LONGMIRE, Wash. -- A missing hiker along the Eagle Peak trail has been found dead this afternoon.

File photo

Mt. Rainier.

Mount Rainier National Park spokesman Kevin Bacher says the body of 47-year-old Jeff Graves of Minneapolis was confirmed about 4:30 p.m. this afternoon. Around 3 p.m. a helicopter saw what appeared to be a body at the base of a steep area about halfway up the Eagle Peak trial.

Graves disappeared Saturday. He was alone on a day hike and did not carry a sleeping bag or tent to stay out overnight when temperatures drop into the 30s.

Graves had been visiting Graves' mother, who volunteers at the park. Graves has a wife and seven-year-old son and his family has been notified of the death.

Along with the helicopter, 54 ground searchers were out today looking for Graves.

The Eagle Peak trail climbs three-thousand feet in three-and-a-half miles out of Longmire and is still covered with snow at the top. The search area includes heavily forested wilderness with cliffs and ravines.