DUCHESNE — The wife of an avid Australian hiker missing in the High Uintas remains cautiously optimistic about her husband's return.
"It's not like him to be so late," Marilyn Koolstra said of her 63-year-old husband, Eric Robinson. "He spoiled his own birthday party by being so late."
Robinson was expected to return Sunday at the latest and was supposed to fly to Vancouver, British Columbia, for another leg of his extended hiking trip from Melbourne, Australia. Koolstra said he is well-prepared and a "very keen tramper."
"He's absolutely passionate about mountains," she said, adding that her husband has thoroughly hiked nearly every trail in his homeland, as well as throughout New Zealand, Scotland and parts of California and Utah.
Robinson set out July 28, intending for his hike of the 60-mile Highline Trail to last 10 days. The last time anyone saw him or had a conversation with him was July 30.
The Duchesne County Sheriff's Office has been searching the area for the past four days, using horses, a helicopter and a volunteer force of hikers, some of whom are friends of Robinson.
"It doesn't seem real," said Koolstra, who arrived in Salt Lake City on Thursday. "He waved goodbye to me three weeks ago at the Melbourne airport and told me to behave whilst he was away. And it just seems like he is out trekking."
Officials believe Robinson is carrying a red backpack that was full of supplies. Koolstra said her husband also was carrying a location beacon and had recently purchased a bear-resistant canister for his food, also adding a sticker of the Australian flag, "so people would know it was his if it were found."
Robinson, she said, is about 5-feet, 7-inches tall and has a slender, fit build. He's bald-headed but has some gray hair around his head. He was fully equipped for any type of weather he would have encountered while hiking and typically wears a fleece shirt and shorts.
Koolstra is asking the public to call the sheriff's office in Duchesne at 435-738-2015 if they remember seeing or speaking with Robinson, saying he's "very social, very friendly, outgoing and has a delightfully Australian-Scottish accent."
Robinson would have been on or near the trail during the past two weeks.
"It is hard to remain positive after four days, knowing the kind of person he is," Koolstra said late Thursday. "It's getting difficult."
Koolstra flew into Utah with her daughter to help with the search and to better communicate with officials searching for her husband.
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