Murray McCann is looking for his aunt and uncle. Jack McCann is looking for his brother and his sister-in-law. What they both really want is an end to a terrible summer.
They are searching for answers and for an end to a family tragedy.
For the past three weekends the pair, along with other family and friends, has scoured the forests around Nojack, MacKay and Minnow Lake, all in the hopes of finding Lyle and Marie McCann, the St. Albert couple that has now been missing for four months.
While a suspect has been identified and the couple's motorhome and SUV have both been located, they are still missing and the family fears the worst.
Murray says they have wanted to do a search for a long time and simply couldn't wait any longer.
"We have wanted to come forever, but originally the RCMP didn't want anyone out here and I understand that. They didn't want anyone trampling over something that could be something, but two-and-a half months later, a cigarette butt isn't going to be affected by us."
His father Jack says going out and looking helps ease the strain.
"It is easier to be out here helping out than it is to be sitting around doing nothing and worrying and wondering."
Daunting task
While riding with the McCanns through the roads and areas they are searching, you get a sense of the daunting nature of their challenge. They are looking in a broad swath of Yellowhead County covering thousands of acres, north and south of Highway 16.
Most of the land in this area is Crown-owned, with some private land closer to the highway.
The Crown land is dotted with oil and gas wells and a collection of access roads to them. There are cutlines through the forest and game trails and breaks for power lines, but otherwise it is acre upon acre upon acre of heavy brush. The forest is so thick the evergreen and birch trees seem to stand on top of each other, so dense it would be difficult for a person to walk through.
Murray brought along his son and nephew and Jack to help with the search. They come prepared with lunches, spare gas, shovels and a chainsaw, though only the lunches come in handy here.
He has built a platform on the back of each vehicle so that a person can stand up and see deeper into the woods, but still they can only peer at most 10 metres into the woods on either side of the road.
They stop at every creek, culvert and bridge to take a closer look, but each search comes up empty.
RCMP investigators have said they believe the McCanns' disappearance came as a result of foul play and have identified Travis Edward Vader as a suspect. With that in mind, the family is limiting their search to areas they believe a vehicle could reach.
They ride down the roads slowly, each looking on one side. On Saturday there was little sign of anything but the odd beer can, other pieces of garbage, vehicle tracks in a few places, but nothing that causes much pause.
The most exciting find the whole day is a coffee table, some sheets and few brooms, which Murray photographs and intends to pass on to the RCMP and Bret McCann, the couple's son, in the hopes he might recognize the items.
In previous searches, they have found tire tracks in unusual places, garbage strewn in a few areas and a spot where Murray says he thought the ground seemed disturbed or displaced.
He carries around a county map, marking where they have gone and the specific things they have found.
Murray says in an ideal world he would like to bring an army of people to search the forests, but it would require a massive effort.
"I know quads isn't the best search, but we don't have enough people to walk. The best search would be a couple of people walking every inch of the road, but that would take hundreds, if not thousands of people."
Murray says that despite the tremendous challenges, they are going to press on with the search until winter because there is really nothing else to do.
"We just keep doing it. You don't deal with it, you just keep doing it because it has to be done."
Jack said he know the odds are not in their favour, but he is also hopeful they might, just might, catch a break.
"It is like a needle in a huge, huge straw stack, but somebody might find something and that is what we are all hoping for.
Disturbing possibility
Murray and Jack are not trained in search and rescue and they are not detached from this case. Finding something is what they are hoping for, but it is also something they dread.
"You look and you look and you look," said Murray. "You look in every hole, every stump, every rock and you are desperately looking for something you don't want to find."
Jack said the summer has been terrible without knowing and he is prepared for what he might find.
"I will cross that bridge when I get there, I don't think it will be very pleasant."
Murray also took a time out during the search on Saturday to talk to a few other ATV riders who were out on the trail recreationally. The oil lease roads they are searching are fenced and he also took some time to fix a 'missing' poster on the road in.
He said another benefit of the search is the opportunity to talk to people who live and work in the area and might have encountered something.
While there is very little activity in the area, on top of the recreational ATV riders there were a few well crews in the area on Saturday.
At the end of Saturday, Murray and Jack packed up the truck with the ATVs and headed for Edson for the night with a plan to return Sunday and every weekend afterwards until the first snowfall.
A $60,000 reward remains in place for anyone with any information in the case and police are still looking for anyone who might have seen the couple, the SUV, the motorhome or Vader in early July.
Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
