Search enters its fifth day. Saturday operations concluded with approximately 80 searchers having covered a combined 2,743 linear miles since Wednesday — every searcher's movement is tracked, giving the sheriff's office a detailed map of the ground already covered. Kaden Sites has not been found. Approximately 140 searchers are out on Sunday, including roughly 50 specialized searchers organized by the Sites family and working in full coordination with the sheriff's management team.
An important correction: The Chaffee County Sheriff's Office has confirmed that Kaden was not wearing a ghillie suit when he entered the woods Wednesday — he was wearing the green hoody described in the original missing person bulletin. That meaningfully changes the aerial search calculus, making visual-contrast searches from drones, helicopters, and fixed-wing aircraft once again among the most promising methods available to teams. Separately, ground teams are now approaching and in some cases entering private property within the search area, and the sheriff's office is asking landowners to please allow teams access.
In his Sunday statement, Sheriff Andy Rohrich said teams "are determined to comb every inch of the terrain" and that investigators are "considering every possible scenario, as unlikely as they are." He also noted that law enforcement teams are now working alongside SAR. Community support has continued to scale — local businesses are feeding, sheltering, and equipping responders, and several individuals have offered their vacation homes to visiting search teams.
Approximately 140 searchers gather at Chaffee County Search and Rescue South for Sunday morning’s briefing — the fifth day of the search for Kaden Sites. Photo courtesy Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office.
Search enters fourth day. Operations continued Friday night with approximately 130 searchers accumulating roughly 1,500 combined man/woman-hours across the day, despite weather conditions that complicated aerial work. Kaden Sites has not yet been located.
Saturday's response has shifted from the surge mobilization to a more sustained, technical phase. Approximately 80 searchers are gridding the area on foot this morning, supplemented by additional drone teams, pack mules for gear transport through steep timbered terrain, and specialized technical teams with advanced search technology. The Sites family has also organized additional specialized searchers who are working in full coordination with the sheriff's management team.
Sheriff Andy Rohrich made a pointed request to the public after several citizens went up to search on their own on Friday. Ground teams had to be diverted to verify the unauthorized searchers were not Kaden, pulling attention away from the coordinated effort. Only vetted, assigned searchers should be in the area. The sheriff's office says its teams remain determined and asks the community to keep the Sites family in their thoughts.
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Search expanded, ghillie suit detail released. Overnight operations on April 16 concluded around 11:30 PM with approximately 95 searchers deployed. As of Friday morning, that number has grown to roughly 130 searchers from more than 20 agencies — nearly double the Thursday afternoon total. The Chaffee County Sheriff's Office has also released a significant new detail: Sites may have been wearing a ghillie suit — a full-body forest camouflage — when he entered the woods to hunt turkey. That has meaningful implications for aerial and drone search operations, which depend on visual contrast between a person and the surrounding terrain.
Sheriff Andy Rohrich reiterated the request that members of the public stay out of the area so aerial and drone teams are not diverted by unaccounted-for searchers. He also asked that anyone wanting to help instead keep the Sites family in their thoughts. Kaden has not yet been located.
A 27-year-old Salida man has not been seen since leaving the Blanks Cabin Trailhead Wednesday afternoon. Authorities are asking the public — and drone operators — to stay clear of the search area.
CHAFFEE COUNTY, COLORADO — A massive multi-agency search is underway on 14,230-foot Mount Shavano for a 27-year-old turkey hunter who failed to return from a solo outing on Wednesday afternoon. Kaden Sites of Salida was last seen leaving the Blanks Cabin Trailhead area on the west side of the peak, and as of the most recent update from the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office, had not been located.
More than 60 searchers — supported by dog teams, drones, helicopters, and fixed-wing aircraft — are combing the area in what is one of the largest backcountry search and rescue mobilizations in Chaffee County so far this year. The sheriff's office is asking the public, including well-intentioned volunteer searchers, to stay away from the area to avoid interfering with aircraft operations and ground teams.
Timeline of the Disappearance
According to the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office press release, Sites left to hunt alone at roughly 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 15. He was expected back in Salida by 3:45 p.m. to attend a doctor's appointment. When he did not show up, his family drove out and located his truck near the Blanks Cabin Trailhead on the west side of Mount Shavano. His cellphone was still inside the vehicle — its battery completely drained.
The sheriff's office was notified at approximately 7:00 p.m. that evening, and search teams began deploying shortly after. As of Thursday evening, the search remained active, with additional teams continuing to stage into the area.
Sites is described as a Caucasian male, 6 feet 2 inches tall, 160 pounds, with light brown hair, a goatee, and a mustache. He was last seen wearing a green hoodie, ripped khaki pants, and hiking boots, and is believed to be carrying a shotgun. He also had a binocular pack with him but had no other equipment.
Who's Involved in the Search
The scale of the response has grown sharply since Wednesday night. As of Friday morning, approximately 130 searchers from more than 20 agencies and volunteer teams are on the ground or assisting — roughly double the number deployed on Thursday:
- Chaffee County Sheriff's Office
- Chaffee County Office of Emergency Management
- Chaffee County Emergency Medical Services
- Chaffee County Search and Rescue (North and South)
- Chaffee County Fire Protection District
- Colorado Search and Rescue Association (CSAR)
- Lake County Search and Rescue
- Pueblo County Search and Rescue
- Teller County Search and Rescue
- Park County Search and Rescue
- El Paso County Search and Rescue
- Crested Butte Search and Rescue
- Saguache County Search and Rescue
- Alamosa Search and Rescue
- Arapahoe Rescue Patrol
- Western Mountain Rescue
- Colorado Department of Corrections
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife
- United States Forest Service
- Search and Rescue Dogs of Colorado
- Search and Rescue Dogs of the United States
- Front Range Rescue Dogs
Aircraft, including helicopters and fixed-wing planes, are flying grid patterns across the area. That is the specific reason the sheriff's office has asked the public to stay out of the zone — including, explicitly, hobby drone operators. In a statement released Thursday, Sheriff Andy Rohrich said unknown searchers or unauthorized drones could divert aircraft and pull time away from the effort.
A Significant New Detail: The Ghillie Suit
In the Friday morning update, the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office disclosed that Sites may have been wearing a ghillie suit when he went into the forest to hunt turkey on the afternoon of April 15. A ghillie suit is full-body camouflage — typically a mesh framework covered in burlap strips, synthetic fabric, and local vegetation — designed specifically to break up the human silhouette against forest terrain. Turkey hunters, along with military and tactical users, rely on them because they work: a stationary person in a well-made ghillie suit can be effectively invisible from just yards away, let alone from the air.
That detail has meaningful operational implications. The aerial and drone components of the current search — a major part of the 130-person response — depend on visual contrast between a person and the ground. A ghillie suit, by design, eliminates that contrast. It does not mean Kaden cannot be found from the air; it does mean aerial crews have to be searching for different visual cues than they would for a typical missing person, and it raises the value of ground-based dog teams and boots-on-the-ground coverage relative to aerial sweeps.
The sheriff's office has not said whether the ghillie suit detail came from family, from evidence at the vehicle, or from another source.
About the Search Area
Blanks Cabin Trailhead sits on the west side of Mount Shavano in the Sawatch Range and is best known as the standard starting point for hikers climbing the 14er. Turkey hunters, however, typically work the lower elevation pine and aspen forests well below the alpine zone, meaning the search area likely includes a large swath of steep, timbered terrain and drainages off the western flank of the peak.
It's also worth noting that this is not the first major SAR operation to launch from the same trailhead in recent memory. Chaffee County SAR teams responded to a multi-day rescue out of Blanks Cabin in August 2024 after a hiker was separated from his group — a reminder that the terrain around Mount Shavano can swallow even well-intentioned visitors quickly.
What Readers Can Do Right Now
The most useful thing members of the public can do, per the sheriff's office, is not show up at the trailhead. With dozens of searchers, aircraft overhead, and dogs working scent, additional unaccounted-for people in the area actively slow the operation.
If you have information about Kaden Sites' whereabouts or recent sightings in the area, contact the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office directly. Sharing official updates from the sheriff's office on social media is genuinely helpful; circulating unverified rumors is not.
The Broader Context
This search is a hard reminder of how thin the margin is when things go sideways in the backcountry — especially for solo hunters and hikers. Several factors likely in play here are worth noting for anyone heading out this spring:
- Communication matters. Sites' family was able to act quickly because they knew his plan and his timeline — that's the primary reason SAR teams were deployed within hours rather than days. Our guide on what to do if you get lost covers the other side of that equation: what the missing person should do to help searchers find them.
- Phones are not enough. A dead phone battery in a vehicle is a common thread in Colorado SAR reports. Dedicated satellite communicators like the Garmin inReach function independently of cell coverage and don't require a signal to call for help.
- Conditions in April are still wintry up high. Overnight temperatures in the Sawatch Range this week remain near or below freezing. Anyone planning any kind of spring outing on the west slope of a 14er should pack for the possibility of spending a night out, even if they don't plan to.
We will continue updating this article as the sheriff's office releases additional information.
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