The narrative mentions something interesting.
SATURDAY 6/26/10
At approximately 14:30 hours, Deputy Rinkert informed me that he found several itineraries and maps in the condo that EWASKO was using. (emphasis mine)
Do we know what kind of maps those were? Topo maps? If there were topo maps, maybe Bill had more maps with him than I initially assumed. That could be very important. If he had a quad with Smith Water on it, that would make it more likely that he'd cut XC trying to get to it. Hard to imagine cutting XC to get a canyon that only vaguely know is a couple of miles north of me, although I suppose desperate thirst could have impelled him.
I'm back looking at the topography again. There are a number of (more or less) north-south canyons that intervene between Quail Mountain Ridge and Smith Water Canyon. Those intervening canyons would take you towards Quail Springs/Samuelsons Rock. You'd have to stay fairly far to the west I would think to skirt those drainages and hit the saddle that leads you over the major ridge between Smith Water and Quail. If you stay west, you'd tend to gravitate toward the saddle we've talked about previously which in turn would feed you into the distinctive drainage that goes down to Smith Water, the drainage where the "suspicious" smell was detected.
You'd be somewhat bounded by the two ridges marked on
this map, bounded that is if you were really going to Smith-Water, a fairly big "if." The first ridge is marked by points "A" through "J", and the second ridge is marked by points "K" through "N," joining the first rige at point "H."
Bill is coming from the SE and going to the NW. He has to cross the second ridge. There are three saddles that would seem logical crossing points. Those three saddles are marked by points "L," "M," and "N."
QUESTION: Based on your first hand observation, which of those saddles is the obvious passage from the SE to get to Smith Water? "M" or "N?"
HJ