Story of missing hiker in Joshua Tree NP

[Hikin_Jim]

Is that Bill's tent perhaps?

Dang! He must have stepped out for a minute. I probably just missed him.

HJ

[OtherHand]

I'm curious about that shelter. Was it someone's entire camp or just the tarp? I guess what I'm looking for was if it looked like it was a serious camper (maybe a high end tarp shelter) of more like someone who was just "squatting" out there where there was water. And where was the occupant? Off looking for Bill?

From your pic it looks like it was near the westerly edges of the man eating bushes?

Weird.

[Hikin_Jim]

I'm curious about that shelter. Was it someone's entire camp or just the tarp? I guess what I'm looking for was if it looked like it was a serious camper (maybe a high end tarp shelter) of more like someone who was just "squatting" out there where there was water.

It looked like just a tarp/bug shelter. It didn't look very well pitched to me. Dunno what the heck it was doing there. I didn't really investigate. Alone in the desert and poking around someone else's property didn't sound like a good idea to me.

From your pic it looks like it was near the westerly edges of the man eating bushes?

Yes, basically. It was mere feet from the water.

The ground didn't look flat underneath the tarp or whatever that thing is. I wonder if it was set up for observation more than sleeping, although that would be kind of odd too. There were bugs around the spring, but they weren't particularly troublesome or anything. Weird.

HJ

[Hikin_Jim]

I'd like to see one of your maps where you went.

Here's a plot of my route. Of course I did little excursions off to the side to investigate copses of trees, piles of rocks, etc. I also did a side trip to the little peak SE of pt. 5787 ("G") and to the spring in Smith Water ("T").

One note: The saddle at "N" is tough to pick out from all the other saddles up there. You have to pay attention to the nav at that juncture and also as you make your final descent into Smith Water ("Q," "R," and "S").

Nice country. Good hike overall. Class 1 with some short class 2 sections. No class 3 on the line I took.

Neat to see sheep, see lots of flowers, and to find water. Disappointing to shed no light at all on Bill's whereabouts.

HJ

P.S. Speaking of flowers:


































Some kind of yucca:




Chia:




Flowering yucca:


Detail of yucca:






Flowering succulent:


Slideshow of all 249 pics. I deleted a lot of pics! A most photogenic region.

[OtherHand]

Jim, that's a really good route you chose and probably makes the most sense if someone wanted to get from the Quail Ridge to Smith Water. Nice job.

It somewhat mirrors what we've been doing. Come up with a possible hypothesis, figure out the most obvious route for it and check it out. Having then struck out, we'd consider if there might be other areas very nearby that looked promising and go back and hit it again, using GPS to guide us to fill in the coverage gaps.

In any case, you've probably discovered what we have.....Even if you don't find Bill, you had a good excuse to see an interesting area very few do and saw some Big Horn. And throughout it all, there was always the possibility....

[Andy]

Wow, not bad. I don't know if I've ever seen such beautiful recon photos before Glad you made it back safe. Its looking like this thread is going to break a record for number of posts and for good reason. You guys are doing some good work here.

[Hikin_Jim]

Jim, that's a really good route you chose and probably makes the most sense if someone wanted to get from the Quail Ridge to Smith Water. Nice job.

Oh. Well, thanks. Points "R" and "S" are the most important segment of my route: They represent a good route down into Smith Water. It's worth paying attention to route selection on the descent into Smith Water.

Mostly, my route made sense except for the little hill top I ascended at point "L" which I climbed because I wanted to check out a dense copse of trees.
Copse of trees:


Possible animal bedding site in the copse of trees:


Possible animal scrapes:

Come up with a possible hypothesis, figure out the most obvious route for it and check it out.

That's basically what I was trying to do.

In any case, you've probably discovered what we have... Even if you don't find Bill, you had a good excuse to see an interesting area very few do and saw some Big Horn. And throughout it all, there was always the possibility...

Yep. It's a great hiking area, period. If I found something having to do with Bill, that would be the icing on the cake.

The views up on top of Quail are really nice. The terrain is interesting, and I always find XC route finding and land nav to be a lot of fun. If you really want to have fun in the outdoors, you've got to leave the "crutches" (trails) behind at some point.

San Jacinto Peak (left) and San Gorgonio Mountain (right) as seen from the vicinity of Quail Mountain:


Land, spreading out so far and wide. (The view from the summit of Quail to the ENE):


The good stuff is typically found off trail. Had I artificially restricted myself to trails, I wouldn't have seen those Big Horns. I wouldn't have found water.

I also saw antlers:


A sheep spine:


And some funky bones that I couldn't identify:


As well as a lot of interesting mineral deposits, desert flora, and just generally interesting wild, seldom-visited country. It's certainly a worthwhile area to hike. I had a lot of fun.

Afternoon snack stop en route to Smith Water:


If we get enough boots on the ground, I think we'll eventually find Bill. So get out there.

HJ

[drndr]

Very cool temps this weekend for this time of year, especially saturday. Perfect time to go.

[Hikin_Jim]

Very cool temps this weekend for this time of year, especially saturday. Perfect time to go.

Yep.

Are you thinking about heading to that spot you mentioned? Shouldn't be too bad if you park at Lower Covington. And there's no toll both at Lower Covington.

HJ

[OtherHand]

Very cool temps this weekend for this time of year, especially saturday. Perfect time to go.

Yep.

Are you thinking about heading to that spot you mentioned?

The west tending ravine....I had been meaning to post a pic of that. The attached link is looking north across Smith Water from just above the odor location. I've marked the east end of the brush and the dry waterfall area (the actual waterfall can't quite be seen). I've marked the ravine I think was being discussed in red, for what it's worth. It's a good sized pic to allow you to see some detail.

http://www.otherhand.org/Stuff/SWC%20Wa ... a%20sm.jpg