Some muddy size-16 shoe impressions have given friends and family new hope in the search for missing hiker Tyler Wright near Squamish, B.C.

The first of the distinctively large shoe impressions was discovered along the Boise Creek trail near the Bull Bowl last week, and more prints were found Monday afternoon.

"We've got trackers who've got a lot of experience in following footprints and looking for damaged undergrowth," search and rescue manager John Willcox told CTV News.

"We've got a lot of skilled people who've come from the Island today, and we are deploying them onto those tracks we found, to hopefully follow those right to our subject who is waiting for us."

The 35-year-old was last seen on Aug. 10, when he headed out onto the trail alone. Squamish RCMP say the 35-year-old is not an experienced mountain hiker and did not take a sleeping bag, tent or compass with him into the woods.

He planned on finishing the hike to the Coquitlam area in four or five days. Wright was reported missing on Aug. 18, and search crews have been looking for him ever since.

The area is rugged and rarely travelled, and the trees are so dense that helicopters can't land, forcing search crews to jump out from four or five feet in the air. Police are roving on ATVs, tracker dogs are on the ground and spotters are in the air.

There have been some signs that Wright could still be alive.

"One team found an area where the grass was flattened as if someone human-size had put down a tarp and laid down," Willcox said.

"He took enough food to be comfortable for four days. There's no reason someone couldn't survive for a month with just water and there are berries out there."

Wright's friends were at the search command centre in Squamish on Monday to lend a hand and provide some motivation. His family is paying for its own helicopter, and they're posting video on the Missing Tyler Wright blog, in the hopes that viewers will notice something they've missed.

"We are very optimistic. He's a very stubborn guy and doesn't give up very easily," friend Alan Bedingfield told CTV News.

"Given search and rescue's abilities and the resources they have, we are optimistic they will find him."

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Leah Hendry