Dead Body Found in Santa Rosa Mountains

[Cy Kaicener]

A dead body has been found in the Santa Rosa Mts
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a ... 1/71227031

[Cy Kaicener]

Four hikers found the body about two miles above La Quinta Cove. He was identified as a 45 year old La Quinta man by his wallet, and was missing an arm which was probably taken by wild animals.
http://cbs2.com/local/Body.Found.Santa.2.619152.html

[Cy Kaicener]

A hiker on Summitpost said that a friend of his had to fight off coyotes. I found a link that bears this out
http://tchester.org/srp/animals/large_mammals.html

[Cy Kaicener]

Here is what Doreen said
The sad thing about this situation was that a while back, a woman who lives in the Cove saw someone flash a light, so the woman and her son got their flashlight and tried to flash him back with a code. They then called the police and told them what happened, and they didnt do anything about it. What a disgrace. It seems that the guy might have run into an animal and was running and fell. They found his backpack and cell phone, and the way he was laying, it looked as though he fell running.

[halhiker]

Hard to fault the cops here. If he was found two miles from the road you could hardly expect the police to go up there and look for someone, esp. if no one was reported missing. I myself have seen lights flashing in the hills and gone to investigate only to find nothing. I figured it was just kids.

I live in the cove and depending on exactly where the body was found it could have been any number of reasons for this man's death. He could have gotten lost or gone out in summer (news reports said the body was so badly decomposed that they couldn't tell if it was male or female), he could have been drunk or on drugs. He could have fallen from one of the steep hills and gotten injured.

The odd thing is that no one was reported missing that I ever heard of.

I guess it underscores how important it is to let someone know where you're going when you go out and when you expect to return.

On a side note: a friend of mine called my house this morning wondering if I was OK. My wife assured him I am alive and well.

Hal

[Cy Kaicener]

The body of the hiker found in the Santa Rosa mountains has been identified as Rudolfo Lizarraga age 45 of La Quinta (Desert Sun)

[magikwalt]

I agree with Hal. This afternoon I chose to decend off of C2C at a rather fast pace. I caught a toe while moving quickly and if the hiking polls hadn't given me a second chance would have taken a good 30ft drop off the trail. Even though Jean knew where I was she wasn't expecting me for another 3 hours.

I think we all know the risk we take when hiking alone and in the case of a sudden injury. At that altitude and location the cell phone wouldn't work and I doubt anyone was going to hear my whistle. Even if I was able to use either after the fall.

[cynthia23]

I so agree with you guys. Disaster can happen in a second when you are alone. People underestimate how likely one is to take a fall. Just walking is a complex endeavor at the best of times and when you add in fatigue, loose rocks, and bad weather, the chances of falling increase even more. I took a bad spill coming down Skyline (about 4000 feet) one day --I was tired, and I slipped on some dry weeds (now I know better than to walk on them). Even with poles, I came down hard and my arm bounced off a rock spire. I still don't know why my arm didn't break, the impact was definitely hard enough to crack it. (instead i got a giant lump.) But it could just as easily have been my head. The impact surely would have been enough to knock me out. If you are unconscious you can't even call for help, assuming your cell works. This episode with the dead man underscores the Aron Ralston Rule (so named after the guy who had to cut his own arm off to free himself when he became trapped under a rock while canyoneering)--if you go hiking alone, you must, must, must tell someone where you are going and your return time. (Aron Ralston told no one where he was hiking. It was only be pure luck his family figured it out.) If you telll no one where you're going or even that you are going on a hike, no one will come looking for you, even when there are flashing lights (as there was with this guy, apparently) If the authorities don't know with certainty someone is missing, they are unlikely to go looking for you ....

[Cy Kaicener]

If you think that the Santa Rosas are dangerous, read this about farming and game lodges
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7170192.stm

[phydeux]

Geez folks, lots of conspiracy theory-type speculation above (and on the Skyline threads) but is there any more SPECIFIC information on this body?

It seems the body had been there for a while and no one reported anyone missing. No indication he got injured while hiking alone, if he might have been a homicde victim, if he was attacked by a pack of coyotes (or aliens, for that matter-maybe that was the strange lights?), or if he might have been a drug addict that overdosed.

I just hate to see all the paranoid, speculative postings that go one-and-on about hiking alone, vicious wild animals, cell phone importance, etc, etc, etc.

Ranting complete.