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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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Oct 16, 2017 - 09:44am PT
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It's unbelievable that it took so long to find the bodies.
They had groups of searchers WITH cadaver dogs the first couple weeks after the 2 disappeared!
Why couldn't the dogs find them then??
Are the dogs not that good in the desert for some reason?
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Oct 16, 2017 - 10:16am PT
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As I recall it was very hot during the search, up around 100? That'll shut down the dogs.
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BigB
Trad climber
Red Rock
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Oct 16, 2017 - 10:36am PT
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The searchers said they were covering new grounds and were scaling 30 foot cliffs and boulders
maybe height played a roll?
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Oct 16, 2017 - 12:36pm PT
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Not being familiar with the specific topology, I am continually surprised that searches get done great distances from LKP, only to find the person within a mile. Seems like that is the common scenario.
Not a criticism, but one can't help but wonder if the algorithm for searching might not be better focused on the immediate area, than looking long distances FIRST.
I imagine a lot of this will change with the usage of drones......
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 16, 2017 - 12:47pm PT
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A friend’s girlfriend got lost in JTNP. In the command center I stood there and told them to look in the valley immediately adjacent to where we last saw her.* She would only have needed to go about 75’ up and over the intervening ridge to get into that valley.
“Oh, she wouldn’t have gone that way. We know.”
After they couldn’t find her where they wanted to find her they finally found her right where I told them to look at 2030. They found her about 0130. :-/
*
”SIT HERE! Read yer book. You’ve plenty of water and snacks. Yer in the shade.
**DON’T MOVE!!! We’ll be back in a few hours.”
LOL! I guess we shouldn’t have said “DON’T MOVE!”?
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10b4me
Mountain climber
Retired
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Oct 16, 2017 - 01:04pm PT
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The searchers said they were covering new grounds and were scaling 30 foot cliffs and boulders
maybe height played a roll? I wonder if they climbed up something(to get a better view)?
Kris, as I recall, it was way over 100 degrees.
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WBraun
climber
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Oct 16, 2017 - 01:27pm PT
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Where they found with cell phone/s?
Does cellular work at the point where they were found and what carriers work at that location if so?
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crankster
Trad climber
No. Tahoe
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Oct 16, 2017 - 02:41pm PT
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Found by dad, embracing. So sad. Hadn't heard the part about the hallucinogens in their room.
Authorities have found the bodies of two missing southern California hikers in Joshua Tree National Park — locked in a final embrace.
The couple was reported missing in July after an Airbnb host noticed that Joseph Orbeso, 21, and Rachel Nguyen, 20, had not checked out or removed their belongings, which included four types of hallucinogenic drugs.
It took a search team comprised of hundreds of would-be rescuers and family members until Sunday night to discover the bodies. The National Park Service said bodies were discovered around 11:30 p.m. Sunday in a remote region.
KABC7 reported that the bodies were embracing.
“I believed that I was going to find them,” Orbeso's father, Gilbert, told KESQ. “I didn’t know when, but I had my answer today.
"I feel like we have closure. We know we found them. That was our main goal, to find them," added Orbeso, who was among the group that discovered the bodies.
Orbeso’s father found the body of his son when he decided to head a few miles from Maze Loop in the park, where the couple's car had been discovered shortly after their disappearance. Eventually, he noticed items of clothing, water bottles and food wrappers. Orbeso had spent months searching over the rugged terrain of cliffs and boulders before making his sad discovery.
The couple disappeared amid heat and intense sunlight, which can lead to dehydration, according to the National Park Service.
Early on, authorities investigating the missing couple did not believe that any foul play was involved in the pair's disappearance.
Joshua Tree National Park is in a remote area of eastern California, where the Mojave and Colorado desert ecosystems meet, according to the National Park Service. The park is beloved by star-gazers for its almost complete lack of light pollution. The park is named after the distinctive, dagger-leafed, zig-zag trees that dot the landscape.
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Oct 16, 2017 - 04:06pm PT
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Really sad that the dad was the one to find them. Can't imagine how painful the discovery but I can only hope that it provides him and the family with some closure rather than always wondering. It reminds me of a Mike Wallace interview I saw years ago. His son was a climber and fell and died in an accident and he was the one that found him. The interviewer asked him what the saddest day in his life was and without a pause he said "the day I found my son".
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Oct 16, 2017 - 04:29pm PT
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hey there say, all...
oh my, as to this:
"I feel like we have closure. We know we found them. That was our main goal, to find them," added Orbeso, who was among the group that discovered the bodies.
Orbeso’s father found the body of his son when he decided to head a few miles from Maze Loop in the park, where the couple's car had been discovered shortly after their disappearance. Eventually, he noticed items of clothing, water bottles and food wrappers. Orbeso had spent months searching over the rugged terrain of cliffs and boulders before making his sad discovery.
:(
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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Oct 16, 2017 - 05:35pm PT
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Seems strange that they couldn't retrace their steps.
Heat delirium. Possible disorientation in the rocks. Some people don't have the basic outdoor skills us climbers have and take for granted.
The desert can give and it can take. It requires you understand it's rules.
NOTE: Just read the part about halucinogenic drugs. Tripping makes navigation very very difficult or even impossible. With that kind of heat you don't have time to come down and get your head together.
These death probably could safely be attributed to drug use.
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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Oct 16, 2017 - 05:46pm PT
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It's unbelievable that it took so long to find the bodies.
They had groups of searchers WITH cadaver dogs the first couple weeks after the 2 disappeared!
Why couldn't the dogs find them then??
Are the dogs not that good in the desert for some reason?
I lost faith in dogs when my SAR group found the body of an elderly man about 100 yards from his house a week after he went missing. We found him by smell, the dogs had been in the area several times during the week without locating him. I don't know ANYTHING about SAR dogs, just that I don't put a lot of faith in them anymore.
I can't imagine finding my own kids like that. That's heartbreaking, poor guy.
Edit: The effect of low humidity and heat on search dogs is interesting, I didn't know that.
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jstan
climber
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Oct 16, 2017 - 07:18pm PT
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The whole point of hiking is simply to get lost. JTNP is perfect for old people as you can be lost after hiking only a hundred feet.
The NPS might ask every visitor if they have ever been lost. Those who have never been lost might be given a small sheet with three short lines of text. Titled
"What to do BEFORE and AFTER becoming lost."
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Winemaker
Sport climber
Yakima, WA
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Oct 16, 2017 - 07:54pm PT
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I'm glad they were found and sorry it was a father who found them. I wish no parent have a child die.
I'm sure we've all had it happen; seeing the 'hiker' with inappropriate shoes, only a tee shirt and shorts, water bottle in hand, and tried to tell them about some of the difficulties and possibilities ahead, generally to a blank look and no comprehension. I still try though.
On a day hike to Camp Muir I was passed on the snow field by two guys in sneakers(!) and tee shirts going fast. No knapsacks, nothing. I said to one of the guys that maybe they should think about this a bit. Guy told me he was a climber and they were just going up and down. He admitted they weren't equipped, but the sun was shining so..... It worked that day but the wind coming down the snowfield could chill you real fast.......
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Bad Climber
Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
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Oct 17, 2017 - 06:59am PT
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Ugh. A sad end to a sad story.
Re. "hikers": Once hiked with a buddy down and around Horseshoe Mesa in Grand Canyon. I've since learned the Canyon has some pretty damn active SAR, and as we power hiked back to the rim, it was not hard to see why. Going down is relatively easy, and the Grand Canyon there is lots and lots of down. This was a decently cool July day, a bit humid but overcast so for the summer, not bad. We saw one woman with a back packing group and she was hurting on the way down, some knee problems, we gathered. She kept heading down. Okaaaay.... Then we encountered a pretty seriously overweight dude looking really wasted, pouring sweat, agonized look on his face, a pint water bottle in his pocket and one in his hand. He was pushing down. Darwin seems to have plenty of work to do.
BAd
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Oct 17, 2017 - 11:28am PT
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Orbeso had spent months searching over the rugged terrain of cliffs and boulders before making his sad discovery.
Almost like he just knew somehow and wouldn't give up even when scores of other searchers had failed... There's more to this existence than we can see or touch.
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Russ Walling
Social climber
from Poofters Froth, Wyoming
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Oct 17, 2017 - 01:15pm PT
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Haven't heard the mushrooms thing.... but it was reported they had 4 types of hallucinogenics in the room. So, if I had to guess.... they had some shrooms for sure, most likely some Ecstasy, LSD of course, and hmmmm.... how about some Salvia or BathSalts
Bet they were on E and got way dehydrated like those clubbers who dance all night.
rough way to go.... RIP
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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Oct 17, 2017 - 03:14pm PT
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Locker, thanks for posting about this. I was so disturbed about this case and might have missed the outcome without your post.
It's a sad case. I'm glad the families at least now know what happened.
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Yury
Mountain climber
T.O.
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Oct 17, 2017 - 04:24pm PT
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Russ Walling:
Haven't heard the mushrooms thing.... but it was reported they had 4 types of hallucinogenics in the room. So, if I had to guess.... they had some shrooms for sure, most likely some Ecstasy, LSD of course, and hmmmm.... how about some Salvia or BathSalts
Bet they were on E and got way dehydrated like those clubbers who dance all night. Russ, do you still have a link to a story about drugs in their room?
Your explanation finally makes sense to me.
Till now I have not been able to comprehend how two young and apparently healthy people could have died so close to a trail/trailhead/road.
Such a said story, especially when looking at the photos of young nice looking and smiling people.
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