Hunter’s body recovered 1 year after drowning

SUSITNA RIVER — A body found during a hunting trip last week has been identified as a Valley man who drowned during a 2012 hunting trip.

Alaska State Troopers reported a moose hunter on a fly-in hunting trip found a “badly decomposed” body Sept. 11 near the Susitna River upstream of its confluence with Tyone Creek.

The next day troopers flew the body out and brought it to the State Medical Examiner’s office for a positive identification. On Tuesday, officials announced the body has been identified as that of Bartlett Barnes, 51, of Wasilla, who went missing Sept. 24, 2012.

Barnes was part of a hunting party that was stranded by high water on Butte Creek near Mile 80, Denali Highway during a period of high water across the state. Troopers said at the time that they had encouraged the group to stay put and wait for the water to subside.

Barnes and two others tried to cross the creek on ATVs. One person made it across. A second lost his ATV, but managed to get back to the bank he started from. Barnes was swept away. Troopers searched by air with a helicopter, but didn’t find Barnes until the moose hunter discovered his body last week.