Noah Pippin is missing.

The 31-year-old son of Rosalie and Mike Pippin of Lake Ann, Noah Pippin has been missing since August 2010, shortly after he left a visit with his parents in northern Michigan.

Pippin, a former marine who had served three tours in Iraq and two as police officer in Los Angeles, was headed back to California for a deployment to Afghanistan with the National Guard on September 11.

But on September 1, after returning his rental car and checking out of his hotel, he disappeared into Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness. An entry found in a notebook he left behind in Michigan reveals his planned route. Several campers in the wilderness area reported seeing him farther along – and then off – the route’s trail in mid-September.

“This is not out of the normal for him … to give himself a major challenge and to give himself a chance to think through life,” says Rosalie Pippin.

What the Pippins aren’t ready to concede, however, is that their son is no longer alive. With the support of family, friends and a recent flurry of media attention, the Pippins are hopeful the heartrending story of their lost son might just have a happy ending.

“We are not necessarily convinced he is dead,” Rosalie says. “Maybe he’s chosen to get his head straight by going off the grid for a while.”

Mike and Rosalie, who have two other grown sons, are encouraged by recent media attention to the case. Most recently, a film crew from the Investigation Discovery television network traveled to their Lake Ann home to interview them for its new season of the show Disappeared.

“It's very unusual for an accomplished 31-year-old man with a military career and a loving family to disappear,” Jeanie Vink, executive producer at Investigation Discovery tells The Ticker. “Given his knowledge and survival skills as a former policeman and soldier, he's one of the last people you'd think would get in trouble hiking in the mountains. Coupled with the fact that he was seen by others on the trail, who later communicated with the family, offers hope that he may be found. It would be great to get closure for this grieving family.”

The segment about Noah, expected to air early 2012, comes on the heels of calls from writers seeking to tell the story in national publications, including GQ magazine.

A television reporter from Montana, where updates to Noah’s story have been ongoing, is pushing for the story to appear on a widely-viewed TV show such as 48 Hours. The Pippins also continue to be in contact with a Missoula News reporter who wrote an in-depth piece about Noah’s disappearance.

Following a lead earlier this fall – a scout troop found clothing thought possibly to belong to Noah – searchers combed an area of the expansive wilderness. The search was unsuccessful, but there is talk of another effort later this month. Mike and Rosalie also are planning to travel west in November to talk with detectives, walk some of the area, and hang posters.

More than a year later, they still have hope they’ll find an answer. Says Mike: “If Noah went off trail, and we’re assuming he did, there’s still 12 miles yet they haven’t been able to search."

Updates to Noah’s disappearance are posted at the Pippin family's Facebook page: Have you seen Noah Pippin?