Search continues for missing hiker, 71, at Hood Mountain park

Searchers returned Wednesday to Hood Mountain to continue looking for a 71-year-old hiker missing since Saturday, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.

About 10 members of the sheriff’s search-and-rescue team Tuesday combed the park until about 11 p.m. Tuesday, using motorcycles and hiking, said sheriff’s Lt. Mike Raasch. Wednesday two tracking dogs also were added to the effort.

If he’s not found Wednesday, officials were set to ask for aid from neighboring counties to bolster the effort, Raasch said.

Jon Clifford was last seen at Hood Mountain Regional Park. Deputies found his vehicle Tuesday, parked at the Los Alamos Road entrance to the popular Mayacamas Mountains park. Hood Mountain Regional Park is east of Santa Rosa on the edge of the Sonoma Valley.

Concerned friends contacted deputies Tuesday to report he hadn’t been seen for three days. They said they’d gone to the park but hadn’t found him, leading to their call for help and launching the sheriff’s search and rescue team, Raasch said.

Clifford is known as an avid hiker and has been to the park several times, friends told deputies. The Sheriff’s Office Tuesday released Clifford’s name and a photo. He is 6 feet tall, weighs about 170 pounds, and has brown hair and blue eyes. The sheriff’s alert also said he likes to hike McCormick Trail to Grandmother Tree in the popular park, as well as Wildcat Trail in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, and property in between those trails.

Officials asked anyone who sees Clifford to call sheriff’s dispatchers at 707-565-2121.