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SofCookay
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 18, 2015 - 12:54pm PT
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Kind of unusual, no information on cause provided in any case:
* James Michael Millet, Jr. 39 years old, solo on a Yosemite Falls day hike. Left for the hike August 11, body found Aug 31 in the area of North Dome
* Timothy Nolan, 36 years old, backpacking solo from happy isles to Toulumne and back, body found Sept 15th in the backcountry
* Matthew Baldwin, 24 years old on a day hike from Tamarack Flat to El Cap. Left for the hike on August 25th, body found September 6th, El Cap Gully.
Seems like a lot of folks going missing and turning up dead, or is this a normal thing in Yosemite in the summer?
Link to story in Sierra Star http://www.sierrastar.com/2015/09/18/75061_missing-hiker-found-dead-in-yosemite.html?rh=1
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Sep 18, 2015 - 01:29pm PT
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hard to imagine how you end up down in El Cap gully from the trail to Tamarack Flat...
I did that hike with my daughter, back packing into take some pictures of the Moon rise, on Aug. 29...
I didn't think twice about the trail, and my daughter (who is 38) doesn't like exposure, but she didn't appear to have any problems going along the bit that descends from the El Cap summit to the rim trail above the gully and Ribbon Falls area...
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FRUMY
Trad climber
Bishop,CA
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Sep 18, 2015 - 01:55pm PT
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Wouldn't be the first time.
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10b4me
Social climber
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Sep 18, 2015 - 02:02pm PT
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Werner, have any details?
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WBraun
climber
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Sep 18, 2015 - 03:52pm PT
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Werner, have any details?
I'm not at liberty to say anything in public until "official NPS release" of information.
Sorry .....
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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Sep 18, 2015 - 04:00pm PT
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Probably a serial killer
Joke/Not A Joke
Odd sudden pattern with serious lack of info.
Should make for some scary campfire tales until sorted out.
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c wilmot
climber
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Sep 18, 2015 - 04:04pm PT
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Have they ever found George Penca?(missing 2011 on the falls trail)
I hate to say it but a lot of people go to Yos to kill themselves. Its a world class attraction for suicidal folks
It could also be animal related- with the drought and fire- they are stressed
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Sep 18, 2015 - 04:28pm PT
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There is an interactive map of some 700+ documented deaths in the Grand Canyon. Lot of suicides. Includes the airline crash at Chuar Butte that killed 128 in 1956. This accident led to the FAA and air traffic control as we know it today.
A map of Yosemite deaths would be interesting
Grand Canyon Death Map
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Ricky D
Trad climber
Sierra Westside
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Sep 18, 2015 - 04:38pm PT
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Has no one considered -
They look friendly enough -
Then they turn without warning -
The body is dumped to confuse the law -
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Sep 18, 2015 - 06:00pm PT
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...it is beautiful up there.
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overwatch
climber
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Sep 18, 2015 - 06:21pm PT
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the serial killer thing is no joke it has happened in Yosemite before
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Ricky D
Trad climber
Sierra Westside
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Sep 18, 2015 - 07:04pm PT
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El Chapo escapes from jail.
Donald Trump leads the GOP.
Jody reappears on Supertopo.
Mysterious hiker deaths occur in Yosemite.
Coincidence?
I don't think so.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Shetville , North of Los Angeles
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Sep 18, 2015 - 07:47pm PT
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El Chapo has teamed up with that pyscho Cosmic...Stay away from the crags...
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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Sep 18, 2015 - 07:54pm PT
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Kind of unusual El Cap Gully You can remove this one from your conspiracy theory. Descending that gully unrehearsed would be a hell of an undertaking.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Shetville , North of Los Angeles
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Sep 18, 2015 - 08:15pm PT
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Beeyotch..I like the way you incorporated undertaking into the thread...very clever..
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Sep 18, 2015 - 08:15pm PT
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It's a big wilderness out there, plenty of stuff to kill ya loooong before a person will think to.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Sep 18, 2015 - 08:18pm PT
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It's Locker's fault!!!
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overwatch
climber
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Sep 19, 2015 - 12:06am PT
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Cracking me up you are one sick f*#k
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tripmind
Boulder climber
San Diego
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Sep 19, 2015 - 05:21am PT
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classic statistical event. the higher the influx of people going into the park, the higher risk for people to do stupid stuff and get hurt. I would be easily pressed to believe that they embarked on their hikes virtually unprepared and expected to cruise through it. Yosemite can get hot too, or so I've heard.
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Ricky D
Trad climber
Sierra Westside
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Sep 19, 2015 - 08:30am PT
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^^^^I hope you Facelifters plan on using the Buddy System...travel in packs people and never walk alone.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Sep 19, 2015 - 08:38am PT
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Samsquatch. Bubbles told me so.
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GuapoVino
climber
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Sep 19, 2015 - 01:04pm PT
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Pretty interesting link that Jon Beck posted about deaths in the GC. You can zoom in and each category of death is a different icon. You can also read an account of what happened, like this guy who was on his way to "Pancho Villa's Mexico" but instead detoured and ultimately shot himself with a new German pistol which "he admired".
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 19, 2015 - 01:42pm PT
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I gotta knock the second Bushman theory simply because the hazing of new climbers was made illegal and stopped years ago (according to NPS records, at least).
At the same time, I've also always heard there were Bandersnatches and a few old Harpies who lived quietly up on the Rim, moving from spot to spot just like Chongo. These rumors should be thoroughly checked out, too.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Shetville , North of Los Angeles
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Sep 19, 2015 - 04:15pm PT
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Stong and Cosmic were good friends which makes one wonder if window washing is just a front...?
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WBraun
climber
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Sep 19, 2015 - 05:16pm PT
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Hey people ....
There were no serial killers associated with these 3 hikers.
No one was murdered for crying out loud.
Wow !!! you people really get carried away with this stuff .....
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c wilmot
climber
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Sep 19, 2015 - 05:34pm PT
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The story is being ran in every major newspaper in CA. Everyone finds it a little odd.
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Bushman
Social climber
Elk Grove, California
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Sep 19, 2015 - 05:52pm PT
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Braun, Warbler, Cragman, Wilmot,
You are all correct.
In hindsight I see the foolishness and disrespect of my posts,
I have deleted them. My apologies.
-bushman
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Sep 19, 2015 - 07:02pm PT
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How to Avoid Being a Victim of Crime in Baja
Personal Safety: Visitors should be aware of their surroundings at all times, even in areas generally considered safe. Women traveling alone are especially vulnerable and should exercise caution, particularly at night. Victims, often those who are unaccompanied, have been raped, robbed of personal property, or abducted and then held while their credit cards were used at various businesses and Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs). U.S. citizens should be very cautious in general when using ATMs in Mexico. If an ATM must be used, it should be accessed only during the business hours at large protected facilities (preferably inside commercial establishments, rather than at glass-enclosed, highly visible ATMs on streets). U.S. and Mexican citizens are sometimes accosted on the street and forced to withdraw money from their accounts using their ATM cards.
Kidnapping, including the kidnapping of non-Mexicans, continues at alarming rates. So-called "express kidnappings," attempts to get quick cash in exchange for the release of an individual, have occurred in almost all the large cities in Mexico and appear to target the middle class as well as the wealthy.
http://tijuana.usconsulate.gov/avoid-crime-in-baja.html
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Sep 19, 2015 - 07:10pm PT
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Missing Baja surfers:
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Ricky D
Trad climber
Sierra Westside
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Sep 19, 2015 - 10:02pm PT
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As an active participant I feel impelled by the Moral collective to reply to the inference of callousness regarding the passing of innocents.
Let me start by saying that while assuredly presumptuous on my part, I think I have a middling grasp of the sensitivity towards accidental death that people who dedicate their careers to saving doomed souls may have. Perhaps their special insight explains their negative opinion in regards to the concept of gallows humor.
On the other hand, having spent many years involved in various distractions that often involve active death - whether accidental or intentional - I have found my solace in the concept of humorous death.
According to the World health Organization, over 151 thousand people die everyday. I neither sense the loss, care a damn or shed a tear for any of these. People live, people die - it is was it is.
I skydived - people died. I climbed - people died. I was in Rock and Roll - people died. I was involved in drug related activity - people died. I drove to work - people died. I ate bacon and eggs - people died. This exposure led me to develop a healthy sense of what you call Gallows Humor - hell yes we made jokes about the deceased - why the hell not? They paid their money, they took their chances - some got their ticket punched - so what - every thing dies one way or the other - either roll into a ball of emotional fuzz or laugh at death and move on with your own life. Call it cruel - I call it effective.
C'est la vie muthafuker!
What confuses me is if a mere percent of a percent of this daily total of deceased just happens to croak in a place we are familiar with (i.e., Yos) - then now I am supposed to instantly be emotionally attached to this random death and speak with reverence and humility lest some other stranger reads a blog?
Yet I don't hear the gnashing of Net Nanny Teeth over the five year old Syrian kid who drowned off the coast of Greece - but let some dude slide off a cliff in the Holy Valley and all the tears start flowing.
Hypocrisy based on geography.
Death sucks - I get it. I've buried friends and family. I've held some random strangers carotid while he bled out. I've watched a 10 year old go from shock. I've shot some dude who probably did die - never knew for sure. I've watched people fall, bounce, OD and get creamed by a car. And the one thing that always came to the rescue - was the power over death afforded by a tasteless joke.
What defeats Death - laughter does.
so f-it - I still say marmots did it - pffffffffffffffffffffffffffff!
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The Chief
climber
Down the hill & across the Valley from......
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Sep 19, 2015 - 10:04pm PT
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What defeats Death - laughter does.
Odd... never heard of anyone actually laughing at anyone's jokes about them dying after they were, dead.
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WBraun
climber
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Sep 19, 2015 - 10:24pm PT
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What defeats Death - laughter does.
Laughter never defeated any death.
Jump off a 1000 foot cliff without any safety and start laughing.
Body bag will be be your reward ....
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overwatch
climber
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Sep 20, 2015 - 08:01am PT
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So Cragman learned his lesson after the Robin Williams thread?
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overwatch
climber
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Sep 20, 2015 - 08:36am PT
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You showed lack of sensitivity, sorry if the parallel escapes you.
Supertopo Forum is barely a climbing site.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Shetville , North of Los Angeles
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Sep 20, 2015 - 08:51am PT
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Well said Moose man...
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Winemaker
Sport climber
Yakima, WA
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Sep 20, 2015 - 10:12am PT
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Yes. I deleted my disrespectful post. Sorry.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Sep 20, 2015 - 10:17am PT
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Flip Flop
climber
Earth Planet, Universe
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Sep 20, 2015 - 11:24am PT
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Be there or be slandered.
Semper Farcissimus.
In the event that I die first then I hope you all get a good belly laugh.
Unless it's a famine; in which case, you can eat me;)
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Sep 20, 2015 - 11:29am PT
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And illegitimus non carborundum, too!
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Bargainhunter
climber
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Sep 20, 2015 - 02:49pm PT
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Ricky D wrote I've shot some dude who probably did die
There is a story here, we are listening...
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rookers
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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Sep 28, 2015 - 12:34pm PT
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Psycho Kenny?
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duke of puke
climber
boulder, co
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Sep 28, 2015 - 12:37pm PT
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Naaa... Kenny may have been psycho, but he wasn't vindictive. Has anybody looked at their life insurance policies?
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Sep 28, 2015 - 12:41pm PT
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Tunnels built by the Illuminati under Walmart and now these serial killings?
Related?
:)
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Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
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Sep 28, 2015 - 03:53pm PT
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Has it been concluded that these were just three random unrelated events...
Werner?
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reveriesof
Social climber
San Francisco
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On September 13th, just a few days into the SAR efforts to find Timothy Nolan, I ventured up to Vogelsang via Lyell Canyon. As a frequent solo hiker, I was conscious the entire trip that a fellow adventurer was lost, injured, or dead, probably within a small radius radiating from Vogelsang, with a high probability of being within 100 yards of a trail.
I was disheartened to learn when I returned to the city that very day his body had been discovered off the High Sierra Trail Camp loop trail. I have been further troubled by the paucity of information about his death, and doubly so by the vague accounts of the other recent deaths in the park. For those of you who are as interested and concerned about these occurrences as I am, I wanted to share what I know about the conditions on the ground around this time and what I learned from the YOSAR team searching for Timothy, and what I've gleaned from the internet after the fact (not much).
Lets quell the conspiracy theories: the first death occurred 8/12/15 when James Millet Jr suffered a fatal fall in the North Dome vicinity. You can google his obituary. Unfortunately nobody knew James was climbing in Yosemite, and it took nearly three weeks before anyone thought to look for him. It's impossible to say whether this lapse cost him his life. I can appreciate the humor that people have shown in this thread, as well as the compassion that others have for the feelings of the families. But to insinuate in utter ignorance that he was murdered is grotesque--it's also really normal for people to jump to the worst conclusions, and the less you know the worse you assume. So I'm not judging anyone here.
Everyone on this forum knows you're more likely to get murdered in the city or the 'burbs. Most of us also know that the very rocks and chasms that make Yosemite so especially beautiful also make it especially dangerous. I haven't found an official death registry for the NPS, but by googling around I get the impression that about a dozen people might die in Yosemite in a year. Of the 4 million people that visit the park every year, each has a better than 99.999997% chance of living to tweet the selfie. I think it is more illuminating to read the YOSAR logs about the hikers and climbers who get rescued, those who survive.
The first thing to consider about the two later deaths: Yosemite during this time was hot and smoky. Not only was Tenaya Canyon burning, prevailing winds were pushing smoke from the much larger northern fires into a plume spanning from Caribou (Lassen) at least as far south as Yosemite. Dangerous levels of air pollution were being warned against by the weather service forecasts and the park service. I served a tourist group breakfast in San Francisco and they reported 9/8 that they couldn't see a thing in Yosemite. Indeed, I nearly turned around as I drove through the thick belt of grimy air pervading altitudes from 3-5k. The haze persisted well up to Tuolumne Meadows, where a few small, contained fires were still smoldering.
Under these circumstances, I am not in the least surprised if dayhikers are disappearing in Yosemite. The kid who disappeared on the trail from Tamarack Flat, evidently didn't tell anyone where he was going, had surprised his roommates by shaving his head before he disappeared, his parents were "concerned about his well-being", seems like a troubled young man but I am drawing big conclusions here.
Timothy was out on a 6 day excursion, and he was equipped for it. I was shown photos of his gear by SAR members, it represented a fair sample of a high-end backpacker's catalog. I do not know how experienced he was at using it, nor do I know what mixture of confidence and naivety (always a delicate balance in my own trip planning) inspired him to undertake such a big trip by himself.
The YOSAR copter made brief excursions around the nooks of the Vogelsang and Echo Creek drainages between breaks in the rolling storms sweeping the high country. Two ground searchers came up over Vogelsang Pass to see if anyone had seen his gear set up along the way. It appears he disappeared while moving between camps.
As I hiked out Rafferty Creek, two more SAR crew were coming up with a cattle dog, the luckiest dog in the world to hike these forbidden trails. They informed me that Timothy's phone pinged a tower on Sentinel Dome on 9/4, his departure day. Not much of a clue. They were planning to search the way by Emeric Lake down to Merced Camp, weather permitting. When I had departed Vogelsang Camp that morning it was just beginning to snow, though a mere 1000 ft below Tuolumne Pass I had already peeled off my layers.
The Mariposa County Sheriff takes responsibility for the autopsies of Yosemite's dead. I think anyone willing to take a drive to their headquarters could procure at least redacted information about cause and time of death of these people. Often these situations began with a lapse in judgment or an accident, that sparks a downward spiral of mistakes and confusion. It could be be a rockfall, a slip, illness, altitude, doesn't take a lot of imagination.
Personally, I think the NPS would do better to publish this information. I have discovered a movement of theorists who think there is an NPS cover up of potentially supernatural phenomena causing hikers to *sometimes* disappear in clusters. I told an oldtimer about this theory and he agreed: "they do disappear in clusters, it's called summer!" Sometimes telling people the truth is better than the alternative.
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Herb Swedlund told me story of a "murder" in Yosemite years ago.
He was working for YP&&CCo, (I seem to recall he was a wine steward for the Ahwahnee)living in employee housing with a room mate. One morning his room mate left while he was asleep. When he awoke he saw thatthe room mate had had a huge nosebleed in bed and his pillow was soaked with blood. Herb thought it had great potential for a joke, so he left a note on the bed saying "The body is in the closet" and went off to work. A maid came in later and went hysterical, called the rangers. As NPS at that time didn't have anyone qualified to handle a murder investigation, they sealed the room and called in the FBI.
Good joke. Job terminated.
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ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
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My attention span is short. How did the three die.
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Deacon
Boulder climber
lancaster ca
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Dec 24, 2015 - 02:01pm PT
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George Penca is alive and well in Hawthorne, CA. Why after all this time you can't find the media announcement can't say but he's there.
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c wilmot
climber
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Dec 25, 2015 - 12:37pm PT
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What happened to George Penca then?
Why did he let a search for him continue when he was not lost?
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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Dec 25, 2015 - 09:52pm PT
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.. Young Male Solo Hikers .. One of my best friends/ relatives did Illiluoette Canyon up and back , Yosemite creek from SR 120 to the valley, and LeConte gulley, all solo multi-days in the 70s. Just a beach rat from Orange County too.
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