Powell man missing on North Fork; information sought

Posted 2/5/17

Gib Mathers, 61, was last seen around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, said Park County Sheriff Scott Steward. That's when a mail carrier saw him taking photographs from his truck, between the Wapiti Ranger Station and the Elk Fork bridge in the Shoshone …

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Powell man missing on North Fork; information sought

Posted

The Park County Sheriff's Office is looking for anyone who may have seen a Powell man who's missing in the North Fork area.

Gib Mathers, 61, was last seen around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, said Park County Sheriff Scott Steward. That's when a mail carrier saw him taking photographs from his truck, between the Wapiti Ranger Station and the Elk Fork bridge in the Shoshone National Forest, Steward said. Around 1:30 p.m., the carrier saw the vehicle empty and parked in a pullout on the north side of U.S. Highway 14/16/20, a short distance west of the Elk Fork bridge and the Elk Fork Campground, the sheriff said.

"If some one person can come forward and say, 'we saw him here; we saw him headed this direction,' that's what we need," Steward said, adding that his office would also like to know what clothes Mathers was wearing.

The Sheriff's Office can be reached at 307-527-8700.

Mathers, a Powell Tribune reporter, had been taking some time off of work and was not on an assignment on Tuesday. Mathers is described by his friends as an avid hiker and photographer who often frequented the North Fork.

The weather had been clear on Tuesday, when the mail carrier saw Mathers, Steward said. The area already had up to 2 feet of snow on the ground and a subsequent winter storm on Wednesday and Thursday deposited an additional 12 to 14 inches of snow in the area, covering up any trace of Mathers’ direction of travel, Sheriff's Office spokesman Lance Mathess said Sunday.

Mathers' recently purchased, snow-covered truck (pictured below) drew the attention of the Wyoming Highway Patrol on Friday morning. That ultimately prompted a search in the area, with crews and dogs searching on Friday and Saturday, Steward said.

He said the deep and now-melting snow has made the searching very difficult, limiting the effort to around the highway.  That's one reason why the Sheriff's Office hopes someone can help point searchers in the right direction.

“We’ve searched any and all areas we think that Gib may be, especially given he was a photographer,” Steward said in a Sunday news release. “We also searched under bridges, along cliff sides and anywhere where he may have taken shelter. But with no evidence as to exactly which way he went, there’s simply too much area to cover in these conditions. When conditions in the search area improve, we will continue to look for him.”

On Saturday night, the sheriff said that, "Unfortunately, at this point, it's a recovery; it's not a rescue anymore."

Photo courtesy Park County Sheriff's Office

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