Bizarre: Hiker Dies On Mountain In Washington Where A Dead Body Was Discovered A Day Before

A Washington state man fell 800 to 1,000 feet to his death while hiking last weekend, authorities said.

Gary Idleburg, 66, fell from Sauk Mountain in the Northern Cascades, northeast of Seattle, while navigating a switchback trail last Saturday, according to the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office.

Witnesses reported the Olympia native’s fall. Emergency responders attempted life-saving efforts, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Just a day earlier, a missing hiker was found dead on steep terrain on the same mountain.

He was identified as 78-year-old Peter Kalapaca, who had been missing for a day.

The sheriff’s office said they “extend our deepest condolences to the Kalapaca family and loved ones. While nothing can lessen the loss of a loved one, we are grateful for the extraordinary effort made by everyone involved, which allows some measure of closure for the family.”

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The search for a missing hiker on Sauk Mountain has ended in tragedy: https://t.co/0w7zro0Fpl

— KOMO News (@komonews) September 19, 2026

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The narrow 4.2-mile, out-and-back trail has around two dozen exposed switchbacks and has been the site of several fatalities in the past decade; a 69-year-old Birch Bay woman died on Sauk Mountain in 2017, a 71-year-old woman from Connecticut died there in 2018 and a 63-year-old man from Concrete died just last year.

After successfully helping to evacuate an injured hiker off Sauk by helicopter in August 2022, Skagit County Search & Rescue warned that the 5,500-foot mountain can be “very unforgiving” and recommended “extreme caution” when hiking.

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