Alan Douglas Visher

• Missing Since 07/18/1962
• Missing From Kings Canyon National Park, California
• Classification Lost/Injured Missing
• Sex Male
• Race White
• Age 12 years old
• Height and Weight Unknown
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A brown shirt, blue jeans, Red Wing boots and a wide-brimmed straw hat. Carrying a backpack containing a sweater and food.
• Distinguishing Characteristics White male.

Details of Disappearance

Alan was last seen at Kings Canyon National Park east of Fresno, California on July 18, 1962. He, his mother and his three siblings were part of a group of about fifty people participating in a weeklong hiking and camping trip led by the Sierra Club. He was last seen walking in the middle of the group of hikers near Dog Creek in Tehipite Valley, at 6,000 feet elevation, at 2:00 p.m. When the group arrived in Simpson Meadow to set up camp at 7:00 p.m., they realized Alan was missing.

A weeklong search involving park rangers, helicopters and bloodhounds turned up no indication of his whereabouts. One theory was he stopped to get a drink from the stream that crosses the trail, fell into the water and was swept away.

Alan lived in the 1500 block of Campus Drive in Berkeley, California at the time of his disappearance. He was a member of the Boy Scouts and had recently been awarded a trophy for being the best Scout in his troop, and had completed the sixth grade and was due to start seventh grade at Garfield Junior High School.

He is presumed to have gotten lost or injured in the wilderness. Later in July 1962 his family held a memorial service for him.