07:51 AM PDT on Wednesday, July 12, 2006

KING/KING5.com Staff and the Associated Press

VERLOT, Wash. - Two bodies, believed to be women, were found Tuesday afternoon near a trailhead off the Mountain Loop Highway in the Cascade Mountains northeast of Everett.

KING

The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office confirmed that two bodies were discovered by hikers about 3 miles from the Pinnacle Lake trailhead, about 10 miles from Verlot.

The gender of the two bodies was not immediately released. The bodies appear to have been discarded, sheriff's spokesman Rick Niebusch said in the initial report.

A 911 caller reported the bodies about 3 p.m. Tuesday. Sheriff's officers and a sheriff's helicopter were dispatched to the scene.

Authorities are treating this as a crime scene and have closed off access to the trailhead to secure the area until the bodies can be removed.

Investigators are treating the incident as a homicide until proven otherwise, which does not rule out suicide or an attack by wild animals. There was a report of two bears spotted Monday night at a nearby campsite.

"I don't want to put alarm where there isn't any, but we just don't know at this point," said Rich Niebusch, Snohomish Co. Sheriff's Dept. spokesman. "We are treating this as a homicide."

A purple Doge Caravan, believed to belong to the victims, has been impounded.

The trailhead is 6 miles off the Mountain Loop Highway near Verlot in the shadow of Mount Pilchuck.

The area is within the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, and is near the popular Mount Pilchuck hiking area.

No additional information was immediately available.