Police are seeking information about an abandoned campsite found near Burwash and Tatamagouche creeks.

A miner first discovered the gear, including a tent, sleeping bag and jacket, last month, Beaver Creek RCMP Cpl. Kim MacKellar told the Star this morning.

It was located along an old mining road, about 20 kilometres west of the Alaska Highway marker 1728, some 20 minutes north of Burwash Landing.

The tent had been pitched beyond a mining claim in the area.

There were a couple of unopened bottles of wine, canned food and a leatherman multi-tool inside.

“He thought maybe they were coming back,” MacKellar said.

The miner checked back a week later, and found the tent had blown over onto the road. The same items were inside the tent, seemingly untouched.

That’s when he contacted police.

RCMP are now looking for information from anyone who may have spoken to or seen one or more hitchhikers, campers or backpackers in the area between July 7 and 27.

They’re trying to determine whether someone is missing, or if the owner of the equipment is planning to return.

There’s enough gear for just one person at the site, and it appears to have been sitting there for some time, MacKellar said. The inside of the tent was wet from the rain.

There are many possible scenarios, he said.

Perhaps the person was out hiking or gold panning and was injured, or was attacked by a bear, or just decided to ditch the gear.

Maybe the person hiked out to the highway, decided not to return to the site, then hitchhiked from there.

“Who knows?” MacKellar said. “Everything’s just speculation. The only thing we have for sure is a tent and some cheap gear.”

He said police have conducted walking searches of the area, and are considering continuing the search by helicopter.

An RCMP plane was unable to access the area recently because of the low ceiling.

The gear inside the tent included a dark blue sleeping bag and one red and blue jacket with a reflective stripe around the middle. The Tera Gear tent and tent fly are beige in colour with a red half-fly.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Beaver Creek detachment at 862-2677.