WELCHES, Ore. (KATU) — A family is in mourning after the Clackamas County Sheriff identified the hiker who went missing last week in the Mt. Hood National Forest as James Robert MacDonald, 33, of Ridgefield, Washington. He was found by search and rescue crews near Paradise Park Trail near Welches.

Last Wednesday, MacDonald decided to go hiking on his day off from the hospital.

“James was a radiologist at OHSU. He was in his last year of residency or nearing the end of his residency,” said Benjamin Seely, MacDonald’s brother-in-law. He tells us that MacDonald was supposed to be home for dinner.

“My sister was worried because she had no contact with him. There was no mobile reception. So she, when he was late and didn’t come home after hours had passed, called search and rescue,” Seely said.

For two days the family was on an emotional roller coaster.

“They had found a couple of things that gave us hope that, you know, he had dropped his water bottle, maybe they found some footprints in the snow that they thought were his. We thought, okay, maybe he’s, you know, coming down the mountains, like little updates like that,” Seely said. “When the second night came, you know, we started to get really worried knowing that he wasn’t intending to stop by. the night there. His jacket was in the car.

Two days later, rescuers found what we now know was MacDonald’s body. Seely’s sister was devastated.

“He said it feels like a bad dream. And it’s still very recent and it’s been very, very difficult,” Seely said.

MacDonald leaves four children, two of them 1-year-old twins.

The family’s financial future remains uncertain.

“They had sacrificed a lot during their years in medical school, raising a family. And, you know, they were very close to the end and him being able to take a full-time job,” Seely said.

READ MORE | Hiker missing since Wednesday found dead in Mt. Hood National Forest

The family has created a GoFundMe to help MacDonald’s wife and children.