[pct-l] Out of Contact Hikers on PCT

Fri May 15 10:11:34 CDT 2009

Hello, Josh, Absolutely No Offence taken at all and both of those are good 
questions,
As far as experience, Both of them are Experienced Hikers, and have been 
hiking for many years,
and as as far as them doing their own thing, Yes they are known to do that, 
BUT since the trail head, they have been in contact within every 2-3 days 
via Spot, not only to map their progress, but also as a quick check in.
The last phone contact was on the 3rd, and the last spot check in was on the 
eve of the 6th.
And believe me I would love for this to be just a situation of no phone 
service and the batteries are out of the unit, But on day 9 without any kind 
of contact, I am a bit concerned.
Wes

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Josh" <559josh at gmail.com>
To: "'Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com'" <diane at santabarbarahikes.com>; 
"'The Dosey Family'" <dart at uneedspeed.net>
Cc: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 7:54 AM
Subject: RE: [pct-l] Out of Contact Hikers on PCT

>I think two very major things that haven't been asked are:
> 1) How experienced are these hikers?
> 2) Have they been known to do their own thing or do they ALWAYS follow an
> itinerary...and if the latter, are they the type of people who SURELY 
> would
> have let someone know of their intended whereabouts or more like me where
> having home-support is nice but hiking is about getting away from
> civilization as opposed to trying to stay in constant contact with it?
>
> I just want to rule out a genuine "Missing" couple as opposed to someone 
> at
> home who's mind may be pondering the "What If" factor...NO OFFENSE 
> intended
> to Wes.
>
> Josh
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
> On Behalf Of Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com
> Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 7:48 AM
> To: The Dosey Family
> Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Out of Contact Hikers on PCT
>
> Well, from that location they could have gone to Cabazon and played in the
> casino for a while or picked up mail or a few supplies. It's even possible
> to go to Palm Springs instead, but surely they would have called.
>
> After that they could have stopped in at the wind farm but probably 
> didn't.
> After that they would have entered wilderness and probably camped 
> somewhere
> near one of the creeks, Whitewater or Mission.
>
> Then between Mission Creek and Big Bear there are several campgrounds, but
> they are without much in the way of services. People can access some of 
> them
> by 4WD road. Two that hikers often stay at are Mission Creek Trail Camp 
> and
> Arrastre Trail Camp.
>
> After these, the next stop is usually Big Bear. If they didn't stop in Big
> Bear they would have had cellphone coverage in the area for a few miles.
> After that I don't think they would have much coverage for a couple of 
> days
> until they passed Deep Creek and emerged near the Mojave Dam.
>
> You said that their last contact was the 6th. It's now the 15th.
> That's 9 days. In that amount of time I had made it to Wrightwood from
> Cabazon.
>
> In any of their contacts with you did they say anything about meeting any
> interesting people? If they did, you might be able to find those people on
> trail journals or postholer and see if they say anything about your 
> friends.
>
> Diane
>
> On May 15, 2009, at 7:04 AM, The Dosey Family wrote:
>
>>
>> Hello Diane, The only contact is the spot unit, they have a Sprint
>> cell phone, but from what I have heard so far it does not sound
>> like they will have any signal, beyond that the only journal is
>> with them, no online blog or posting that I know of.  Is there any
>> Campground they might have stopped at between the Fountain at snow
>> creek and Big bear? I saw one on the map the Heart Bar Campground?
>> but dont know if that would even be a possibility for them or not?
>> Thank you
>> Wes
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes
>> dot com" <diane at santabarbarahikes.com>
>> To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
>> Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 6:55 AM
>> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Out of Contact Hikers on PCT
>>
>>
>>>
>>> On May 14, 2009, at 10:20 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>>>> No at all, This is the message recieved from the Spot.
>>>> SPOT Check OK. All is good in the woods!
>>>> ESN:0-7478317
>>>> Latitude:33.878
>>>> Longitude:-116.6794
>>>> Nearest Location:not known
>>>> Distance:not known
>>>> And here is the link to the map as well.
>>>>
>>>> Time:05/06/2009 18:52:19 (US/Pacific)
>>>> http://maps.google.com/maps?
>>>> f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=33.878,-116.6794&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
>>>>
>>>> Thank you.
>>>> Wes
>>>>
>>>
>>> From the picture on the map, it looks like they made it down to the
>>> drinking fountain at Snow Creek. They aren't lost on Fuller Ridge or
>>> anything like that. So their next step would have been the long hot
>>> cross of the desert divide and the long slog up to Big Bear. That
>>> ought to take only 3 or 4 days or so.
>>>
>>> Were they using trail journals or postholer or some other blogging
>>> tool to keep an online journal?
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Pct-l mailing list
>>> Pct-l at backcountry.net
>>> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>>
>
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