Search continues for missing hiker

Search-and-rescue teams from five counties combed wilderness areas east of Palomar Mountain today for a man who disappeared during a solo hiking trek along the southern end of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Chris Sylvia, 28, was reported missing Tuesday after he failed to arrive as planned at his planned destination of Campo, according to sheriff’s officials. Sylvia, described as an experienced outdoorsman, had started his hike in Anza on Feb. 12.

Four days later, he phoned a friend he lives with and asked him to meet the next day with some provisions at a Buddhist temple on Chihuahua Valley Road in the Warner Springs area. When Sylvia failed to show up there at the agreed-upon time, the roommate assumed he’d decided against stopping and continued on.

Other hikers subsequently found Sylvia’s identification along with some hiking gear believed to belong to him in an open area near the temple.

This morning, San Diego-area authorities resumed looking for Sylvia by ground and air for a third day, aided by search teams from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Sylvia is a 5-foot-8-inch, roughly 155-pound white man with brown hair, hazel eyes, a goatee and a mustache. He left on his trip wearing green camouflage pants, a dark fleece jacket and brown hiking boots.

Anyone who might be able to help find Sylvia was asked to call the SanDiego County Sheriff’s Department at 858-565-5200.