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Wet weather, fog and rugged terrain were just a few of the obstacles in front of volunteers Wednesday as they spent the day searching for a missing Happy Valley man.

About 50 volunteers arrived at Look Rock on the Foothills Parkway at 8 a.m. along with emergency personnel to continue their search for 51-year-old Michael Hearon, who has been missing since Saturday.

Authorities found Hearon's 4-wheeler abandoned on Tuesday about one mile from his Bell Branch Road residence on his property off Happy Valley Loop. There was no sign of him near the ATV.

Volunteers met with law enforcement and emergency services personnel Wednesday morning where they were split up into groups. A National Park Service ranger, firefighter or member of law enforcement was assigned to each group.

The swarm of concerned community members then met at the Happy Valley Community Center. The groups loaded up in the back of pickup trucks with a ranger and then went to an assigned area of Hearon's 100-acre property to begin searching. Several of Hearon's family members and friends of the family joined the search.

Representatives from Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Blount County Sheriff's Office told volunteers to "be safe, stay in your groups and stay hydrated." They said EMTs were close by in case anyone was injured during the search.

According to Blount County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Marian O'Briant, by the end of the day Wednesday teams had traversed about 150 acres adjacent to Hearon's 100-acre property -- which was searched in its entirety Monday -- bringing the two-day total to 250 acres.

'Rough terrain'

Volunteer Jason Jones, of Maryville, got to the Look Rock parking area at about 8 a.m. and finally went home at about 3:30 p.m. He was a part of a 10-person team that searched throughout the morning. The team was "just looking for evidence, or anything we could find ... and we never could find anything," he said. "It's like (Hearon) just disappeared."

Mike Johnson, also of Maryville, said Hearon was his ex-brother-in-law and he had been a part of the search since the early morning. The search conditions were rough, he said.

"It's very rough terrain," he said.

Like Jones, Johnson said his team was looking for anything at all that might give a hint to what happened to Hearon.

"Anything," he said. "Any signs of Mike or anything that might be a clue."

Hearon was a home builder, according to Marc Webb, with Century 21 Real Estate Group in Alcoa, and that brought out a number of Realtors and home builders to the search. Numerous members of the Blount County Realtors Association and Blount County Homebuilders Association joined in the search Wednesday -- enough to put together seven teams over the course of the day, Webb said.

"Mike was personally known to a lot of us," Webb said. "If it had been one of us, Mike would have been out here. That's the kind of guy he was."

Webb, who was soaked from wading through streams and covered with mud, said terrain throughout the search area was difficult to move through, and Wednesday's rain made it worse.

"The rain just made everything miserable," he said at about 5:30 -- more than 10 hours after he joined the search.

Cell on Wheels

The sheriff's office Mobile Command Center was stationed at Look Rock and members of the Telecommunications Emergency Response Team (TERT) were dispatching from the scene. And to help with communications among volunteers and searchers in the woods where cell phone signals are virtually nonexistent, Verizon Wireless was at the Look Rock parking area Wednesday setting up a Cell on Wheels (COW). The apparatus was a mobile cell tower that, when operational, would receive a beamed signal from a location in Townsend and then allow enough access for as many as 138 simultaneous cell phone calls on Verizon Wireless cell phones. Verizon cellular technician Andy Stump said Wednesday that he expected the mobile cell tower to be operational by late Wednesday for use by volunteers today. The tower, which was brought in from Bristol, will provide service "depending on the terrain, (for) about six miles," he said.

While the COW has been used at sporting events and large gatherings, this is the first time that Stump -- who has worked for Verizon for 10 years -- can remember it being used in a search-and-rescue capacity in Blount County.

Last seen Saturday

According to earlier information from authorities, Hearon left his primary residence in Maryville at 10 a.m. Saturday with plans to visit his 100-acre Happy Valley property.

His parents, who generally hear from him daily, were alarmed when they had not heard from him by Sunday. They contacted other family members, who began calling other friends in an attempt to find him.

Some of his family members drove to his Happy Valley property, which adjoins Great Smoky Mountains National Park, to look for him. When they still had not heard from him by Monday at 5:30 p.m., they called law enforcement authorities.

Family members reported that his ATV was missing but his other vehicles were accounted for. His Happy Valley neighbors said they saw him leaving his residence while driving the ATV.

The ATV that was found Tuesday was confirmed by authorities to belong to Hearon. The 4-wheeler showed no damage.

Authorities said Hearon was last seen wearing a faded red T-shirt and khaki shorts.

Anyone with information that could assist in locating Hearon should immediately call the Blount County Sheriff's Office 24-hour hot line at 273-5200.