Decision to call off search for missing Windsor man explained

The search for a Windsor man who disappeared on a backpacking trip in the Trinity Alps was called off because ground and air crews were unable to find any traces of the missing man, officials said Monday.

Steve Morris, 59, was descending a mountain peak north of Weaverville with a men’s group from the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Rosa on Aug. 2 when he failed to return to camp.

Searchers from all over Northern California scoured the craggy terrain looking for him but were unable to find any evidence pointing to his whereabouts, said Lynn Ward, a spokeswoman for the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office.

Ward said the search was suspended Friday and could resume at a later time. She did not say when or if that would happen.

“Usually, you can find a water bottle or piece of clothing,” Ward said. “We have not found anything.”

Family members are being told Morris likely fell into an area that is unreachable and not visible, and would not return, Pastor Dale Flowers said.

Still, they were holding out hope that the mystery of his disappearance would be resolved. Morris’ wife, Carrie, and daughter, Elle, attended church services Sunday with fellow parishioners, including the other hikers.

“We’re going to continue to light a candle in our sanctuary until he is found,” Flowers said Monday.

Morris, who ran a Christian family therapy practice with his wife, was said to be an experienced hiker and backpacker. He was on annual camping trip with eight other men in the Stoddard Lake area, west of Highway 3. He went missing after he and others hiked the 7,300-foot Billy’s Peak, a well-known vista point.

Morris reportedly got ahead of the others while walking back and was never seen again.

A six-day search ensued involving ground teams with both scent and sight dogs and numerous helicopters.

Sgt. Dave Thompson led a five-person search team from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office. His group was ferried into steep terrain at nearby McDonald Lake by a National Guard Blackhawk helicopter. They looked for Morris for two days, scanning the granite slopes with binoculars and calling his name. But they found nothing.

He said the area was marked by innumerable cliffs and crevasses that posed a danger to hikers and hampered search efforts.

“We would stop every five minutes and call out his name,” Thompson said. “We would hear our echoes but no one else’s.”