The weird disappearance of Garrett Bardsley from Cuberant Lake in Utah

Cuberant Lake UtahWilderness DisappearancesFishing disappearancesUtahGarrett Bardsley

Aug 1

Garrett Bardsley, disappeared August 20, 2004, near Cuberant 1 Lake, Uinta Mountains. Summit County, Utah.

Revised December 2023

At around 8 am on Friday, August 20, 2004, 12-year-old Garrett Bardsley, and his father, Kevin, got up early while on a Boy Scout camping trip. They headed down to a nearby lake called Cuberant 1 in the Uinta Mountains in Utah for some fishing. The father and son lived in Elk Ridge and were camping with eighteen Scouts and six or seven adults from Thursday, August 19, and had planned to leave Saturday.

Garrett managed to get his shoes, pants, and socks soaked with water whilst fishing, and he told his Dad he wanted to walk back to change back at camp as he felt uncomfortable in the wet clothes. He told his father he wouldn’t be long and soon back at the lake to try and land a fish for breakfast. The rest of their Boy Scout group were camped up the hill at the Cuberant #4 campsite, a mere 150-250 feet away.

They had walked the trail several times before, so Kevin let his son head back to camp while he continued fishing - he thought it was no big deal. Just in case, Kevin kept his eyes on Garrett as he walked around the lake and even shouted directions, reminding Garrett which path would lead him straight back to camp.

Then, after 20 minutes, Kevin wondered what was taking his son so long to return. He returned to the camp to see what had happened, and Garrett was nowhere to be seen. None of the other Boy Scouts had seen him at the camp.

A huge search of the area with hundreds of official and unofficial searchers turned up nothing apart from one of Garrett’s Nike socks. The ice-fishing pole he was carrying was never located.

What happened to Garrett - Did he get lost, was it an abduction, animal attack, or something more mysterious?

Where is and what is Cuberant Lake?

Cuberant Lake (or Cuberant Lake #1) is a lake in the Uinta Mountains in Summit County, Utah, within the Kamas Ranger District of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and about 3,500 feet (1,100 m) northwest of Mount Marsell (elevation: 11,340 feet [3,460 m]). The lake is at an elevation of 10,426 feet (3,178 m).

Cuberant is a word derived from the Ute language, meaning "long". The (main) lake is substantially larger than the other six lakes in the Cuberant Lakes Basin (Cuberant Lake #2-6). The Cuberant Lakes Basin drains through a reasonably short stream about 4,500 feet long that flows west-southwest while descending nearly 1,000 feet (300 m) and empties into the Weber River. As steep inclines and declines surround the basin, the only reasonable access to the lake and the basin is by way of a trail that branches off the Lofty Lake Trail and circles around the west side of Mount Marsell. (The Lofty Lake Trail begins at the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway and heads northwest through Reid's Meadow before the two trails split.)

The search

The campsite was less than a quarter-mile from the lake on a well-established path connected with a road another quarter-mile away. A family friend said the distance to camp from where they had been fishing was "no more than 150 paces" distant.

More than 200 volunteers and search and rescue team members searched into the night on Sunday, August 21, for Garrett, who was wearing a hooded, black sweatshirt and reversible black and red sweatpants, and white Converse tennis shoes. Additional search and rescue teams from Cache County joined teams from Utah, Salt Lake, Wasatch and Duchesne counties.

He had no provisions or backpack but was carrying a short, black, chrome ice-fishing pole when he vanished.

Hundreds of Summit County Sheriff's Office volunteers and personnel searched on foot, horseback, and with dogs. This effort was scaled back to more than 50 professional search and rescue personnel working on foot after this.

The only evidence that searchers found was Garrett’s Nike sock 0.5 miles from where he disappeared in a granite boulder field. Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said, “The sock appears that it was taken off of a wet foot, wadded up, very consistent with what we know about Garrett”.

Because of where the sock was found, Edmunds said it would be in line with the assumption that he sought shelter in the cold weather, maybe by going into the boulder field for a crevasse or outcropping, "something to try and get out of the weather."

The mountainous terrain meant the temperature dropped to around 18 degrees the night Garrett disappeared.

The Boulder field near where Garrett’s sock was located

The local police decided that there was not enough evidence pointing to a kidnapping.

The official search for Garrett was called after nine days. A three-mile radius in the rugged mountains from where he was last seen was thoroughly searched. After the official search, the family, many dedicated friends, and volunteers continued search efforts, returning at least two or three times each week until October. Further searches happened after the winter of 2004 but turned up nothing.

Kevin Bardsley said, “We know that it is often discouraging, at the end of the day, when we haven't found him or any signs of him, but we want you to know that every area that we search just gets us that much closer to finding him.” , “I've speculated and speculated. I don't know where he is. I wish I knew. If I did, I'd just end this."

No other sign of Garrett was found in the area. Did he wander from the area and get lost? Was he abducted? Did a grizzly bear or mountain lion kill him? - no sign of an attack was found. Strangely, even his fishing rod was never found. Perhaps his remains lie in some hidden crevice?

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