SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — It is a hike Adam Shmidt’s wife says where “he felt most connected to himself and nature.”
She added, “Adam died doing his favorite thing in his favorite place.”
Sheriff’s helicopters were in the sky, searching for Shmidt after he did not come home from the hike on El Cajon Mountain Monday.
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There was also a boots-on-the-ground effort. Officials say more than 100 volunteers scaled the mountain, searching for the missing hiker.
"The mountain looked like a stadium with flashlights all over it,” said Lieutenant Chris Katra from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
The sheriff’s helicopter airlifted a man’s body off the mountain Wednesday morning.
There was a command post in El Monte County Park.
Katra says the man was an experienced hiker. His plan was to climb to the top of the mountain and then return home in the afternoon. That never happened.
Katra says a man was found dead on the mountain, but he would not identify his body. The Sheriff’s Office also says the man had climbing gear on and suffered trauma to his body.
"We have put him here at the El Monte Park. We have transferred him to the medical examiner’s office,” Katra added.
Shmidt’s wife was at the scene. She told us he was the hiker who died.
She also said, “he lived life to the fullest, knowing it could be taken at any time. His accident doesn't mean we should stop. His accident fuels me to continue adventuring more."
