Potomac, MD — National Park Service rangers are looking to the community for information about a hiker on the C&O Canal towpath who was last heard from on July 25.
Chief Law Enforcement Ranger at the C&O Canal National Park Service Ed Wenschhof says Richard Temple is believed to have been returning to Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, from Cumberland, Maryland, when he last had contact with a family member.
Personal items were found near Town Creek, Md. during a search in August that Wenschhof says involved several other law enforcement agencies.
“We did a search of the land, and the river area and an aerial search,” Wenschhof said. “In cooperation with the Maryland State Police, the Washington County Sheriff’s office, and then the natural resources police.”
Wenschhof says it appears Temple, who has no fixed address, has been in the park for some time.
“Our rangers actually had came across him in earlier July.” He said.
Temple is a white man in his early 50’s, about 6 feet tall and 200 pounds, with blue eyes, glasses and graying blonde hair. He walks with a limp and uses a cane or walking stick.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Richard Temple or who may have had any communications with him along the trail are asked to contact the National Park Service’s communication center at 301-714-2235.