Avid Hiker Disappears in Bay Area Park

Former park worker last seen Saturday night

Rescuers are continuing the desperate search for 77-year-old Silvia Lang, who was reported missing Sunday at the Point Reyes National Seashore.

Lang was last seen Saturday night.  Authorities realized she was missing after someone found a dog near a parking lot in the North Beach area of the national park at about noon Sunday, according to  Michael St. John, unit leader of the Marin County Sheriff's Office search and rescue team. The dog's leash was hung up in some rocks, the Whittier Daily News reports.

Park rangers later found Lang's vehicle in the parking lot with two other dogs inside, St. John said. She's "very familiar" with Point Reyes, and "has been a  volunteer for outdoor education-type stuff" in the area, and also has  experience training service dogs, St. John said.

Lang worked for the National Park Service and later volunteered for the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Angel Island State Park and the Nicasio Historical Society, Elaine Doss, president of the historical society, told the Whittier Daily News.

"She is an active person for that age and a good hiker," Doss said. "Certainly she could handle rocky hilltops and such."

A helicopter and some all-terrain vehicles were called in to assist in the search for Lang, but she was not found.

The sheriff's search and rescue team was called to the area at about 5 p.m. About 30 people on the team, along with rangers from the National Park Service and some canine units, searched through the night.

The weather is not helping the search. Poor visibility, rain and high winds throughout the, along with where thick vegetation surrounding the beaches is adding to the difficulty of the search.

Lang is described as a white woman who is about 5 feet tall, weighs 145 pounds, and has brown hair and brown eyes.

The dogs found near the parking lot and in the vehicle are being handled by the sheriff's office. St. John said foul play is not suspected in Lang's disappearance.

Bay City News contributed to this report.

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