After spending five days wandering in the wilderness — his whereabouts unknown even to his family and closest aides — South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is expected to be back at his desk today.

His bizarre disappearance on Thursday, when he slipped out of the governor’s mansion in a black SUV and ditched his security detail, has been the subject of intense speculation. Mr Sanford, a maverick rightwinger and chairman of the Republican Governors’ Association, is regarded as a good outside bet for his party’s 2012 presidential nomination.

The last known location of Mr Sanford was near Atlanta, where a signal from his mobile telephone was picked up, but for four days the governor’s office, the State Law Enforcement Division and even his wife, Jenny, had been unable to reach him.

Yesterday, however, his spokesman Joel Sawyer issued an e-mailed statement that Mr Sanford “called to check in with his chief of staff”. He added: “It would be fair to say the Governor was somewhat taken aback by all of the interest this trip has gotten. Given the circumstances and the attention this has garnered, the Governor communicated to us that he plans on returning to the office tomorrow.”

Mr Sawyer explained that the Governor had spent the past few days hiking on the 2,175-mile (3,500km) Appalachian Trail which runs from Maine to Georgia. He did not say — or did not know — exactly where. Mrs Sanford was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that her husband “was writing something and wanted some space to get away from the kids”.

Before his disappearance Mr Sanford had been prominent on television screens loudly denouncing President Obama’s spending policies and being particularly vocal in opposing $700 million (£430 million) of federal stimulus money for his state. Ironically, the Appalachian Trail is scheduled to be improved with funds from the same programme.

Although he has previously raised eyebrows for bringing defecating pigs into the statehouse to make his case against so-called pork barrel spending and for wearing a tattered blazer at his own inauguration, for a high-profile politician — in charge of a state with 4,479,000 people and an annual budget of $21 billion — to go “Awol”, as his local newspaper described it, is almost unheard of in the modern media age.

On Monday night South Carolina’s lieutenant-governor André Bauer said that Mr Sanford’s office had refused demands for “an immediate phone conversation” with his fellow Republican.

“I cannot take lightly that his staff has not had communication with him for more than four days, and that no one, including his own family, knows his whereabouts,” said Mr Bauer, who may be positioning himself to run against Mr Sanford next year.

Another Republican who has clashed with the Governor, Senator Jake Knotts, said: “As the head of our state, in the unfortunate event of a state of emergency or homeland security situation [he] should be available at all times to the chief of the state police force.”

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Should Knox’s trial even have reached the courtroom?
• 'Was it real?' The US bailout nightmare
• Iranian opposition plays the long game