TILTON, Ga. — Searchers ended their efforts to find a missing Marine Corps enlistee at dark tonight, but will pick up the hunt with new weapons on Saturday.

Brett Andrew Thomason, 19, was still missing.

His family said he told them he was going boating on the Conasauga River about 6 p.m. Thursday, and they began searching for him at 10 p.m.

They called authorities shortly after midnight Friday morning. The teen’s flat-bottom aluminum boat was found about 4 a.m. pulled onto the river bank about five river miles north of Tilton Bridge, officials said.

About 60 law enforcement and emergency workers formed teams to search the heavily wooded areas along the river near Loopers Bend Friday, and they used a helicopter equipped with infrared seeking radar and a boat with equipment to search underwater.

An unknown number of local volunteers also poured into the area in southeastern Whitfield County to help search.

Saturday morning, authorities plan to pick up the search, with teams on foot at daybreak and with search dogs at about 8 a.m., said Whitfield County Emergency Services Director Jeff Putnam.

“We’ve searched as hard as we possibly can, and looked at every area we can imagine,” Mr. Putnam said late Friday.

“This is what the South is famous for... the community pulling together,” he said about the many volunteers who came to help or who brought water, coffee and food to searchers.

Dana Massey, Mr. Thomason’s mother, was calm as she stood in the command post where the search for her son was being organized.

She said her son failed to come home after dropping off two friends who went on the boat with him. He told them he was going to float farther downriver, she said, adding that Mr. Thomason has not experience with boating.

The teen had recently enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, and was to leave for boot camp in April, she said.

He had apparently changed into dry clothes after pulling the boat ashore, she said. His wet ones were found in a bag near the boat — and searchers found an oar in a field near the water.

“I’m just worried about it being so cold,” Ms. Massey said.

Standing in the command post, local resident Heather Franklin said she has been on camping trips with Mr. Thomason and that he knows the woods.

Whitfield County Emergency Services spokeswoman Ashlee Swilling said emergency services was contacted when someone called 911 about 12:45 a.m.

She said his boat and the clothing were found at about 4 a.m.

The Georgia State Patrol and Department of Natural Resources personnel had joined in the search effort, assisting teams from Whitfield and Gordon counties, Ms. Swilling said.