EMERY COUNTY, Utah — The search continues for an overdue hiker in Emery County.
64-year-old Howard Stone was reported missing on Sunday after not returning from hiking up Little Wildhorse Canyon, near Goblin Valley State Park.
Howard's son, Brandon, told FOX 13 News on Wednesday that he spoke to his dad last Monday.
His dad told him that he was going down to Emery County to play a round of golf, before hiking Little Wildhorse Canyon.
Brandon says he sent his dad a text at 3 p.m. on Saturday and never heard back.
"I contacted the sheriff's office Sunday morning after confirming with my sisters that nobody had talked to him," Brandon said.
Emery County Search and Rescue, Department of Public Safety helicopters and Goblin Valley personnel started the search on Sunday, as well as Stone's family.
Tuesday night, Casey Smith, the public affairs officer with the Utah Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, said they were contacted to also assist in the search efforts.
On Wednesday, they had a crew flying over the area.
"They flew for approximately, I want to say, 6 to 8 hours, you know, not consecutively, but they go up for about a two-hour time before they have to come back down and refuel," said Smith.
Smith told FOX 13 News on Wednesday that they send a team of three crew members up in a Cessna for these types of missions to fly search patterns.
"Anytime that you're looking for somebody, it's a difficult situation to go up and to be able to," said Smith. "We've got, you know, close to 400 people across the state that train for these types of things."
Brandon described his dad as someone who loves his family. Howard has four children and 12 grandchildren.
"My dad is great dad. He's a huge BYU Cougar fan," Brandon said. "He's always up for an adventure, always looking for something fun to do."
Brandon says that includes hiking.
"We as a family, we did Battle Creek... down in Pleasant Grove about three weeks ago, and a couple of weeks before that, he had done Angels Landing by himself," Brandon said.
Brandon spoke about the support his family has received from friends and the people who have helped in the search efforts for his father.
"I'm so grateful for those people, for the Department of Public Safety, who had a helicopter out there for multiple days, for Civil Air Patrol, who's helping today," Brandon said.
Now, his hope is pretty simple.
"He's a good dad, he's a good grandpa and we want to bring him home," Brandon said.
A $10,000 reward is being offered to anyone who can lead the family to where Howard is located.
Anyone with any information is urged to contact the Emery County Sheriff's Office at 435-381-2112.
