Man missing at sea after setting up treasure hunt
A Humboldt County man has been missing for five days after apparently paddling out to sea to set up a treasure hunt.
Hunter Nathaniel Lewis, a 21-year-old resident of Blue Lake, outside of Arcata, was last seen paddling his 15-foot green fiberglass canoe in Trinidad Harbor, headed south.
He was reported missing on the afternoon of Dec. 30, and a search party was organized to include Humboldt County Sheriff ’s Special Services deputies on land and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and boat.
Lewis is believed to have paddled out to “hide unknown objects as part of a treasure hunt that he was creating for friends,” according to Samantha Karges, public information specialist with the Humboldt County Sheriff ’s Office. After searching into the night on Dec. 30 and resuming the search all day New Year’s Eve, the intensive search was suspended, Karges said.
On Tuesday, the missing man’s father, Corey Lewis of Blue Lake, told The Chronicle he believes his son’s canoe hit a reef while paddling out to bury pieces of treasure or clues on Flatiron Rock, far out in the ocean.
As evidence, a piece of a wooden bucket used in the treasure hunt had washed up on Trinidad State Beach Tuesday morning. Lewis said his son is an experienced canoeist and kayaker. He did not know if his son was wearing a life jacket, though he was reportedly seen wearing a wet suit.
Lewis said a helicopter search did not find any evidence on Flatiron Rock and that fire department rescue divers will continue the search as soon as the ocean clears.
“He could not have survived in the cold water for this long,” he said.
Lewis said his son had spent a year planning an elaborate treasure hunt for a dozen family and friends who have a treasure hunting tradition. The hunt was launched when Lewis came home from Christmas break at CSU Long Beach, where he was studying to be an engineer. The hunt had been ongoing for three days and was to have concluded on New Year’s Eve, Lewis said.
On New Year’s Day, family and friends continuing their search found a piece of Lewis’s canoe washed up on the beach north of Elk Head. The search was resumed with a foot patrol and Coast Guard flight but nothing was found. Corey Lewis, later posted to Facebook a photo of a wooden box that had also washed ashore. He’d given it to his son during a childhood treasure hunt.
After the official search was suspended, the volunteer search continued. A Facebook page called “Trinity, CA.
Search for Hunter Lewis” has 2,000 members, with people reporting their areas of coverage.
On Monday, Corey Lewis, founder and lead master at Mindbody Mastery, a holistic health service in Arcata, posted a thank you to volunteers “out there searching for signs of my lost son. Your dedication and help means the world to me and we have found many answers already. I will post more later but thanks to your work we are isolating exactly where he went down and getting much closer to locating him.”
Hunter Lewis was described as a white male, approximately 5 feet, 10 inches tall, 135 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. He is a graduate of Arcata High School and had received his pilot’s license and flew a Cessna in a flying club at CSU Long Beach, where he is in his junior year.
Corey Lewis said he was able to access his son’s computer and crack the code on the treasure hunt, which pointed to Flatiron Rock as a destination.
Anyone who saw Lewis in the Trinidad area or has any information regarding his current whereabouts is urged to contact the Humboldt County Sheriff ’s Office at 707-4457251.