The terrain and woods around Sharp Mountain in Pickens County are challenging for anyone. Especially so for someone like retired surgeon Ben Thebaut, 79, who has been missing since going out for a hike Sunday.
Concern is escalating.
“You can get lost if you don’t know what you’re doing, very easily,” resident Fred Walsh, a neighbor of Thebaut, told Channel 2 Action News.
Thebaut, a resident of The Preserve at Sharp Mountain, is an avid hiker, according to people who know him. He usually took his dog and his pistol with him on excursions into the woods. However, this time he went without his dog.
“Kind of a strange thing,” Walsh said of Thebaut leaving the dog behind.
Adding to the concern is that there are signs of bears — and upcoming cold weather.
“We have very thick, dense forest,” Pickens sheriff spokesman Kris Stancil said, “so once you step off the trails, you’re into some very thick wooded areas.”
Even a heavy-terrain vehicle had trouble traversing the area, Channel 2 reported.
A search party will head out again Saturday to look for Thebaut in Pickens County, which is about 60 miles north of downtown Atlanta.
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