View Full Version : Yosemite, missing persons yet to be found
If for no other reason that to give their families and friends closure, I hope that someday their disappearances are resolved.
https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/These-13-people-went-missing-in-Yosemite-16629374.php?IPID=SFGate-HP-Editors-Picks
slowdive
11-19-2021, 00:42
The Stacy Arras case is a strange one when you read the story. It's in one of the Missing 411 books by David Paulides, goes into detail on the case. It must be unimaginable what these families go through to never have closure.
Odd Man Out
11-20-2021, 00:16
We were at Yosemite 10 years ago. There were so many missing hikers that year, the Today show did a live broadcast about it from the parking lot right outside our lodge room. There was a group of people who disappeared while swimming above the falls along the mist Trail in the spring. We were there a few months later when water levels was dropping. While hiking the mist trail, I expected to see them. It wasn't me, but the next day, a hiker saw the bodies. They closed the trail during the recovery.
Odd Man Out
11-20-2021, 00:20
We were ther a couple months after George Penca disappeared. There were a lot of signs in the falls trail about him. I guess he was never found.
Loved what they were doing....
Live hard,die hard......
I mean no disrespect, but it's better than meeting your demise sitting watching the life Channel, yes?
slowdive
11-21-2021, 00:48
Makes a good argument for a SPOT or similar device.
Odd Man Out
11-21-2021, 10:40
Makes a good argument for a SPOT or similar device.
The drops at Yosemite are high enough you may actually have time to push the SOS button (and enjoy the view) on the way down, but it won't do you any good. Nor will it help those people who went swimming above a waterfall during peak spring run off.
I'm not saying that satellite communicators are not a good idea, but they are only effective when someone CAN call for help AND when calling for help WILL improve the outcome.
slowdive
11-21-2021, 13:15
Chances are if you are swimming above a waterfall during peak spring run off, you are oblivious to what a PLB is anyways. Interesting note, I did notice the majority of backpackers I ran into while hiking from the Yosemite Visitor Center to Tuolmne Meadows area last month or so had some sort of PLB hanging off their pack. I of course, did not, but I wasn't alone and I can scream really loud.
BlackCloud
11-22-2021, 10:29
I wonder if this number of missing persons is comparable to other large and well visited park areas. Do this many people per thousand randomly meet their demise in the woods or is Yosemite somehow different?
slowdive
11-23-2021, 09:59
I wonder if this number of missing persons is comparable to other large and well visited park areas. Do this many people per thousand randomly meet their demise in the woods or is Yosemite somehow different?
Since you opened that door, I will leave a link. There is a whole series of books and a few documentaries that ask the same questions. There is also a YouTube channel as well. If I remember correctly, Yosemite has the highest number of missing cases and I feel its impart to the high number of visitors.
https://www.canammissing.com/page/page/8396197.htm
BlackCloud
11-23-2021, 11:07
Since you opened that door, I will leave a link. There is a whole series of books and a few documentaries that ask the same questions. There is also a YouTube channel as well. If I remember correctly, Yosemite has the highest number of missing cases and I feel its impart to the high number of visitors.
https://www.canammissing.com/page/page/8396197.htm
Fascinating page but it requires a password to view most subpages.
Traveler
11-24-2021, 09:33
Places like Yosemite and it's bookend attraction on the East Coast the White Mountains (where nearly 150 people have lost their lives in the Presidential range), host a considerable number of people annually. A lot of these people have little if any experience being out on their own in forest lands, never mind wilderness areas, often mistaking a pristine and lovely setting as being welcoming and safe. People not realizing how quickly dangerous situations can develop trudge out of trailhead parking lots into the woods looking for a little adventure, end up getting a little turned around, and the chain is forged. Since there is warning signage about the hazards ahead people walk by on their way to a grand adventure, it would appear the signs are either ineffective, are not believed until it is too late, or are just ignored.
Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions that can be employed to dissuade the unprepared from going headlong into the bush unprepared. For hiking, an old bromide from the aviation world can be modified to read:
"The mountains in and of themselves are not inherently dangerous. But to even a greater degree than the sea, they are terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity, or neglect." I've often wondered if that sign coupled with a sign showing the head count of people who are missing or have died to date (including people that were found requiring medical attention) may provide a sobering thought or two for those who want to wander in their tennis sneakers and tee shirts amongst the flora and fauna where there is always something in that environment trying to stick you, sting you, or strike you.
BlackCloud
11-24-2021, 10:49
Well they don't know what they don't know. They don't know that they are unprepared. At the South Rim of the Grand Canyon the NPS has installed detailed signs at the trailheads spelling out the dangers and needed gear (water) and rescues have declined.
It's one thing to twist an ankle in sneakers; or to run out of water; or to get soaking wet b/c you have no coat. This thread is about altogether missing people. That's a whole other level.