Hiker found hanging from cliff is now missing again

Investigators ask for help after second consecutive disappearance

Gayle Stewart (National Park Service)

A woman has disappeared from the Lake Mead National Recreation Area a month after she was found hanging from a cliff edge, the National Park Service (NPS) has said.

Gayle Stewart, aged 64, was hiking in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on 14 March when she failed to return to her vehicle, the National Park Service (NPS) said on Thursday.

“Stewart had traveled to the area to take photographs and did not return to her vehicle”, said the NPS in statement. Her vehicle was parked in the Bridge area near the Hoover Dam.

Ms Stewart “was last seen wearing a black long sleeve shirt, black leggings, and black shoes” and did not have her phone or any ID on her, according to NPS investigators.

It remains unclear why she traveled almost 400 miles from her home in Reno, northwest Nevada, to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in the state’s southeast.

Ms Stewart was widely recognised by news reports as the same woman who was found clinging to a tree above a 400 foot drop in northwestern Nevada last month.

She was rescued from an area of the Caughlin Ranch hiking trail after a search party of friends and family sought to rescue the woman from a hiking area.

She had apparently fallen from a part of the trail not usually walked on.

As ABC News reported at the time, Ms Stewart had injured herself and was hypothermic when she was found.

She was also missing one shoe and was rushed to hospital for treatment.

Both the Reno Police Department and Reno Fire Department, who took part in her rescue, were thanked by Nevada governor Governor Steve Sisolak following the search for the Reno resident.

The Independent has approached the Lake Mead National Recreation Area for comment.