HAMILTON - Ravalli County sheriff's deputies and search and rescue volunteers recovered human remains in the Trapper Creek area Tuesday afternoon.

Ravalli County Sheriff Chris Hoffman said that while a positive identification has yet to be made, the remains were found close to the last known location of a Wyoming man who disappeared from the area more than a month ago.

"We obviously can't positively identify him as Barry Ford, but he's very close to where Ford's camp was," Hoffman said.

Ford, 44, of Ten Sleep, Wyo., was last seen in the Little Trapper Peak overlook vista area of the West Fork of the Bitterroot drainage in mid-September.

According to a press release from the sheriff's office, the remains were discovered on top of a rock spire by two Bitterroot Valley men who were rock climbing in the area between the north and main forks of Trapper Creek.

After finding the remains, the men hiked out and reported the discovery to the Darby Marshall's Office.

Hoffman, who couldn't comment on the apparent cause of death, said the body will be taken to the State Crime Lab in Missoula for identification.

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The sheriff's office began searching for Ford in the area of his camp in September using dogs and helicopters.

Ford had apparently been traveling through the West in his van with a large black Labrador and a trailer carrying two motorcycles. Both the dog and the motorcycles were missing from his camp, as were a bicycle and a canoe.

Ford, who had worked as a long-distance trucker, left home early in the summer for an extended adventure through the West with the Bitterroot Valley as a destination.

"He told us that he'd found this place (the Bitterroot Valley) that he wanted to go," said his mother, Shirley Ford. "He said it was the most beautiful area that he'd ever seen."

After travelling through California, Oregon and Idaho, Ford parked at a campsite in the Little Trapper Creek area. At different points, he sent his digital camera and his cell phone back home.

On Sept. 1, he filled out a registry card at a trailhead that led into the wilderness.

Reporter Will Moss can be reached at 363-3300 or wmoss@ravallirepublic.com.