Search for hiker spreads east of Palomar Mountain

Authorities today searched wilderness areas east of Palomar Mountain for a fourth day in hopes of finding a 28-year-old hiker who disappeared during a solo trek on the southern end of the Mexico-to-Canada Pacific Crest Trail.

San Diego-area authorities, aided by search teams from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, resumed the search for Chris Slyvia about 8 a.m., according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

The personnel planned to continue looking until nightfall.

Sylvia was reported missing Tuesday after he failed to arrive as planned at his intended destination of Campo, officials said. 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 simply decided against stopping and continued on.

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

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 San Diego County Sheriff’s Department at 858-565-5200.