Story of missing hiker in Joshua Tree NP

[Hikin_Jim]

Not being familiar with the area, I plotted the (very general) location of the skull. Sounds like it may be unrelated, but one never knows.

HJ

[OtherHand]

That charming area seems to be something of a body dump. There was a body found around there last December. Probably not Bill due to the mention of a "bullet hole" in the skull.

Stay away from Dillon Road and Thousand Palms!

[Hikin_Jim]

Yeah, probably unrelated.

However, in looking at a map I can see how a person heading generally east on the Calif Riding & Hiking Trail might either miss the turn that is in the vicinity of "A" on the above map or try a short cut to Stubbe Spring. The terrain might well funnel them down south toward Dillon Rd and Thousand Palms Canyon Rd. Such a course wouldn't explain the cell phone ping though.

HJ

[WOLFDOG]

I know where that is from the Newspaper pic. That is the road that goes northeast up Fan Hill Canyon and then follows eastward along the Colorado River Aqueduct. Used to go up there alot to park my car, and then head up into the back country towards Keys View/Hidden Gold Mine. Not anymore as it is a dangerous place, lots of target shooting and littering. Couple of years ago, even came across a fresh, heavily blood stained gauze pad just west of this road on a side dirt road to this one. I was about to go up Fan Hill in the next week to do some backcountry, but in seeing this article, just reiterates for me to never go here again. Very, Very Sad....

[halhiker]

I am familiar with that area and it's conceivable that he traveled down that way. If he took a turn to the south from either the California Hiking and Riding trail or went down canyon from Stubbe Spring he could have ended up there.

I have hiked to Key's View from there several times and have also hiked to Covington Flat from there. It seems plausible to me. I've always wondered if he took a turn downhill like the guy from LA who got lost a couple years ago. I don't know about the gunshot speculation. We'll see what the coroner says.

Personally, I'm not too concerned about hiking in the area myself. I was just out there a couple weeks ago looking for another route up toward Fan Canyon overlook. No problems. Didn't see another soul.

[Myth]

I came across OtherHand's web site a couple months ago and read all about Bill there. I forget how I got on there initially, the Internet has ways to take you places you never knew existed.

I've read much of the site & found the search and rescue stories particularly interesting. I'm one of those who like the faraway nooks and crannies but do not get to visit too often.

I read this thread yesterday and this morning I thought of something. If Bill had a compass with him but not a very detailed map ( for example, the park's overview map ), could his place of residence have factored into some of the decisions he made? In Georgia, magnetic declination is ~4 degrees west. In Joshua Tree, it is around 12 degrees east. That is somewhat of a difference, and if he was injured, lost or disoriented, trying to walk out to some of the areas northerly of where he is thought to have aimed initially, he may have veered off course into an unexpected place if he wasn't considering the change in inclination and didn't have a map with that information marked.

Just a thought, I haven't sat down with a map or the data available yet. I was in my car on the way to work when this thought popped up.

[Hikin_Jim]

That's an interesting thought. If he knew enough about maps to understand that in Georgia (in 2010) the declination was about -4.5° (Atlanta) but did not know that in California the declination was about +12.5° (Los Angeles), a difference of some seventeen degrees* of arc, he could have made some kind of navigational error.

Perhaps even more likely, he may not have known the difference between a westerly declination (in Georgia, magnetic north lies west of true north) and an easterly declination (in California, magnetic north lies east of true north).

So, assuming he made some kind of error in determining where true north lies, where do you think he might have gone, and how does that square with the cell phone ping that was detected?

HJ

*The earth's globe (and your compass) is divided into 360 degrees. Each degree is further broken down into 60 minutes. Standard 1:24,000 USGS topo maps represent 7.5 minutes of the earth's globe, 1/8th of a degree. Each minute is further subdivided into 60 seconds.

[OtherHand]

That's an interesting thought. If he knew enough about maps to understand that in Georgia (in 2010) the declination was about -4.5' (Atlanta) but did not know that in California the declination was about +12.5' (Los Angeles), a difference of some seventeen minutes* of arc, he could have made some kind of navigational error.

You meant Degrees of arc. I know you meant degrees.

17 degrees would be a difference in direction of about 7" (two palm widths?) at arm's length.

[Hikin_Jim]

Er, yes, degrees not minutes. Thanks for that. Post corrected.

HJ

[halhiker]

http://goo.gl/lk8m8