A growing team of park rangers, volunteers, and local agencies is searching Great Smoky Mountains National Park for an Illinois man who has been missing for more than a week after his vehicle was found at the Sugarlands Visitor Center, as reported by Fox News.
Marcin Bachleda-Blaszczak was last known to be at the Sugarlands Visitor Center parking lot on Aug. 22, 2025, according to the National Park Service.
He was reported missing two days later, and officials subsequently located his vehicle in the visitor center’s parking lot.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park continues to search for Marcin Bachleda-Blaszczak.
Marcin is 5 feet, 6 inches tall and approximately 170 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. He is from Illinois. His last known location was the Sugarlands Visitor Center parking area on… pic.twitter.com/FkunbgjJzc— GreatSmokyNPS (@GreatSmokyNPS) August 31, 2026
The search initially focused on the area surrounding Sugarlands before expanding farther into and around the national park. By Saturday, the search team had grown to 47 park rangers and volunteers.
The National Park Service said the effort increased to 57 people by Sunday.
Search crews are looking both on and off established trails and are using drones to help cover additional areas of the park.
Drones are generally prohibited within Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which stretches across the border between Tennessee and North Carolina.
Officials are temporarily allowing their use as part of the search effort for Bachleda-Blaszczak.
Family members said there was nothing unusual about Bachleda-Blaszczak’s behavior shortly before he disappeared.
“The day before, I believe, was when he had pizza with his dad, you know, chatted with him, said he might pick up a shift the next day at work,” his cousin, Corrina Auten, told CBS Chicago.
“It was very, you know, like a normal, normal conversation. There wasn’t anything strange or amiss,” she said.
“The next thing we knew, he didn’t show up for work, and he was missing.”
The circumstances surrounding Bachleda-Blaszczak’s disappearance remain unclear as the search continues.
The National Park Service described him as 5 feet, 6 inches tall and approximately 170 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the country’s most visited national parks and includes extensive backcountry, hiking trails, and heavily wooded areas across Tennessee and North Carolina.
The size and terrain of the park have added to the challenge facing search crews as they continue working to locate the missing man.
Rangers and volunteers have continued to widen the search beyond the immediate vicinity of Sugarlands Visitor Center while checking areas both accessible by trails and locations away from established paths.
Officials have asked anyone with information about Bachleda-Blaszczak or anyone who believes they may have seen him to contact Great Smoky Mountains National Park dispatch at GR***********@*ps.gov.
The search remained ongoing as of Sunday, with dozens of personnel involved and aerial support being used to assist crews on the ground.
Authorities have not announced any indication of where Bachleda-Blaszczak may have gone after he was last known to be at the Sugarlands Visitor Center parking lot.
