Will Standish, 28, from Melbourne, was found dead in a remote part of Wyoming on July 29, days after he stopped responding to his family. The avid hiker was on his second attempt at the Continental Divide Trail, a 3,100-mile route stretching from Mexico to Canada.
Final contact with family
Standish kept his family updated through a Garmin satellite device. On July 19, he relayed his next planned movements. Four days later, on July 23, he sent a check-in without co-ordinates or a message, followed by a video showing he was in the Tetons, a mountain range just south of Yellowstone National Park. It was the last his family heard from him.
His family contacted search and rescue teams on July 27. A helicopter crew spotted his bright orange backpack, and his body was found two days later.
Search and rescue statement
Teton County Search and Rescue Service (TCSAR) said in a statement: “TCSAR is saddened to report that the hiker, a 28-year-old male from Australia, was found deceased near an area known as the Wigwams on the west slope of the Tetons in Teton County, Wyoming. Evidence suggests that he may have fallen from a steep, high-altitude ridgeline that separates Grand Teton National Park and the Jedediah Smith Wilderness.”
Tributes from family and friends
His family paid tribute to him, telling Melbourne newspaper The Age: “Our beautiful Will was a treasure. He was funny, cheeky, adorable, smart and kind. Unapologetically himself.”
After thanking search and rescue teams, they added: “Finally, a note from us to our Will. We love you. We will carry you with us forever. Thank you for filling our lives with a love so deep, so full of colour and warmth. Rest in eternal sunshine. Dance with the stars.”
Friend Katie Jackson described him as “a funny, adventurous spirit that brought laughter to every situation,” adding: “To be around him was to be infused with his unbridled joy for every aspect of life. His sudden passing has left his family to navigate a painful loss that no family is ever truly prepared for.”
Jackson launched a fundraiser to help repatriate Standish’s body to give him “the loving farewell he deserves.”
Second attempt at the trail
This was Standish’s second attempt at the Continental Divide Trail. In 2024, a foot injury ended his first attempt to hike the route northwards. He began his new attempt in June, walking southwards from Canada, and had said he wanted to live and work in South America once he completed the challenge.
