Today marks the fifth day since family members last spoke to Mark Widegren and Brian Axe. The two Grand Junction men were reported missing by their families after they failed to return to work. They were working on a pipeline in Nine Mile Canyon near Price, Utah.

Search and rescue teams and volunteers joined the search for them today. The local Grand Junction Abby and Jennifer Recovery Foundation is out in Price, Utah, now. We're told they're working closely with the Carbon County Sheriff's Department to find these two men.

Between 50 and 60 volunteers from Grand Junction headed out on foot today to eliminate certain areas where Widegren and Axe could've gone missing.

Family members say they weren't the type to just leave.

"At this point, we don't know anything, it's like they just vanished off the face of the earth," Mark Widegren's brother-in-law Andy Nack said.

Widegren and Axe have been missing since Saturday. Family members told KKCO 11 News the two had dinner at Winger's in Price after traveling in for the weekend. They then went to a nearby bar and closed their tabs at 11:30 p.m.

"Since that time, there is no evidence of where they are or what they're doing," Carbon County Sheriff's Office deputy Wally Hendricks said. "We're focusing our search efforts between Price and the Nine Mile area because we assume that's where they 'd want to go back to because they left belongings there."

The Abby and Jennifer Recovery Foundation is working with volunteers. They're scouring as many nearby towns and roads as possible.

"The searching is where we eliminate areas. So it can give us a very clear picture that we know for sure they're not there," Abby and Jennifer Recovery Foundation executive director Connie Flukey said.

While there is no sign of them yet, search teams are making quick progress.

"As far as the foundation, everything we had mapped out today has been covered and eliminated. We have not found, obviously their vehicle," Flukey said.

The vehicle is a gold Jeep Grand Cherokee with a Colorado license plates that reads 724-TDP.
The volunteers are covering the area between Grand Junction and Price, Utah by foot. A helicopter was dispatched today, and they're hoping a plane will fly tomorrow to search the rough terrain near Nine Mile Canyon Road.

"The Nine Mile area where these men are working is extremely remote, the cell phone service is sketchy at the very best, and it's rugged," deputy Hendricks said.

Those involved with the search are optimistic.

"We are so hoping to keep our hope up until they are found. They are not boys that are just going to take off. Obviously there's been some type of an accident. We just need to find out where that happened," Flukey said.

Until Widegren and Axe are found, search and rescue, the sheriff's office and family members will hang on to the only thing they have: Hope.

"That's all you can do. If you focus on negative, that's all you're going to think of. Right now we're focusing on positive," Nack said.

Axe's sister told KKCO 11 News Widegren had a brain tumor removed in the last year. He must take anti-seizure medicine every day. When they checked his supply at man camp back at work, he had only taken pills for Friday and Saturday. Because he needs them every day, his family believes this is an indicator Widegren and Axe were planning on heading back.

If you would like to help but cannot make it to Utah, you can donate to any Wells Fargo bank to the Brian Axe and Mark Widegren Search and Rescue Fund.