Now missing for well over a month, Daniel Marks was last spotted at Kaua'i's Kalalau Lookout, the end of the road in Koke'e State Park and the head of a trail that follows the valley rim before turning inland and connecting with the trail through the Alakai Swamp.

On Nov. 10, the 24-year-old experienced hiker from Portland, Ore., who preferred trips on his own, chatted at the lookout with a couple from Fort Collins, Colo., about how his brother, Ron, lived in the same city, said Sue Marks, Daniel's sister.

Hikers in the area continue to call in sightings — such as a watch found in the forest — that might be clues. But nothing has led the Marks family closer to finding Daniel.

While the family is beginning to come to terms with what is likely Daniel's death, they're still holding out hope for something that might help them find him.

"The problem with having someone missing is there's always that off chance where you think, 'Boy, well what if he still is out there?' ... I think we're mostly wrapping up affairs, but, you know, wanting to know what happened," Sue Marks said in a telephone interview from Colorado.

Now back on the Mainland after their searches on Kaua'i, the family is still looking to hear from anyone who might have seen or talked to Daniel, or come across his belongings in the forest, she said.

Daniel arrived on Kaua'i on Nov. 9 and checked out of his hostel a day later.

He was scheduled to leave the island on Nov. 16, but four days later failed to show up to meet Sue Marks at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport in Minnesota. The family was to begin a holiday together and then attend Sue Marks' wedding the following week. In January Daniel was to begin graduate study in social ecology at Portland State University.

The long-put-off wedding is now scheduled to take place next week — followed by a trip to Honduras that was originally planned to include Daniel.

On Tuesday night, Sue Marks and her brother, Ron, went through a box containing Daniel's things shipped by a friend of Daniel's to Colorado.

"We're not really sure what we want to do with it yet. That was really hard ... We kind of just want to let it set for a little bit. It doesn't feel right to start giving that away," Sue Marks said.

Daniel's father, Ronald, is working through the legal system to get access to Daniel's e-mail to search for possible further clues. And after the holidays, the family plans to have searchers comb another ridge on Kaua'i, but it will be the last.

Friends and family of Daniel Marks, including his parents, Ronald and Patricia Bernard Marks, have begun holding and planning memorial services for him. Sue Marks said she and Ron have discussed holding their own ceremony before she and her new husband leave for Central America.

"I think we're getting to that point. I think we're just — just want to do these last couple of things, and then that's kind of it," Sue Marks said.