PASS LAKE, Summit County— Hope of finding Garrett Bardsley dimmed to dark as the August sun gave way to night for the 10th time since the Utah County boy disappeared on a camping trip in the High Uintas.
Garrett Bardsley's family — resilient and steadfast in the search for the 12-year-old — spent time Sunday thanking many of the volunteers who scoured the rugged land for any sign of the boy, who is presumed dead.
Sunday marked the last day a full-scale, major search effort would be conducted by police and their crews. The search effort overseen by Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds and his trained search-and-rescue teams has been called off.
The sheriff's department will continue to search for Garrett — but on a much smaller scale. Officials say they will continue to return to the area monthly and will ask hikers and hunters to keep looking as they traverse the terrain.
Yet even as volunteers vowed to return a few days a week, Garrett's parents, Heidi and Kevin, acknowledged they can't remain at the search site much longer.
"Unfortunately, we can't be here forever," said Heidi Bardsley.
On Sunday, the feeling at the camp set up by Garrett's family to serve as a home base for volunteer searchers was one of mixed emotion.
There were tears, laughs and hugs, but most of all there was a feeling that the search would never be over until it is over. Their hearts just won't let them quit.
"I don't think (Garrett's father) will ever quit searching," said Lisa Blohm, a close family friend. "I don't think any father would quit searching."
And Kevin Bardsley doesn't intend to give up on his son, either.
But the grieving father says he has other responsibilities — and children — who require his time and attention. Because of this, Kevin Bardsley and his wife left the search temporarily to attend their son's Friday night football game.
"It's hard for us right now, and it'll always be hard for us," Kevin Bardsley said. "But (my other) children need me, too, and they need our support. We can't just put them aside."
The family is compiling a list of volunteers who want to continue searching for Garrett. Kevin Bardsley said he is considering continuing the search on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays until they can't search any more.
"We're not going to quit," Kevin Bardsley said. "We will find Garrett, but we also feel it's going to be on the Lord's time and by the Lord's will."
Friends of the Bardsley family said they have received more help than they ever expected. According to estimates, at least 800 volunteers were fed Saturday night and possibly 1,000 searchers had hit the trail throughout the day.
Many volunteers arrived at the base camp not even knowing the Bardsleys. Garrett was reported missing Aug. 20 after leaving his father to return to camp to change his shoes and socks. The camp was about 150 yards away — but he never returned to where his father was waiting for him.
A search began shortly after his disappearance, involving 20 other adults and boys who were on the three-day Boy Scout trip with him.
Hopes that Garrett might still be alive fell after he was gone four days, when temperatures dropped drastically and rain and hail fell.
Police say they think Garrett might have climbed into a cave or covered himself with branches to keep himself warm, which blocked him from infrared and heat-seeking sensors used in the search, and died of hypothermia.
Countless footprints line the trails. They have searched nooks and crannies, desperately seeking clues to his whereabouts.
"There's a lot of search and rescue people that are going to have a hard time leaving," Kevin Bardsley said. "They come and tell me we're not leaving until we find him. Their hearts are there. They're great people."
E-mail: achoate@desnews.com