A search is underway for a young Sonoma County man who went missing during an Oregon backpacking trip Tuesday.
Search teams are asking every hiker they see in the Willamette National Forest whether they've seen 21-year old Riley Zickel of Sebastopol.
On a break from school late Tuesday, Zickel reportedly drove southeast to backpack near Mount Jefferson. He was expected to meet a friend in Seattle on Friday but never showed up, according to his family.
“He doesn't know this area, but he's a very experienced backpacker,” his father Robin Zickel said. “He spends all his money at REI, so he's got real good gear. He's a sensible kid.”
Several of Riley Zickel's classmates from Lewis and Clark College in Portland are helping to search for him.
“This is, besides music, his favorite thing to do,” Robin Zickel said.
