Search Crews Retrace Steps In Quest To Find Missing Hiker

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- Search crews looking for missing hiker Patricia Wallace are growing more frustrated because they can't find any sign of her.

"Usually you would find some type of clue, a dropped ski pole, a hat blows off, glasses, you set something down. We haven't found anything like that so that's the hard part," said Boulder Co. Sheriff's Office Sgt. Dave Booton.

Wallace, 74, hasn't been seen since she went hiking with friends on the Buchanan Pass Trail on July 3 and decided to take a less strenuous route.

Rescuers from Grand and Boulder Counties are working an area near that trail near the Peak to Peak Highway.

Now, searchers will return to areas they've already searched and hope they find something they missed the first time around. So far they've turned up nothing.

"In the beginning the emphasis was on the trails and off the trails. Now we're expanding the search to more obscure areas," said Booton.

A 10-person crew with Boulder County as well as a 16-person crew from Grand County are scouring more than 17 miles of trails.

"We put a field team up here today in the Upper Coney Lakes here. We have a dog team over here and a dog team over here. Basically we're researching areas we've already searched," said Booton.

Wallace's family describe her as physically fit but possibly suffering from a lapse in memory.

"My mother was frequently mistaken for being in her 50s. So elderly does not at all describe my mom," said Wallace's daughter Katherine Moore.

Searchers describe the areas they're searching in as very rugged. If there is no sign of Wallace by Saturday they will bring in searchers on horseback to give them a different perspective of the area.

"Nobody's given up yet and that's the greatest thing that I can hold onto," said Booton.