07/09/2021
One of the best in the business!
Jeff Wadley is a name synonymous with search and rescue in East Tennessee. As a native of Gatlinburg, he grew up exploring the trails, streams and off-trail features of the Smokies. His earliest mentors were Scout leaders who happened to be park rangers and members of search and rescue teams in the East Tennessee area. Jeff has been involved in search and rescue in various roles since 1978 and has participated in 176 SAR operations searching for lost hikers, missing aircraft, abducted persons, and others.
Credentialed as an instructor of search and rescue planning, Jeff is also a Lost Person Behavior specialist and holds an Operational Tracker certification. His most recent research has been analyzing over 600 search and rescue cases in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The data from his analysis is being used by park management to develop a strategy to reduce the number of search and rescue incidents that occur in the park. The park presented him with its very first Preventative Search and Rescue Award in 2020 for that research.
Jeff served in the Tennessee Civil Air Patrol for 30 years, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He served as a mission coordinator and trainer in the Smokies. Jeff is the co-author of "Mayday! Mayday! Aircraft Incidents in Great Smoky Mountains National Park" which documents 54 known and reported aircraft crashes in the Smokies dating from before 1920 through 1999.
Jeff has completed all 900 miles of trails in the Smokies and is working on summiting all 40 peaks over 6,000 ft in the Eastern United States. His "day job" is that of Executive Director of Camp Bays Mountain in Kingsport, TN.
Photo: Jeff Wadley
