Bryan Farrow

"We wanted to get him out of there and back to his family," Trooper Ryan Browning told the Peninsula Clarion. "It's possible he may have wrecked or gotten stuck and was trying to walk out," Browning added.

Farrow had been last seen about noon on April 3 and had told a neighbor he planned to ride about 20 miles to a friend's cabin at Caribou Lake. A resident of the East End Road area, Farrow reportedly left from a snowmachine trailhead near Greer Road past Fritz Creek and was riding a red 1989 Yamaha Phazer snowmachine. He wasn't reported missing until Tuesday, April 7, after the friend returned from his Caribou Lake cabin and talked with the neighbor. The two then realized Farrow hadn't made it to Caribou Lake and hadn't returned home.

Troopers started a search Tuesday afternoon, April 7, with a trooper helicopter, Helo 1. That helicopter had to divert late Tuesday to rescue some hikers caught in deep snow near McHugh Peak in Chugach State Park near Anchorage.

A full search started April 8, with aerial searches done by Helo 1, a trooper airplane and the Civil Air Patrol. Volunteers with the Snomads, the local snowmachine club, also started searching Wednesday, as did volunteers with Central Emergency Services. About 15 Snomads members participated, working the main and side trails and checking Caribou Lake and area cabins, said Snomads President Dave Mastolier.

"Which is kind of sad -- we'd been through there on the trails," Mastolier said of the area where Farrow was found.

Farrow's body was found off the trail. By Monday afternoon, searchers had not yet located Farrow's snowmachine.

Farrow wore insulated coveralls and a helmet, and had a survival kit, troopers said. Mastolier said Farrow was an experienced outdoorsman and snowmachine mechanic.

"Bryan was a very capable person. He was mechanically inclined. He knew winter survival," Mastolier said. "He was one of those guys who was happy all the time. ... He worked hard, had a good attitude. I never saw him grumpy," he added.

With warming temperatures, heavy snow pack has been melting, making travel even on packed trails or by snowshoe difficult.

"If anybody's tried to walk through a foot of this wet, heavy snow, it just wears you out," Mastolier said.

Troopers and the Snomads reminded snowmachiners to buddy up and not snowmachine alone.

"People need to always have a contingency plan and overnight of emergency equipment in case the weather turns bad or something goes wrong," Browning said.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michaelarmstrong.@homernews.com. Joseph Roberta of Morris News Service and the Peninsula Clarion contributed to this story.