I just finished reading through the
SAR narrative. Interesting reading. The scent dogs reacted positively to the red bandana as though Bill had handled it, but they also reacted positively to the Stater Bros. water bottles that were found that were clearly not Bill's. Go fish.
I also re-read all the JTxx search narratives. Looks like the area between Quail and Smith Water has gotten a fair amount of coverage although good luck on covering every nook and cranny of that. A million places to hide.
Yipes. I can see why you'd post it up here. You can thank me later for coming up with theories that you'd already thought of.
I guess at least you know other back country traveller types are looking at the situation and seeing some of the same things you are.
Fresh ideas? Uh, I'll have to get back to you on that. Maybe it's something like that guy who went for a walk near Big Bear on the night of a storm. They never found him until Spring. He had crawled under a log for shelter and had succumbed to the elements. Maybe in a similar fashion Bill found some sheltered spot that would be difficult to detect and only time and dumb luck will find him.
Some people know that my dad died while out on a hike in January, 2004, near Wrightwood. It was 9 days of hell until his body was found. I can't imagine what things are like for Bill's family. I think the search for Bill is a worthy one.
I just wish I had some brilliant insight right about now. Afraid I'm a little short in the brilliant insight department at the moment. Quail to Smith Water still seems like the area somehow, but that's not much more than a hunch. I've got very little to back that up except a track visible in satellite photos, a red bandana that appears to have been found near the track, a cellphone dead zone up on the ridge that just happens to be where the track takes you, and then a single, brief ping 10.6 miles from a cell tower -- a ping that suggests that Bill traveled
away from his car, perhaps into the area between Quail and Smith Water.
One further comment: My dad's gear cache wasn't found until Summer 2007 by a local who just happened to stumble across it. I had been asking around, so people knew who I was and how to contact me. A lot of that gear was toast after multiple years in the elements, but some of that gear I still have (and use). It's my way of having my dad with me. Having some of my dad's old gear is a nice thing for me, but the point is that SAR related things can still be found after multiple years. But then we already knew that based on the Death Valley German Tourist incident, didn't we?
HJ