{"id":31772,"date":"2023-09-14T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/family-of-missing-durango-hiker-jim-shadid-share-thoughts-about-the-search\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:45:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:45:30","slug":"family-of-missing-durango-hiker-jim-shadid-share-thoughts-about-the-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/family-of-missing-durango-hiker-jim-shadid-share-thoughts-about-the-search\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of missing Durango hiker Jim Shadid share thoughts about the search"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Jim
Jim Shadid\u2019s family describes him as man who loves the outdoors and the mountains. (Courtesy of Jamie Shadid)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Missing Durango hiker Jim Shadid\u2019s family members say they are coming to peace with whatever the outcome is during this upcoming weekend\u2019s search.<\/p>\n

Countless efforts from multiple search and rescue agencies have been taken since Shadid, 79, went missing on Sept. 3. The family is grateful for the efforts made by search-and-rescue teams and the community.<\/p>\n

About 100 volunteers participated in the search last week, in addition to rescue teams. Now, a team of 25 search-and-rescue team members this weekend will hike into territory that hasn\u2019t been searched previously to look for the missing Durangoan. Shadid was last seen hiking between Little Elk Creek Trail and Elbert Creek Road.<\/p>\n

Multiple helicopters, bloodhounds and drones were used in the search efforts by both volunteers and search-and-rescue officials.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the search status for Shadid had changed to a search-and-recovery mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that La Plata County Search and Rescue has done an absolutely incredible job,\u201d said Jamie Shadid, Jim\u2019s daughter. \u201cIt\u2019s really mind blowing all of the resources that they pulled and their expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shadid went hiking around 11 a.m. Sept. 3 to scout Elk in the Elbert Creek area, near Line Canyon. His wife, Marilyn, said that it wasn\u2019t an area that he hiked around often. Shadid has been hunting since he was 12 years old, and he\u2019s been living in Durango for over 20 years.<\/p>\n

Marilyn Shadid said her husband studied trail maps religiously before heading out on the trails, adding that his intention was to check out the trail, quickly come back to grab lunch and take his pack, which had all of his gear. But with about 20 minutes left in the hike, he never returned.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything was in a pack that he was going to take with him after lunch,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The two have been married for 56 years, and Marilyn said Jim always loved the mountains.<\/p>\n

JIm retired from being a dentist in Wichita, Kansas, 20 years ago with the desire to move to Durango because of its access to outdoor recreation, Jamie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was very familiar with hiking, backpacking, hunting and very experienced in the wilderness,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Skiing at Purgatory Resort is among one of his favorite activities, and he became passionate about pickleball in recent years. The Shadids are still hopeful about finding Jim, but understand the reality of the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we would like to find our father, but the reality is that it\u2019s been 10 days, and he didn\u2019t have anything with him,\u201d Jamie said. \u201cWe know that he\u2019s in his happy place in the mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n

As hunting season approaches, however, the Shadids also want people to be on the lookout for anyone in the Elbert Creek area who may appear lost or missing.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the family told The Durango Herald<\/em> that La Plata County Search and Rescue will be offering a digital map volunteers can use to look for Jim. The map allows for people to check off surrounding areas where they have looked for him.<\/p>\n

A map will be available online at findjimnow.com<\/a> website once it\u2019s developed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are eternally grateful for how the Durango community rallied to look for our dad,\u201d Jaime said.<\/p>\n

Jim was last seen wearing a tan \u201csafari\u201d hat and likely wearing long khaki pants. He is 5-foot-6 and weighs about 140 pounds.<\/p>\n

La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s Office spokesman Chris Burke told the Herald<\/em> on Tuesday that search team members are still treating the search as if Jim is alive, despite the change in mission status.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information about Jim\u2019s whereabouts is asked to call La Plata County Search and Rescue at 385-2900.<\/p>\n

tbrown@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daughter says La Plata County Search and Rescue will have a map for volunteer search teams to follow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,475,1807,1130],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-31772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-la-plata-county-colorado","tag-la-plata-county-search-and-rescue","tag-missing-person"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81556,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31772\/revisions\/81556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31772"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=31772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}