Search 'critical' for Hudsonville hiker

HUDSONVILLE, Mich. (WOOD) - As the search continues for his brother, missing since Saturday in Glacier National Park, Jordon Bauer does what he can from his parents' home.

"All in all, it's the only thing, really, I can do to maybe keep my mind at ease for a brief second," Bauer said on Tuesday.

His brother, Jakson Kreiser, 19, who just graduated from Hudsonville High School, hasn't been seen since Saturday, when  he was supposed to return from a day hike in Glacier National Park on Saturday.

On Tuesday, about 50 people continued to search in what national park officials are calling treacherous territory -- waterfalls, boulders, slippery rocks and steep cliffs. The trail he was on was a 4,000-foot descent.

"It's a lot of up and down, you can see the terrain marks, how high it is," Bauer said while looking at a Glacier National Park map on his parents' kitchen counter.

Kreiser's parents flew to Montana on Monday to be near the search, while his brother stayed behind in Hudsonville.

"Today is the most critical day," Bauer said. "That's what they are telling my folks that are out there right now." Critical, he said, because of the small amount of food his brother was carrying.

Bauer said he has called his brother and sent him text messages.

"Just saying, 'I'm here for ya; I hope you get back soon.' I've called his phone periodically just to see if it was working; I know that it's bad cell phone up there, so."

And, at the searchers' request, Bauer sent them a picture of the tread pattern on his brother's hiking boots. He found the picture on the side of the shoebox.

With every passing day, worries grow.

"I mean, there's animals out there, there's steep cliffs, there's a lot of things that can hurt him," Bauer said.

His best hope, he said, is the Glacier hiking book that a neighbor gave to his brother as a graduation gift. That was just before his brother moved to Montana for the summer to work at a lodge.

He said his brother is not an experienced hiker.

"He's been out there for a month and a half, so whatever he's learned in that amount of time, but he had no business going out there on a trail like that," he said.

In the meantime, relatives, neighbors and friends, even strangers, are reaching out to the family.

"A lot of prayers, a lot of text messages, a lot of calls," Bauer said.

And, Tuesday morning, he found a candle and note left on the front porch, praying for a safe return.

"It's anonymous. I don't know who dropped it off. I just woke up, and it was out there, sitting there. That's pretty impressive and that's how communities work."

"I think that the more and more people pray, the better the outcome it will be."