Searchers looking for a snowmachiner missing since the weekend near Lake Louise, northwest of Glennallen, found the man dead Thursday. He had apparently run into trees days earlier, Alaska State Troopers said.

Tazlina resident Ronald Burr, 52, had last been seen in the Lake Louise area on Sunday, and witnesses said he had plans to ride his blue Polaris RMK snowmachine to Glennallen, troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said. But Burr did not show up for work Monday and was reported missing, Peters said in an email.

"We were contacted by his place of employment after he failed to show up for his shift. They were concerned because he was known to be a reliable employee," Peters said.

Volunteers and troopers on snowmachines looked for Burr on the ground, and troopers in a plane searched from above, Peters said. The troopers' Helo 1 helicopter also joined the search for a day. It was not until Thursday that a volunteer discovered Burr's wrecked snowmachine near Larson Bay, the troopers spokeswoman said.

"It appears that he died on impact following a high speed crash into some trees," Peter said.

Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.