200 volunteers scour Uintas for boy gone since Friday
By Laura Hancock and Rodger Hardy
Deseret Morning News
A third day of searching for
a 12-year-old Elk Ridge boy missing in the Uinta Mountains proved fruitless
Sunday as more than 200 volunteers — many of them from the boy's LDS ward
and stake — searched into the night without success.
 A Civil Air Patrol plane searches for missing Boy Scout Garrett Bardsley, who disappeared Friday on his way back to camp near Pass Lake in the Uinta Mountains. Michael Brandy, Deseret Morning News |
They are looking for Garrett Bardsley, who was last seen by his
father in the Pass Lake area Friday morning. More than a dozen members of
Troop 694 and a number of adults, including Bardsley and his father, Kevin,
were camping in the Uintas as part of a planned three-day Scouting activity.
Garrett Bardsley was last seen about 8 a.m. on Friday when his father
sent him back to camp after the Scout apparently got wet while fishing. The
camp was reportedly less than a quarter-mile from the Cuberant Lake fishing
site.
The Summit County Sheriff's Office was notified about 11 a.m. on
Friday and the search was initiated.
Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds did not return messages to the
Deseret Morning News on Sunday.
His emergency dispatchers said the boy had not been found late Sunday.
Communication between the command center in the mountains where Edmunds
spent the day and the sheriff's office in Silver Summit had been sporadic.
But Edmunds told KSL-TV that he has not given up on finding the boy
alive.
"We're hopeful. We remain cautiously optimistic but as time goes on it
becomes less and less likely, unfortunately," he said.
About 200 volunteers searched for the boy. Fliers were posted at
trailheads and distributed to hikers and campers. Search dogs, helicopters
and a Wasatch County search and rescue plane looked for the boy Sunday.
Edmunds asked for no more volunteers because 200 was all that's
necessary. Additional people could get hurt in the rough terrain.
The area had rain, hail and cold temperatures. "We're going to
continue to search until we find something," Edmunds said.
 Deseret Morning News graphic |
Edmunds feels they have an obligation to the family and the boy to
continue searching, he said.
The bishop of the boy's LDS ward said regular church services were
held Sunday, but would not elaborate on specific actions by ward members.
Bishop Brian Anderson said he had been directed to refer all media
calls to Stake President Dean Egbert. Egbert and other stake leaders were
reportedly at the search site on Sunday and were not available for comment.
The boy's father has been taking part in the search, joined Sunday by
members of the family's church congregation. The boy's mother, who had been
on a cruise, arrived Sunday.
Some of the searchers were on horseback and helicopters and a plane
aided the search. Rocky Mountain Rescue and American Search dog teams also
took part.
Edmunds said lost children usually are found within two miles of where
they disappeared. Searchers combed that area and have begun expanding the
search area.
The sheriff said that in the early stages of the search, it was
assumed the boy would be able to hear people calling. They are no longer
assuming that and are checking under logs and rocks, anywhere he might have
taken shelter.
Bardsley is the second Boy Scout to become lost in the High Uintas in
the past month. A 13-year-old Scout from West Valley, who had become
separated from his troop, was missing for two days in the wilderness area
before he was found July 30.