Garrett Beckwith, 44, and his 19-year-old daughter, Della, went on a trip in the summer of 2012 that they felt would be the best father-daughter trip ever. Both of them were skilled hikers and climbers who enjoyed being in nature and facing challenges. Mount Hooker, a lone granite boulder in the Wind River Range in Wyoming, was where they were going.
It was supposed to be another adventure, with long days, thin air, and the tranquility that comes from being alone. But Garrett and Della never came back.
To climb Mount Hooker, you need to be bold. It rises over 12,500 feet, making it one of the tallest peaks in the lower 48 states. The north face is straight up and down, and it boasts 1,800 feet of granite that has humbled even the best climbers. To get to the base, you have to go for days over rough ground, rivers, and high-altitude passes where the weather may turn lethal in minutes.
Garrett, who had been camping for a long time, knew all of that. He taught Della to love the wild and to go through it with discipline and awe. All accounts say they were ready, with the correct gear, supplies, and a plan to check in after they got to the top. But as they started climbing, they stopped talking to each other.
Family and friends immediately raised the alarm when they failed to return as expected. There were search and rescue teams, such as helicopters, K-9 units, skilled climbers, and rangers who knew the terrain better than anybody else. The effort lasted weeks and included looking for ridgelines, crevasses, and hidden valleys. But there was no indication of the Beckwiths. There was no proof, no apparatus, and no rope to prove what happened.
After months, the formal hunt came to an end, but the mystery only intensified. Some of the people who helped suspected that the two might have fallen while climbing, maybe because a rockslide happened or they were buried under a pile of rubble. Many individuals stated they got disoriented in one of the sudden storms that lash the Wind River Range all the time. These storms confused climbers and made them modify their plans.
The distance of Mount Hooker only adds to the mystery. Every year, only a few climbers try it, and massive searches often overlook critical information since the site is so far away. In this kind of wilderness, nature swiftly hides indications of mankind.
Emily, Garrett’s wife, and the rest of their family thought they would never be able to go on from not having closure. In an interview, she said, “Not knowing is its own kind of hell.” “I still hope that every time the phone rings, it’s someone calling to say they found them, even after all this time.”
People who knew Garrett said he was organized, patient, and very protective of his kid. Another climber said, “He wasn’t careless.” “He knew what he could and couldn’t do.” If something went wrong, it wasn’t because someone was careless; it was because the mountain decided to do something else.
Della, who is studying environmental science at Colorado State University, stayed close to her dad on the way. She loved being outside like he did, and she was already a skilled climber on her own. For her, climbing Mount Hooker was both hard and a rite of passage. It was a way to prove that she could stand up to the man who had taught her everything she knew about being tough, surviving, and respecting nature.
Over time, the story of their kidnapping became famous among Wyoming mountaineers. People chatted about their ideas around the campfire and online. Some others thought they had reached the top, but on their way down, they ran into an unexpected snowstorm. Some others feared they might have found a place to hide in one of the area’s many caves or overhangs and never come out. Some people even thought of crazier ideas, including that they had chosen to leave the world behind and disappear.
But the people who knew them best flat out rejected that premise. One of his climbing friends said, “Garrett wouldn’t do that to his family.” He liked adventure, but he loved his wife and daughter more. He would never leave them on purpose.
Mount Hooker kept its secret for eleven long years.
Then, in late 2023, a new group of climbers came across something incredible. They found what seemed like the remains of an old camp deep on the eastern side of the mountain, close to a path that isn’t used very often. Old climbing gear, pieces of rope, and a rusting cooking kettle partially buried under a rock ledge were among the items they discovered. There were weak traces of a nearby bivouac. Climbers use these temporary homes when they need to.
Rangers were told, and an investigation team came to look into it within a few days. Later, forensic investigators found that the equipment was the same as what Garrett and Della Beckwith had. The accident site showed that they had made considerable progress on their way. Experts think that a storm kept them there, which might have killed them by exposing them to the elements or by falling while trying to get away.
They didn’t get the ending they wanted, but it was an ending for their family.
Emily Beckwith said in a short statement after the discovery, “We lived in a state of hope and heartbreak for eleven years.” At last, we have tranquility. Garrett and Della are together now, always in the wilds they loved.
They approached the task of helping with utmost care and respect. At the bottom of Mount Hooker, there is a small inscription that says, “They went to climb and never came down, but they reached the sky all the same.”
The Beckwiths’ story is a subtle reminder of how beautiful and dangerous the world’s high places can be. Every year, people who climb leave flowers, carabiners, or comments at the memorial.
Mount Hooker is still the same: gorgeous, harsh, and quiet. Its granite face stands firm against the Wyoming sky, and the cracks in it hold the memory of two people who loved it enough to risk all.
It indicates something terrible and holy about the environment that they went missing and were found years later. It doesn’t give up effortlessly. It gives and it takes. And those who crave its edge know that sometimes the price of adventure is the peace it leaves behind.
Garrett and Della Beckwith will always remember that calm. It also shows how close a father and daughter are who found freedom not in safety but in the untamed places where only the brave dare to climb.