Endurance athlete found dead near summit of mountain at Yosemite National Park

• An endurance athlete from Nevada was discovered dead in Yosemite National Park this week.
• The body of 61-year-old Fred Zalokar was found and recovered on Tuesday near the summit of Mount Clark, officials said.
• He was reported missing after he went on a solo hike Saturday.

A skilled endurance athlete from Nevada was discovered dead in Yosemite National Park this week after he went missing while on a hike, officials said.

The body of 61-year-old Fred Zalokar was found and recovered on Tuesday near the summit of Mount Clark in the sprawling California wilderness, the National Park Service said in a statement.

Officials say the 6-foot-tall Reno man went hiking by himself on Saturday from Happy Isles to the summit of the 11,527-foot Mount Clark using an off-trail route from Bunnell Point.

Zalokar was reported missing after he never returned to Yosemite Valley, according to officials.

His cause of death was not immediately clear. The incident remains under investigation.

Zalokar was an accomplished endurance athlete who was well-known in the sports world, the Reno Gazette Journal reported.

In 1996, he achieved his goal of running four original 100-mile races in America in under 24 hours each, according to Zalokar's website.

He has traveled to 137 countries and has climbed 185 mountains.

"I want to inspire people to dream big, and then go out there and make it happen!" reads a message on Zalokar's website.