Search teams scour remote area of Summit County for camper who disappeared

(KUTV) – Search and Rescue teams spent Thursday afternoon combing through the remote wilderness of Summit County after a camper was reported missing.

Ray Humphreys, 66, of South Jordan was last seen Wednesday night around 10 p.m. as he went to retrieve water to douse a campfire, according to sheriff’s officials.

A Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter searched from the air as dozens of search and rescue team members began combing the area around Hidden Lake in the Wasatch Cache National Forest.

Deputies used horses and search dogs to assist them in the search for Humphreys.

The family went to Hidden lake for an annual camping trip Wednesday. The family did not realize Humphreys was gone until Thursday morning.

“He is very experienced in hiking up in the mountains so this is definitely not normal for him to go missing like this,” Summit County Sheriff’s Lt. Andrew Wright told 2News.

Wright said the family reported Humphreys seemed tired after the several-mile hike to Hidden Lake. He was last seen with a black jacket and gray vest.

“This is just a situation where we don’t know where he went,” Wright said.

The area is the same place where hiker Melvin Heaps, 74, vanished in August 2017. Heaps was never located and there is still a missing person’s poster for him at the trail’s entrance.

Anyone who sees Humphreys is asked to call the Summit County Sheriff’s Office at 435-615-3600.