Search continues for Lehi teacher missing on a camping trip

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KAMAS — Authorities and volunteers continue to search for a Lehi teacher who went missing on a camping trip last week.

Summit County Sheriff's officials say 66-year-old Ray Humpherys of South Jordan was camping with his family during an annual trip near Hidden Lake in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest.

Because of Humpherys' outdoors' background and knowledge, searchers are still hopeful he will be found alive, according to Summit County Sheriff's Lt. Andrew Wright.

"There's definitely someone like him, who has a lot of outdoors experience, as we understand from some of the family this is his 29th year being up in that area. You know, it's definitely possible for someone to survive this long, especially if they use their natural resources," he said.

Wright said at least 300 volunteers joined in the search on Sunday.

The Garrett Bardsley Foundation, a nonprofit that aids in search and rescue situations, has been gathering volunteers to help find Humpherys but Monday is the group's last day on the search, Wright said.

However, the sheriff's office will continue searching through the week, after which it will reevaluate and "decide what our plan's going to be," Wright said.

Humpherys is a physical education teacher at Eagle Crest Elementary School in Lehi.

The Daily Herald reports that Humpherys said he was going down to the lake to get water for the campfire about 10 p.m. Wednesday and didn't return.

Crews from Summit, Wasatch and Davis counties along a Civil Air Patrol plane and a Utah Department of Public Safety's helicopter have been looking for Humphries since Thursday, joined by search dogs and horseback teams.

Department of Public Safety divers also have unsuccessfully searched Hidden Lake.

Though searchers hold out hope, "As each day goes by, we get more and more concerned based off how long it's been. It definitely does make it much more difficult to survive without proper nutrition. … so it's definitely a concern for us, but I would say that there's opportunity for him to still be surviving and waiting to be found," Wright said.

Contributing: Associated Press