Search Continues For 20-Year-Old Hiker Who Went Missing In New Hampshire

A search is underway for a hiker who went missing on a popular New Hampshire trail amid freezing weather conditions, authorities said.

Emily Sotelo was dropped off Sunday at the Lafayette Place Campground at the Franconia Notch State Park, located in the northern part of the state, and didn't return when she was expected, NBC News reported Monday.

Sotelo, whose trip to the hiking trail was supposed to involve traversing Mount Lafayette, Mount Haystack, and Mount Flume wasn't wearing enough warm clothes to beat the bone-chilling cold weather that the state plunged into Sunday.

There was no trace of Sotelo as of 5 p.m. Monday despite as many as 15 search crews making their best efforts to locate her. The state police are now seeking information from anyone who encountered Sotelo to find out more about her disappearance.

"She is now overdue and any hikers who may have encountered Sotelo along the intended route should notify NH State Police Dispatch at (603)271-1170," New Hampshire Fish and Game Enforcement Division said in a Facebook post Monday.

In the post, deputies said that Sotelo, who is from Westford, Massachusetts, stands 5 feet 3 inches tall and 115 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a brown jacket and exercise pants.

A National Guard Blackhawk helicopter was expected to join the search operation Monday, according to WMUR-TV.

"It certainly can be done in a day," Fish and Game Capt. Michael Eastman told WMUR. "A hiker in good shape can probably do it in no time in summer conditions, but the conditions we had yesterday -- high winds, temperatures, varied conditions -- you have, in the higher elevations, snow up to your chest."

The temperature in the ridge reached nearly zero Monday, with gusts of 30 to 40 mph winds making the weather all the more frigid. The daytime temperatures in Franconia that day had been in the mid-20s with 9 mph winds.

Pemigewasset Valley Search and Rescue Team said on its Facebook page that at least 60 ground searchers, as well as helicopters, were involved in the operation.

It said the choppers were being used whenever the weather conditions were favorable, adding that they will resume their search for the hiker Tuesday. "We will all be out again tomorrow," it said.