N.W.T. RCMP ask on-the-land travellers to watch for evidence of man missing more than 1 year
Glenn Harold Field spent the winter of 2019 in a tent near Rolfe Lake and has not been heard from since
An experienced outdoorsman who spent a winter living in the rugged bush 150 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife in a wall tent remains missing more than a year after he was last seen.
Glenn Harold Field, 63, was dropped off by chartered plane at Rolfe Lake, N.W.T., in the fall of 2018 with three German Shepherd dogs. According to RCMP, he intended to spend the winter on the land and come out in the spring or summer of 2019.
Field is believed to have made it through the winter. He was reportedly last seen by a pilot around April, 2019, in the remote and roadless area where he was set down before winter.
In October of 2019, after canvassing the public for help to locate Field, police and other officials flew to Rolfe Lake and found an orderly decampment.
"The [wooden] poles from his canvas tent were still laid out on the ground," RCMP Const. Heather Cosenzo said.
"Everything had been packed up. There was no garbage — just a few trees had been cut in the area. [Police] members … were left with the interpretation that Mr. Field had packed up his campsite and left at some time."
Cosenzo says nothing at the campsite indicated when Field might have left, or where he went.
"He'd packed up his campsite and [we're] just not sure if he had intended to come back to Yellowknife or move his site, none of that is known at the time."
Besides his two dogs, Field had with him his McPherson wall tent, grey canoe, an axe, an Iridium satellite phone, and a .308 rifle.
Yellowknife RCMP hope anyone travelling in the area this summer will watch out for and report any items that may have belonged to him, or even evidence that he was setting up a camp somewhere else.
"If anyone is traveling through or around that area, and they notice anything, we would love to hear about that," Cosenzo said. "We hope that somebody will see, or that there'll be some indication perhaps, of a direction of where Mr. Field has gone to."
Police have no theory of what might have happened to Field, nor do they believe any foul play was involved.
"There's nothing to indicate anything of that nature," Cosenzo said. "He'd simply gone out on the land to spend some time … he was expected, [by] some contacts to return in the spring and they just haven't heard from him."
Field has grey hair and blue eyes, stands five feet eight inches tall, and weighs 169 pounds.
The RCMP detachment in Yellowknife has a pamphlet with more information, including GPS (Global Positioning System) co-ordinates for the area where Field was last seen.
RCMP are asking anyone with information on Field's whereabouts to contact Yellowknife RCMP at 867-669-1111, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, online at nwtnutips.com, or by texting "nwtnutips" plus your message to 274637.
Corrections
- A previous version of this story incorrectly said Field had three dogs. In fact, RCMP later clarified that he had two dogs.Sep 11, 2020 11:02 AM EDT
written by Walter Strong, based on an interview by Peter Sheldon.