Missing Seattle hiker found dead

The body of missing Seattle hiker T.J. Langley was found Saturday afternoon in a remote section of the Glacier Peak Wilderness, the Chelan County Sheriff's office said.

Lt. Maria Agnew said two searchers on foot spotted his body near Luahna Peak, above Boulder Pass, at an elevation of about 8,600 feet. It appeared he had lost his footing and fallen about 300 feet, she said.

His body was recovered by helicopter and taken to a funeral home in Leavenworth, Agnew said.

Part of the route he followed crossed a glacier, she said, but it was unclear whether he was on ice or on a marked trail when he fell.

Langley, 42, failed to return Tuesday from what he told friends and family would be a two-day solo hike in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest near Lake Wenatchee.

On Thursday morning, friends filed an overdue-hiker report, and the Chelan County Sheriff's Office initiated an extensive ground and air search.

Langley, an avid outdoorsman and experienced backcountry hiker, checked in at a forest trailhead last Sunday. His car was found parked at the Little Giant trailhead, a turnout on the Chiwawa River road about a half-mile past 19 Mile Campground.

Earlier Saturday, search dogs, using the scent they got from a piece of gear left behind by Langley, were among dozens of searchers looking for the veteran actor.

Searchers said they spoke to other hikers who said they saw Langley on the trail, but whether that was Tuesday or Wednesday wasn't clear.

He had told friends where he was going and when he'd return, so it was easy to map a search area, said his sister, Joy Langley.

She was flying from her home in the Washington, D.C., area to Seattle on Saturday.

T.J. Langley, who managed an apartment building on Capitol Hill, was also a veteran actor with a drama degree from the University of Washington.

He was a member of Seattle's Repertory Actors Theatre, a nonprofit group known for staging shows with primarily multiethnic and nontraditional casts.

Eric Pryne: 206-464-2231 or epryne@seattletimes.com

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com