers who are scouring the 8-mile trail have to cope with conditions including wet, slippery terrain,  snow bridges and tree wells. One searcher was injured Thursday and had to be airlifted out of the area after punching through a snow bridge. Cloudy weather prevented an air search for Ms. Sykes on Friday.

Six climbers are believed to have fallen to their deaths weeks ago while attempting to climb to the summit of the 14,410 foot peak. A close friend of Ms. Sykes, Ms.Lola Kemp, said in an e-mail Friday that she thinks it is more likely that Ms. Sykes is injured and is waiting to be rescued.