Searches were initially made of places he was known to visit and when that was unsuccessful, search and rescue teams were deployed just after 5pm on Saturday.
Four teams from Taupō and Tūrangi searched 2 kilometres south of Mangakino on the Waikato River Trail, police search and rescue co-ordinator Senior Constable Barry Shepherd said.
“It was getting dark, and he’d been gone a day, so we were pretty keen to find him as soon as possible,” he said.
“He was last seen on that river trail, so we combed that area hoping for the best.”
At roughly 10pm, the Eagle helicopter joined the search hoping to find the man byusing its infrared camera.