The photo of Art and Kim Morse, center along with friend Frank Maestas, behind, where photographer Kelly Berry inadvertently caught a small grey dot — later determined to be lost hiker Matthew Matheny — in the shot.
The story of a lost Ohio hiker who survived six days on Mount St. Helens has a hometown connection as a local Battle Ground business leader helped to pinpoint where to search for the missing man.
Art Morse Jr., president of Art Morse Auto Repair, inadvertently encountered Matthew Matheny, an Ohioan who had been lost on the mountain since Aug. 9, and provided information to the search effort once he realized what he had seen.
Morse said he was hiking to summit the mountain Aug. 10 with his wife, Kim, and four others. Starting from the Monitor Ridge trailhead, the group had reached the timber line at about 8 a.m., with the hikers making a slight detour to a flat area for rest and some photos.
While taking pictures at the point, Morse said his wife spotted something moving on a ridge he estimated to be about 600-700 yards away from the group. The group as a whole then noticed the unidentified moving object.
About 20 minutes later Matheny got up and started walking.
Morse said the group at the time wondered what the person was doing at that location, noting there wasn’t a trail in the area. They reasoned it was a seasoned Mount St. Helens hiker — not a lost man.
The group also found it strange to see someone heading down the mountain that early in the morning, while most hikers would be heading up. At the time Morse and his companions were hiking there weren’t reports of an active search on the mountain. He didn’t find out until Monday that someone was missing in that area.
When Morse did learn of a search on St. Helens, what he had witnessed Aug. 10 clicked. Reviewing pictures he was able to make out the gray object in a photo, barely more than a dot in the image.
“He did photobomb one of our pictures,” Morse remarked.
At that point Morse used Google Earth to help pinpoint where the group — and Matheny — were on the mountain at that time. He got into contact with the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office, providing coordinates for when the group last saw him, his direction as well as the photo.
Cowlitz County Sheriff Mark Nelson wrote in an email that it was the photo and cell data that eventually led to the hiker’s discovery on Aug. 15.
Matheny was discovered conscious and talking with rescuers before he was airlifted out of the area to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center.
At a following press conference, his mother postulated his experience as a Boy Scout could have aided in his survival, noting that his diet on the mountain consisted of bees among other improvised foods.
Morse said that although it was the first time he had fully summited St. Helens, he was familiar with the mountain having grown up in the area. He added Matheny was found about a half-mile from the Monitor Ridge trail, commenting that he frequently camps below that location.
“I can’t believe anyone else didn’t see him up there,” he said.
