The recovery of Rose Backhaus’ body from an eastern Utah canyon Sunday — after being missing for five months — has brought relief to her family and the solace that “she died doing what she loved.”
Backhaus, a 54-year-old copy store manager from Garfield County, was an avid hiker who was scouting remote trails she intended to explore later on, sister-in-law Mary Backhaus said Monday night.
Rose Backhaus was the subject of an intense search when she went missing in a hiking area near Goblin Valley State Park in November.
“We’re relieved to finally have closure, but, still, it’s very difficult,” Mary Backhaus said.
Emery County, Utah, Sheriff Lamar Guymon said Rose Backhaus might have died of exposure after she got lost in the Upper Chute Canyon area. An autopsy will be performed, he said.
Three hikers found her body in a narrow slot canyon Saturday. Law enforcement officials recovered her body Sunday.
Though an experienced hiker and physically fit, Backhaus was not dressed for the cold weather that had moved into eastern Utah at the time she went missing, authorities said.
Originally from Denver, she had lived in New Castle for about seven years.
She was a manager at Copy Copy in Glenwood Springs.
She is survived by two adult children and three grandchildren. Her son, Michael Backhaus, said funeral arrangements have not been made.
She was last seen checking out of the La Quinta Inn in Moab about 8 a.m. Nov. 16. The last call from her cellphone was made at 10:20 a.m. that day.
Her car was found about 120 miles away on Nov. 24 in the Little Wild Horse Canyon parking lot.
Crews searched intensely for Backhaus for about a month, then intermittently after that, Guymon said.
Notes in a journal left in her Ford Explorer said she had just arrived at the park Nov. 16, a departure from her weekend plan to hike in the Moab area.
Planes, helicopters, dogs, officers from Utah law-enforcement agencies, plus friends, family and other volunteers, scoured the canyons in the rugged 3,600-acre park.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
