General Palm Springs Area: Joshua Tree Missing Hiker

[DayEarly]

I know there were roughly 30 searches performed in the vicinity where
this man's car was found without success. Searches evolved from Search & Rescue to Search & RECOVERY.

Anyone in the hiking community been through the search area recently or planning on hiking through the search area ?

For some odd reason, there is no web site that provides details about what areas were searched already. You would think that the family would desire hikers of the region to keep extra vigilant while hiking the area. I even contacted the missing man's live-in girlfriend to ask but she declined and suggested the matter be "left to the professionals."

http://www.riversidesheriff.org/missing ... ichael.pdf

Like the John Donovan incident of year 2005, this one remains a mystery for now.

[zippetydude]

It's been so long she's probably just not looking forward to the next batch of news...

z

[OtherHand]

I know there were roughly 30 searches performed in the vicinity where
this man's car was found without success. Searches evolved from Search & Rescue to Search & RECOVERY.

Your number is somewhat low. In the week following Ewasko's disappearance, 73 search teams were sent out, each team having anywhere from 3 to 7 members. They covered about 750 linear miles in total. Since that time there has been considerable "unofficial" searching, to the chagrin of JTNP, who prefers civilians not do that sort of stuff in their park. All the obvious places have been searched, as have the not so obvious places and even the really crazy places. He got himself someplace very strange and unexpected, likely someplace a casual hiker would never go.

[bluerail]

Is this like a sport for some people? Searching for......????

[Florian]

Is this current news? I'm confused.

-Florian

[DayEarly]

I know there were roughly 30 searches performed in the vicinity where
this man's car was found without success. Searches evolved from Search & Rescue to Search & RECOVERY.

Your number is somewhat low. In the week following Ewasko's disappearance, 73 search teams were sent out, each team having anywhere from 3 to 7 members. They covered about 750 linear miles in total. Since that time there has been considerable "unofficial" searching, to the chagrin of JTNP, who prefers civilians not do that sort of stuff in their park. All the obvious places have been searched, as have the not so obvious places and even the really crazy places. He got himself someplace very strange and unexpected, likely someplace a casual hiker would never go.

How would you come up with the figure of "750 linear miles" ? I haven't seen any public records showing how / where the searches were conducted.

But, maybe you have S&R friends. So, were the mine shafts of the area checked top to bottom ? I saw a few just by looking at a hiking map. Via google earth, I could even see the grate covering on one.

You might be right that he got himself into a strange / unexpected place but I would think that would be the first place search teams would look?

On the other hand, the though did cross my mind that he isn't in that area at all. Whether it was a suicide or foul play, the car location could have been a ruse to prevent his actual location from being determined.

Notice on the police flyer the address he was last at being a country club south of Palm Springs and West of JT park? No mention was made in the news of whether he was staying with hiking friends or renting the place.

In any case, I was just curious if anyone had seen or heard anything. Such mysteries catch my attention. I think it was stated that he was the only person not found, either dead or alive, who had been reported missing in the park.

[DayEarly]

Is this like a sport for some people? Searching for......????

Odd. I always thought humans were appreciated for their differences in character and personality. You seem to prefer that everyone fit your mold.

[OtherHand]

Is this like a sport for some people? Searching for......????

Only if you consider Search and Rescue (or in this case, Recovery) a sport.

[bluerail]

I was only asking a question, which sar group are you with ?

[OtherHand]

I was only asking a question, which sar group are you with ?

Understood. And my apologies for being obscurely sarcastic in my choice of wording in my initial post. Put in more plain English, in missing hiker cases JTNP is highly reluctant to open up case files to family members, motivated members of the public or even, oh, I don't know, SAR members not under JTNP supervision wishing to continue searching in an unofficial manner. "Highly reluctant" as in they won't.

Such an attitude, while annoying, is understandable, as they have no desire to have to rescue well meaning but untrained individuals from remote or otherwise insane areas. Still, they have no efficient mechanism to allow trained individuals access to their files to avoid duplication of search efforts, short of resorting to certain legal hammers. Since this suggests almost an adversarial situation, it would be best to avoid public mention of any specific team names.

Often cumulatively, large bureaucratic entities are more concerned with process over product even though that might not be the philosophy of staff members taken individually. At the end of the day, it comes down to doing whatever it takes to find the missing individual.

But perhaps this discussion is straying a bit far from the focus of this forum....