Family of Missing Utah Hiker ‘Can’t Let Go of the Hope’

The family of a missing hiker in Utah is trying not to lose hope that he will return home safely as the search for him enters its second week,

Howard Stone’s daughter Jessica Church recalled waiting by the phone the night of Sunday, Aug. 11, after he was reported missing by his son. The Spanish Fork resident, 64, had reportedly gone hiking at Little Wild Horse Canyon, in Emery County, Utah on Saturday, Aug. 10 and never returned home, local CBS affiliate KUTV reported.

Stone’s car was found at the trailhead, according to KSLTV, but any other leads have not panned out.

“I can’t let go of the hope but the first night that we found out, I just sat with the phone in my hand just knowing they’d call any minute and the next day, kind of the same way,” Church, who lives out of state, told KUTV.

“After [a] couple of days, then I flew out to Utah and went down there for four days and just checked every path I could think of, we went the path we think he went down and we went off the beaten path as much as we could and we took ATVs out.”

Church has since returned to her home in Illinois.

A flash-flood warning in the area prevented search and rescue crews from immediately entering the canyon itself to search for Stone. He is not believed to have been swept away by a current, KSLTV reported.

“We had guys all around the trailhead, into the river below the trailhead as much as they could and then we sent guys on foot and on dirt bikes above the trail itself,” Emery County Sheriff Tyson Huntington told KUTV of the search efforts. “A lot of times people will climb up Little Wild Horse and miss the turn to take Bell Canyon back down and they just keep going so we sent motorcycles up there.”

Helicopters, specialty K9s and Civil Air Patrol have also been involved in the search.

But as the search for Stone begins approaching its second week, none of his personal items have been recovered and there has only been one brief potential sighting of him.

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“There was a young couple that mentioned they thought they may have seen him on the trail and spoke to him for a little bit, but that is the only kind of information like that where people have seen him,” Huntington told KUTV.

Despite holding onto some hope, Church admitted to KUTV that she understood the reality of Stone’s situation.

“In the last couple of days you know it’s been kind of disheartening to try to come to terms that they talk about it more as a recovery now,” she said.

Church told KUTV that there are plans for a large group of people to search for Stone over the weekend.

“He’s a good dad, he’s a good grandpa and we want to bring him home,” Howard’s son Brandon told Fox 13 of his father.

Stone’s family is still offering a cash reward for anyone who has information that will lead them to him.