Search on for missing hiker in Goblin Valley Area
By Melinda Rogers
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 11/25/2008 04:12:16 PM MST
Search efforts are underway for a missing Colorado woman in south central Utah's Goblin Valley.
Family of 54-year-old Rose Backhaus of New Castle, Colo. reported her missing Nov. 16, said Emery County Sheriff's Sgt. Bliss Mead. The woman's 2004 Ford Explorer was found parked near the trailhead of Little Wildhorse Canyon on Monday at about 2:30 p.m., Mead said.
Search and rescue teams from the sheriff's office are combing the 3,654-acre park for signs of Backhaus, who family described as an "avid hiker."
Mead said the woman's family and employer had not heard from her Nov.17, when she was scheduled to return home - behavior that would be unusual for Backhaus.
"It's highly irregular for her not to report in," Mead said.
A search plane flew over the Wildhorse Canyon area on Wednesday evening, but found no signs of the woman, Mead said. Sheriff's deputies also interviewed several hikers who returned from the trail Backhaus is believed to have hiked, but no one reported seeing her, Mead said.
Backhaus was last seen in Moab on Nov. 15, where she'd been in Canyonlands National Park hiking, Mead said.
It's unclear whether the woman has sufficient survival gear. Temperatures in Goblin Valley have dipped into the 20s overnight in recent days, Mead said. Backhaus has hiked alone on several previous trips, he said.
Anyone with information on Backhaus should contact the Emery County Sheriff's Office at 435-381-2404.
mrogers@sltrib.com.