A 25-year-old Spanish Fork man has been missing for nearly a week, and a startling clue has emerged from the wilderness: a trail camera near Monks Hollow in Diamond Fork Canyon appears to have captured him wearing makeshift shoes fashioned out of plastic bags. Mason Allen was last seen near 1600 S 2300 E in Spanish Fork on August 10, and he left home without his phone or wallet, according to family members who posted appeals on social media.
According to KJZZ, the Utah County Sheriff's Office says Allen was possibly spotted on a trail camera near the Spanish Fork River, and again near Monks Hollow in Diamond Fork Canyon. Allen is described as 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighing 185 pounds, and he was last seen wearing a black shirt and black pants. County crews searched the Spanish Fork and Diamond Fork Canyon areas on Saturday, though it remains unclear whether that search is still actively underway, per the same report.
Family members posting on Facebook said Allen left his residence near East Meadows Elementary in eastern Spanish Fork at approximately 11 p.m. on August 10, leaving his mobile phone and wallet behind — a detail that has heightened concern given he had no way to call for help or access money once he left. East Meadows Elementary sits at 1287 South 2130 East, adjacent to residential developments that border the Wasatch foothills, according to Nebo School District records, putting Allen's home within walking distance of the canyon drainages where he was later reportedly spotted.
Trail Camera Images Reveal Physical Toll
The trail camera footage, first reported by KSL NewsRadio, showed Allen wearing shoes improvised from plastic bags — a detail that suggests he may have lost or damaged his footwear somewhere along the way. That image has become one of the most tangible pieces of evidence guiding searchers as they try to trace his path through the canyon.
Diamond Fork Canyon sits in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest roughly 15 miles east of Spanish Fork via U.S. Route 6, with the Monks Hollow Trailhead beginning about five miles farther up the canyon at an elevation of 5,200 feet, according to Recreation.gov. The Monks Hollow Trail itself is a multi-use route that climbs steeply through dense maple and scrub oak brush before leveling out into higher mountain ridges, per Trailforks — terrain that can be exhausting and disorienting even for prepared hikers, let alone someone without proper shoes.
Volunteer Search and Rescue Faces Rugged Terrain
The Utah County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue team is an all-volunteer unit of roughly 50 members who respond to more than 100 emergency rescue missions each year across the county's wilderness areas, according to the Utah County Sheriff's Office. The county's search environment spans five mountain peaks exceeding 10,000 feet in elevation, requiring volunteers trained in K9 tracking, swift-water rescue, and high-angle technical rope work to cover the ground.
This is not the first time family involvement and technology have played a role in a local mountain search. In June 2024, a family member's drone helped Utah County Search and Rescue locate the body of 27-year-old Joshua Clarke near Spanish Fork Peak, nearly three months after he disappeared from Spanish Fork that March, the Spanish Fork city government has noted. It is a somber reminder of how long and difficult these searches can become in the surrounding canyons.
How to Report Information
Law enforcement has asked Utah County residents for help locating Allen. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Spanish Fork Police Department at 801-804-4700, while anyone who actually spots Allen should call 911 immediately. Missing adult reports like Allen's carry no mandatory waiting period under federal or Utah state law before police can take a report or enter it into the National Crime Information Center database, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety, which coordinates such cases statewide through the Utah Missing Persons Clearinghouse under Utah Code 53-10-202.
As of Sunday, it remained unclear whether ground crews were continuing active search efforts in the Spanish Fork and Diamond Fork Canyon areas. Family and investigators alike are hoping the trail camera sighting near Monks Hollow will help narrow the search and bring Allen home safely.
