From the Telegraph (UK). Well, I never saw him.
If you hit the link, pictures before and after he went hiding.
To hikers on America's Appalachian Trail the gregarious character with a wild, grey-streaked beard was known simply as "Bismarck".
He posed for photographs with fellow travelers, sent detailed updates to the publishers of guide books, and held court at campgrounds telling tales of the six years he had spent wandering the 2,189 miles of forested paths between Georgia and Maine.
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He disappeared in 2009 leaving behind a wife and daughter.
Hammes, who worked at a Pepsi bottling plant, left behind a complicated personal life.
At the time of his disappearance he was married to his second wife Deanna Hammes.
His first wife was Joy Hammes with whom he had a daughter Amanda, now 28.
Joy Hammes died in a fire at their home in 2003 while Hammes was out for a walk.
It also emerged that he had a secret daughter born in 1989 who none of his family knew about.
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Despite the unkempt appearance he cultivated Hammes was eventually recognised by a fellow hiker who had seen the embezzlement case featured on the television crime programme American Greed.
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