Jim, I hate to be such a stick in the desert mud, 'cause you certainly are thinking, but a couple points.
Cell coverage is the big problem with Bill getting hurt anywhere on the upper slopes of Quail Mt. The Serin tower isn't the only one around. Have a look at the following. I took Verizon's coverage map and overlaid it onto Google Earth. It's not perfect, but it's close. Note the excellent coverage on upper Quail on the SE slopes. It tends to jive with my non-scientific tests with my own phone.
http://www.otherhand.org/Stuff/ne_quail_cell.jpg
Early on, I was working on the theory that Bill had gone to the Lang Mine area (also on his itinerary) instead of Quail, got injured and attempted a self-rescue to the Lost Horse station less than 2 miles away. Looks like a great idea on a map and much shorter than a return to his vehicle. So I did JT6.
Oh yeah, no big deal, so I did it solo. OMG. That was a place I should NOT have been by my lonesome. The climb up was sort of lousy, lots of big rocks, but the descent in the canyon to the SE was awful. I wanted to kiss the ground when I got down. I now realize I grouped that trip in with the others in the initial bunch of trip reports, and I probably shouldn't have. It deserved a SPECIAL mention. What I have done is gone back in and
included some pictures of the trip in the report
We eventually went back through that area one last time
in JT8. I let the crazies go the nasty route and I took the (slightly) saner one. They had fun as they were all serious rock climbers. I like the ground.
I think the idea of self-rescue to Lost Horse was an excellent idea, and JT6 was one of the trips I had the sense I could come upon Bill at any moment. It felt very right. But the topography absolutely channels anyone into the canyon bottom, and those have been gone over pretty well. I can't tell you how many holes I stopped at and peered down. There is really only one obvious route east and two other less obvious routes, so that's why there isn't a lot of tracks.
But if someone wants a rocky challenge, just head west from Lost Horse!