Earl Funk was known to his family as a protector of the land around Cedar Mountain.

Earl Funk, a mountain man at heart, died on the mountain he loved.

On Saturday afternoon, teams of rescue workers found the remains of the 49-year-old carpenter on a sharp, eastern slope of Cedar Mountain that had been a focus of attention for most of the past week.

"It was so dense and thick with foliage and rock you could be standing right next to him and not see him," said Mark Eggeman, search and rescue coordinator for the state Department of Emergency Management.

The state medical examiner's office is attempting to determine a cause of death, but investigators said foul play is not believed to be a factor.

Eggeman credited the determined efforts of U.S. Park Service teams, area law enforcement, and dozens of volunteer searchers who had been looking for Funk since his disappearance Sept. 29.

"There were from 65 to 95 people every day," said Eggeman, who helped coordinate the search from Browns Cove United Methodist Church in northern Albemarle County.

Search dogs keyed on Funk's scent Tuesday, and Eggeman said teams had been crisscrossing the steep mountain slope, which rises to 2,800 feet in less than a mile from the 1,600-foot level where Funk was located.

Funk and a friend were hunting for ginseng when they became separated.

Ginseng is a mountain herb that is believed to have medicinal qualities, especially in the Asian culture. In recent years, it has become a favorite additive for making tea in the United States.

Funk was found about 100 yards outside the boundary of Shenandoah National Park, about 2 miles from the Browns Cove community about 10 miles northwest of Charlottesville.

While ginseng hunting is illegal within the national park and some practitioners can damage forest land seeking out the root, Funk's family last night described him as a aggressive protector of the land who had dedicated much of his life to preservation of natural as well as handcrafted beauty.

"The mountain was his home, a 500-acre tract of private land on Cedar Mountain," his family said in a written statement last night. His love of the mountain had been nurtured at childhood and "had grown from that point onward. Not just loving it, but preserving it," the family wrote.

A cabin dating back to the 1800s on the family property had burned down eight years ago. "Earl and several friends designed a new cabin and rebuilt it around the old chimney," the family said.

A practical joker -- Funk told one relative that he could shoot ginseng out of the trees -- he loved riding through the mountains on a small four-wheeled tractor. Every year, the family drew scores of people to Cedar's summit for a pig roast, bluegrass music and Southern cooking.

In recent months he had been working on restoring the family's farmhouse where he grew up.

"When a neighbor needed a hand, Earl was there, and his dedication is reflected in all those that were close to him," his family wrote last night. "Their concern for Earl has never been so obvious as it has been over the last few weeks."

Funeral arrangements were incomplete last night.

Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or bmckelway@timesdispatch.com.