Crews battle fog to search for missing Seattle hiker and her dogs

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Rescue workers battling fog were searching on Thursday for a 21-year-old hiker reported missing earlier this week in the Cascade Range near Seattle, the King County sheriff's office said. Paula Reuter was reported missing on Tuesday after the Seattle restaurant manager failed to show up for work, sheriff's Detective Jason Stanley said. Reuter was believed to have taken her two dogs on a day-hike on or near one of two well-charted trails near Snoqualmie Pass, about 50 miles east of Seattle, the sheriff's office said. "She is not a hard-core hiker but casually hikes," Stanley said. He added that she posted a landscape photo of the area on a social media account, and deputies found her car parked near a trailhead that serves two trails. Deputies backed by search-and-rescue volunteers searching on Wednesday were later aided by an agency helicopter after dense fog cleared in an area prized for its mountain activities and skiing, the statement said. Fog on Thursday was starting to lift and the helicopter would return to the search, Stanley said. (Reporting by Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Sandra Maler)