Body of long-distance hiker, formerly of Traverse City, found after Pacific Crest Trail search

Sep. 29—TRAVERSE CITY — Spend all day hiking and mountain biking on Mt. Rainier, then dig clams at the ocean for dinner.

"Those were the kind of days he liked to have," said Brian McFarland of his uncle Robert Budinski. "He'd pinch every penny he could — then spend $100,000 to climb a mountain."

Budinski's remains and backpack were found by hikers in a San Jacinto mountain ravine along the Pacific Crest Trail on Sept. 11.

The discovery came after a months-long search for Budinski, who set out to thru-hike the 2,650-mile trail this spring for his third or fourth time. He was 69 and a 1973 Traverse City Central High School graduate.

Growing up on Eighth Street and attending Trinity Lutheran, it was clear that Robert, one of four Budinski kids, was going places, said sister Debbie Hall.

"He went to Brazil as soon as he could," Hall recalled of her teenage brother. She called Budinski a friendly and humorous "do-er" who designed his life for adventure, eventually relocating to Olympia, Washington.

As a surgical nurse who could work on contract, Budinski would rack up hours to support climbs to the world's tallest peaks, including summiting Mt. Everest.

McFarland remembers, as a kid, when his uncle sent him a VHS of him summiting Denali.

"I thought it was wild," McFarland said. "He wanted to put me through mountaineering school, and I was like, 'Don't, I'm a summer guy.'"

Budinski had many close calls, including three avalanche experiences, a broken back mountain biking (in Traverse), and a severe head injury after his cab was struck by a bus in Nepal. After the Nepal crash, he switched from mountaineering to long-distance hiking, and racked up more than 10,000 miles in the last decade on the Te Araroa trail in New Zealand, the Appalachian Trail, the Colorado Trail, Arizona Trail and others.

So when friends and family hadn't heard from Budinski this spring, they figured he "was doing stuff his own way" as he usually did.

"From the time he started to climb, he told us that he had people who knew what he was doing, and he didn't want his family involved in the minutia — where he was and how he was getting from Point A to Point B," Hall said. "He'd been in all kinds of tight spots, why should now be any different?"

Search and recovery

Budinski was last seen April 15. He was officially reported missing June 30, according to SFGate.

While accustomed to long stretches without hearing from him, concern grew when Budinski failed to pick up resupply packages mailed along his planned route.

Circumstances of Budinski's death are still being pieced together, but according to a statement from Fowler-O'Sullivan Foundation, which continued the search after law enforcement efforts ceased, Budinski may have followed a dangerous false trail along a treacherous stretch of the PCT that has claimed several other hikers' lives in recent years.

While the trail soars to above 9,000 feet in the San Jacinto mountains, Budinski, traveling in the cold and icy spring, had already decided to follow a road around several dangerous areas to reconnect with the trail.

The mishap occurred in the subsequent 16-mile stretch of difficult, hard-to-search terrain.

After months of searches with helicopters, drones and volunteer teams, two hikers happened upon Budinski's skeletal remains when they were low on water and went off trail, according to the Fowler-O'Sullivan Foundation.

A Sept. 17 Riverside Sheriff Department statement lists Budinski's cause of death as "pending investigation."

But more than trying to parse details of Budinski's last moments, much of the discussion on social media is full of remembrances for the gregarious, well-known trail personality.

The 'Ambassador'

"When he wasn't hiking, he was planning the next hike," said Budinski's friend and former Traverse City neighbor Ned Bromley, who knew Budinski since they were teens here. Budinski may have needed to be "on the move," on his backpacking trips but he also "carried the weight" of his friendships and his personal connections, Bromley said.

The people Budinski met while backpacking were the reason why he loved the pursuit, and he'd do anything to help out a fellow hiker.

In other circles, he'd be called a "fixer," Bromley said. But, in the hiking world, Budinski's trail name was "Ambassador."

"He would talk to everyone on the trail, and invariably have some experience to share or know someone that would overlap. ... He was so willing to talk to everybody, to help find opportunities for other people," Bromley said.

Budinski was in Traverse City last year for his 50th high school reunion, and also would remember birthdays, said McFarland, as his last conversation with his uncle was when Budinski called March 31 to wish he and his wife a happy birthday, before he set out on the PCT.

"He was getting ready to have some fun," McFarland said. "... He was free-spirited, adventurous, very generous — he helped me out multiple times, and there are other people he's done things for," McFarland said. "He enjoys helping people on a daily basis, as a nurse, that was one of his things."

In memory

Bromley and McFarland said they are glad the search for Budinski is over.

"It's mostly just relief," McFarland said. "At that point, we already knew he was deceased — after that long with no one seeing him."

McFarland added that his adventuring uncle died on the move and "doing what he loved."

Budinski specifically didn't want a memorial service, so his cremains will be planted outside in a biodegradable container.

"He would have been miserable and unhappy in a nursing home — even home in bed," McFarland said. "He just wanted to be tossed in the woods somewhere."

But Budinski always did like McFarland's barbecue, he added. "We'll throw a half dozen pork butts on the smoker, some ribs, get together and think about him."