Bill Ewasko found?

[jdclifford]

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.

[Hikin_Jim]

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.

There's still so much we don't know.

• What time did he actually start?
• Did he summit Quail Mtn or not?
• Did he descend Smith Water?
• Did he descend Johhny Lang?
• Did he descend another route?
• How do we account for four days of his time (the last day not being a full day in all probability)?
• How much water did he have?
• From the mouth of Smith Water, why does he go north? (I propose route finding error in the dark, but I don't really know)
• Did he go up Smith Water and then come back down? Or did he descend the whole length? Or did he just travel to the mouth?

We do know a few things though:

• He started at Juniper Flats Backcountry Board
• His stated intention was to be out by 5:00 PM (so how does he get so far from his trailhead?)
• He appeared to be travelling at night at least in the last day of his hike (he was a vet, and that is how I was trained in Army survival training, "SERE").
• He probably was at the mouth of Smith Water.
• He doesn't appear to be injured.
• He was probably still ambulatory on Sunday, hence the ping.

If the hiker who saw his car is recalling correctly, Bill would have gotten a rather late start, after 10:30 AM. Even if the hiker was wrong about Bill's car being there, memory being a funny thing, he still probably didn't start before 9:00 AM. How does a guy with a late start get all the way out to Smith Water if he wants to be out by 5:00 PM?

Perhaps irrelevant, but in my 3 day ordeal in December, 1984, I was on a day hike with my dad, and my mother had threatened him with bodily harm if he didn't come home in time for that evening's Christmas Party. Like Bill, we changed plans on the fly, but we still intended to be out by 5:00 PM. In a hurry, hastily planned (if it can be called planning) hikes can have really negative consequences. We were in such a hurry to be on time that we weren't checking our map regularly even though both of us were proficient map readers and knew better. We wound up overshooting our exit canyon, going down a wild and rugged canyon, and coming to a point where we suddenly knew we had seriously screwed up. My famous line on the east bank of Sespe Creek: "but, dad, there aren't any rivers on this hike." Going back up-canyon just wasn't an option; it took us two more days to extricate ourselves. We had neither supplies nor equipment.

If Bill descended Smith Water, his predicament would have been a whole lot like ours: Retreat would not be a good option, and it's a long, slow, hard hike out. By the grace of God, our luck held out (we really should have died of exposure). Bill was not so similarly blessed.

HJ

[Hikin_Jim]

How hot was it?

I remember reading the following in the FOIA post:

HJ

[Ed]

Thanks for the temperature information, HJ. Pretty much in agreement with my quick lookup and mental elevation adjustment. And thanks for your personal survival story. Brrr! Makes me shiver to think of two nights out without suitable gear in December, even in lower elevation Southern California. You left out your mother's ex post assessment of this father-son Christmas misadventure.

[zippetydude]

Hi HJ. Long time no see: Text me and let me know how things are going (909-213-6833).

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?

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...

z

[jdclifford]

Wow, sure sounds a lot like my 3 day ordeal 25 years after yours. Friend tells his wife where we were going hiking that morning. I tell nobody. We end up going to a completely different part of the Gila National Forest than what he had told her. An APB was put out and a park ranger finds the vehicle over 48 hours after we set out on the hike. It wasn't too hot but it got down to the low 40s at night and all I was wearing was a light t-shirt and basketball shorts. I wasn't anticipating me and my friend basically spooning each other that night, but you gotta do what you gotta do to survive, right? LOL To make a very long story short, I got separated midday from him on the 3rd day. I ended up getting spotted by a border patrol helicopter volunteering for the search effort. He was found by a ground team based off of the general direction I had traveled from and how long I had been walking after getting lost from him, which was 2 to 3 hours. I couldn't have made the trek it if not for a mud puddle I found. Nastiest water ever, but boy it sure tasted good at the time. Actually, that gets beaten by the time I filtered stagnant water teeming with horse fly larvae to the point that I couldn't scoop it without getting a few mixed in...blechhhh!

So yeah, I'm the guy who got lost when he was already lost. Hand me the idiot trophy now!

I'll tell you one thing though, on that 3rd day when I got lost for the 2nd time (essentially not having slept in almost 60 hours because of the cold), I just remember lying down on the forest floor and finally confronting serious thoughts about my mortality. And I'm no religous man by any means, but I felt disgusted by the idea of not being found after death and having my bones remain in the place in which I felt such physical, mental, and emotional pain. I can't say others in those situations feel the same way, but I would bet most would. So, I'm thankful foremost for Bill's family that he has been found, but I'm also thankful for Bill even though he is now gone. Not only because his bones won't turn to dust in the place of his greatest pain, but because it strikes down all the conspiracy theories. It couldn't be easy to be a loved one of his and hear rumors he purposely disappeared or faked his own death, as much as you would know it wasn't true.

[jdclifford]

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.

[Hikin_Jim]

You left out your mother's ex post assessment of this father-son Christmas misadventure.

It was sort of a running joke in the family thereafter that dad had played it well. If dad had come back late that night or early the next morning, well, it wouldn't have pretty. But in coming back alive after being missing for several days, well, all was forgiven.

Funny anecdote: When we finally got to the Oak Flat Ranger Station, the ranger allowed us to use their telephone. Dad made me make the call, the big chicken.

HJ

[Hikin_Jim]

Hi HJ. Long time no see: Text me and let me know how things are going...

Hey, Zip! Nice to see you too. Got a deadline tonight; let me text you tomorrow.

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?

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.

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...

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.

On my 1984 hike, I had photos at first, but once I realized that we were in a survival situation, I shoved the camera into the bottom of the backpack, put my head down, and got about the business of staying alive. I do remember developing the film later and having a photo of icicles hanging off of some of the falls that weren't dry. It was freaking cold. Like I say, we should both have been dead.

Of course, Bill's photos might never be made public, and we may never really know.

Personally, I'm starting to think that he really did descend Smith Water Canyon. He was still mobile on Sunday and in good enough shape to ascend to the ridges between Pts 4282 and 3976. He wasn't injured. It's about 16 to 17 miles from the Juniper Flats Backcountry Board to where Bill was located. A strong hiker could do that in a day, even with some cross country thrown in. Even if it took him two days to get there, he doesn't show up until the morning of the fourth day. Where's he been all this time? And why didn't he just back track as soon as he realized he was in trouble?

I'm guessing, and, yes, it is a guess, that he went for Smith Water cross country from the ridges leading to Quail Mtn. The problem with dropping into Smith Water from the east is that it's steep and dicey, and it just gets steeper the closer you get to the canyon bottom. It can be done if you're decent with maps and take the time to really do your homework, but Bill was doing this all on the fly. If he chose the wrong drop in route to Smith Water, he may have found himself in a situation where he couldn't get up something he had gotten down. Now he's committed. He a) has to get to the bottom of Smith Water and b) has to descend Smith Water in order to get out.

Maybe the first night, Thursday, he finds a flatish spot to lie down somewhere on the walls of Smith Water Canyon. On day two, Friday, he figures out a way to finally get down to the bottom. Particularly if he found water, he might hole up for a day, but at some point, the realization that "no one knows where I am" and "I'm going to die if I don't get myself out of here" sets in. Bill's a survivor and he's not stupid. He waits until nightfall on day 3, Saturday the 26th, and continues to wait until the full moon gives him enough illumination. He moves down canyon. He probably intends to take the little connector trail to the Quail Springs Road and exit via the road, but he, quite understandably, misses the little trail in the poor light. At some point, he realizes that he's gone too far north. He corrects to the east and heads up the wash through which the Mary Trail runs. Somewhere toward the upper end of the wash he either makes a very serious navigational error or decides to try to climb to get signal so he can call for help. A ping does get out, but he doesn't get a call out. At the top of the ridge, his energy, and his luck, run out.

Now, my latest crack pot theory is probably not correct, but something like that had to happen.

• Something had to hold him up from hiking out all on day one. This is one tough dude; after four days in the desert, he's still able to climb up near Pt 4282'.
• He had to have a pretty good reason not to just backtrack to his vehicle which was about 8 miles to the ESE; instead he heads north, farther away, and winds up 4 miles north of Quail Mtn.
• He had to have a reason to be in the mouth of Smith Water Canyon; having just descended Smith Water Canyon would be a pretty good reason to be at the mouth of the canyon.
• There had to be a reason he didn't exit the canyon until Sunday after starting on Thursday. Getting hung up on the descent, holing up somewhere in Smith Water, or a combination of the two could account for the time between Thursday and Sunday.

Again, this very likely is not exactly how it went, but something along these lines had to have happened.

HJ

[Hikin_Jim]

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.

I don't know if this is helpful, but there is a SAR group on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/searchandrescue/

HJ