Hi Richard,
Yes it's very strange he'd leave 9 bottles in the coolbox in his car, and take only the two.
However, whether for LH or Quail or both, he took only two small bottles. There we can now all agree. Now *that* is a very different scenario to the various theories we've all put on the table over the years. There are pros and cons to the "senior moment" theory, and for now I'm sitting in between.
One thought: he bought only twenty four 12oz (350ml) bottles the evening before he started on a very tightly packed nine day hiking schedule, according to his original itinerary. He left 13 bottles in the apartment and brought 11 with him in the coolbox, and just two were taken with him. So were the 11 bottles for the day? Or were they for the next few days? And why 11 bottles? Why not 12 or 10 or whatever? Funny number, to my mind.
I'm a 2 litre guy (about six of those 12oz bottles), but only you hot desert hikers can tell me if 4 litres is the done thing. Eleven 12oz bottles = 3,850ml. What's the done thing? 2 litres? 3 litres? 4 litres? Is eleven far too much for one day, so intended as a cache for 2-3 days? And if it was all intended for the first day, then why on earth didn't he notice the extra spring in his step because he didn't have an extra 3-4kg lump of water in his backpack?
Ric