Patrick Terrence Whalen

Whalen, circa 2000

  • Missing Since 11/02/2000
  • Missing From Glacier National Park, Montana
  • Classification Lost/Injured Missing
  • Sex Male
  • Race White
  • Date of Birth 09/30/1967 (56)
  • Age 33 years old
  • Height and Weight 6'0, 155 pounds
  • Clothing/Jewelry Description Possibly a short-sleeved shirt and blue jeans.
  • Medical Conditions According to his family, Whalen was displaying signs of mental illness, including obsessive behavior and paranoia, at the time of his disappearance.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Blond hair, hazel eyes. Whalen wears wire-framed eyeglasses. He may have a beard. His nickname is Pat.

Details of Disappearance

Whalen was last seen in Glacier Park, Montana on November 2, 2000. He was originally from Cleveland, Ohio, but lived in Portland, Oregon at the time of his disappearance. He was a registered nurse and planned to become a naturopathic doctor.

Described as a survivalist who had hiked for thousands of miles on the Pacific Crest Trail and spent hundreds of hours in national parks, Whalen frequented Glacier National Park, the Blackfeet tribal lands and the Columbia Falls area of Montana for several weeks during September and October 2000.

Whalen's vehicle was later located at the Lake McDonald Lodge Restaurant in the vicinity of U.S. Highway 89 and State Highway 49 at the eastern edge of Glacier National Park, near the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

On May 27, almost seven months after Whalen's disappearance, a park ranger found an abandoned camp at the Atlantic Creek Backcountry Campground, along the north fork of Cut Bank Creek near Bad Marriage Mountain and Medicine Grizzly Peak.

Personal belongings of Whalen's were identified at the campsite, but there was no indication of his whereabouts at the scene and it appeared that the campsite had been abandoned since the previous autumn.

An extensive search turned up no sign of Whalen. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance are unclear.

Updated 3 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated October 12, 2016; medical conditions added, details of disappearance updated.