Hunt Intensifies for Two Young Women Who Vanished During National Park Hike in Alaska

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — "Two young women hiking in Alaska's Denali National Park remained missing Tuesday, as searchers stepped up their efforts to find them.

Abby Flantz, 25, of Gaylord, Minn., and 23-year-old Erica Nelson of Las Vegas were supposed to be on a short backpacking trip through the preserve, but haven't been seen since last week.

Nelson was due to be on a plane Sunday night to fly to Houston and be the maid of honor in her sister's wedding, said park spokeswoman Kris Fister.

"It’s a hard thing for the families to have to deal with at this time," Flantz family friend Rod Tollefson told FOX News on Tuesday.

The women may have had trouble crossing a raging river in the park.

Tollefson said foul play wasn't suspected.

"That was brought up, but really they don’t consider that to be an issue at this point," he told FOX. "There’s no evidence of anything like that."

Uh huh. When women go missing there's always the chance some river swept them away, right? I mean, the chances of missing women having met with foul play is so very minuscule as to warrant little if any attention whatsoever.

Whether they were unprepared to cross a raging river or to deal with human predators, its safe to say they should have stayed home. Both dangers are highly documented to be hazardous to ones health and they weren't kids. It is my fondest wish to see them returned unharmed, but if this is just another case of two attractive young women done in by some lunatic, then when, if at all, are "they" going to wise up.