jdclifford wrote:That's a good point, Jim. And perhaps Bill walked out of SWC or Johnny Lang knowing he was on his absolute last leg. To the east of Samuelson it looked like just a wide expanse for miles and miles with no hiding from the sun (with no sign of Park Rd. at that point). Then when he begins going north of Samuelson he sees another miles long expanse of land with no hiding from the sun. The less exposed route he took definitely makes more sense now. And his cell phone may or may not have made that famous ping on his last climb upwards to the left, but it probably still had some juice left when he made that decision. So I agree, maybe not so illogical given circumstances.
Ed wrote:How hot was it?
Ed wrote:You left out your mother's ex post assessment of this father-son Christmas misadventure.
Hey, Zip! Nice to see you too. Got a deadline tonight; let me text you tomorrow.zippetydude wrote:Hi HJ. Long time no see: Text me and let me know how things are going...
It was steep and brushy, but also we had gone over multiple dry falls. In several cases, we grabbed big handfuls of willow branches sticking out over the drop and sort of used it as a climbing rope with which to descend. In other cases, if it wasn't too high, we just jumped. It just didn't seem possible to go back up that brutal hell. Little did we know that the next two days would be just as bad. Maybe we should have just forced ourselves to re-climb all we had descended, but we crossed the Sespe in flood and went downstream.zippetydude wrote:I don't mean to hijack the thread, but as a quick aside, " Going back up-canyon just wasn't an option" ? What created the impasse? Cliffed out? Semi-vertical bushwhacking?
Well, I imagine Bill had a camera. On the first day, he probably was fine for the better part of the day. He was probably a happy hiker snapping away. Those pics could give us a really solid idea, maybe, depending on just what he photographed or if the GPS of his camera was on, of his route. Also, knowing what maps he had with him might tell us a little about his thinking, but, again, that's a maybe. The camera would be the real score.zippetydude wrote:Back on track, what further information or clues might be forthcoming after the analysis of the additional evidence recently found? They figure out amazing things in cold cases that I would never have discovered...
I don't know if this is helpful, but there is a SAR group on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/searchandrescue/jdclifford wrote:Off-topic, but does anybody know a website where it be appropriate to post trip reports and tracks for more local searches I'll be doing in and around SW New Mexico? I'm guessing this site would be inappropriate because SW NM is not even remotely close to Mt. San Jacinto. Would Reddit be a good option? Making my own website like Tom sounds like a good idea, but to a brain like mine that seems like rocket science.
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