Missing And Presumed Lost

“A Billings, Montana couple has been reported missing. They were last heard from on Trail Talk. Their itinerary included stops at REI in Salt Lake City, five days at Canyonlands, five days at Zion, a trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Halloween with their grandson, the Rolling Stone's concert (hopefully) at the Staple Center and a possible stop to see Martyb, Pamela and Cameron.

If you spot this couple please notify authorities . . . or join them for a hike, or a micro-brew at Eddie Mc Stiff's, or a sunset overlooking the Colorado River.

See you all in three weeks.

Geezr and Weezr”

“Okeedokee!

Have fun!”

“Hope they have a great time whilst they're "missing!"”

“Hmmm, maybe I'll go missing next time out!”

“"...and a possible stop to see Martyb, Pamela and Cameron.
Geezr
01:30:04 PM
10/17/02"

Meow?”

“Sounds like a fun trip. With any luck they'll never find you.”

“That sucks getting lost is fun though I don't get it?????

8o”

“Crazy Mike Backpacks, re-read the original post Mike. They're not really lost just leaving on vacation.”

“Oh my bad!

8)”

“Here I thought this was about the $20 that disappeared from my wallet, only to find that my wife "found" it!”

“my wife just direct deposits my whole check into her account. saves me alot of grief. i have low expectations this way.....”

“Several others from various parts of the country disappeared. Iowa, Texas, Colorado, Kentucky and Colorado. Some "chatter" has been intercepted, but nothing pointing to a specific target. New Mexico is elevated to "Orange".”

“They disappeared from Colorado twice.


[Note to CMB and the FBI. This is a backpacking joke.]”

“What happened to him?”

“Im here, just under the wheather!

Ill be heading to NM on Tuesday!!”

“Well, at least there is one mystery solved.”

“But will prowler get lost in NM?”

“Don't worry about me till Wednesday, then send SAR.

I going looking for some of the missing. TTFN”

“Missing Dad, Husband Turns Up Alive, Well and Very Far Away

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A man thought to have disappeared while hiking in southwestern Utah has been traced to Australia, Washington County sheriff's officers said Tuesday.

Bryan Butas, 35, of St. George, Utah, reportedly planned to go hiking alone July 30 in an area near Leeds. His car was found the next day near the Oak Grove campground in Dixie National Forest.

Sheriff Kirk Smith said investigators found that Butas had purchased a plane ticket on July 20 and flew from Los Angeles to New Zealand and then to Sydney on Aug. 2. He was then traced to Cairns, Queensland.

Smith said the information all came together on Monday, the day the search was canceled.

He said Butas was not under arrest because no crime had been committed, but a civil action could be filed to get Butas to pay the costs of the search and investigation, which a preliminary estimate put at about $20,000.

Butas' wife and three children recently moved to Ohio and Butas had been said to be planning to join them in December.

Fourth story”

“I'm happy to see you getting back to your old posting habits, bit.
I've missed them.”

“These last just hit me the right sort of way. Especially the car alarm one. When we were camping at the state park a couple weeks ago, someone's car alarm kept going off. Damn, it's a state park! Who is going to steal your car, man?”

“just heard on the news that two people are missing. a man and his grndson.
the kicker is they might be lost in Bear Mountain upstate NY.

I never thought you could even get lost there.

but then again they are not sure they were hiking ther.
this is way you give a family member your info.”

“Or maybe the gas station?


Wife's severed arm leads to arrest of Romulus man

Police say couple's story didn't add up; limb still missing



http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060705/NEWS11/60705003”

“PURE and clear case of..........................................................................................................................................................................................(WAIT FOR IT).......................................................................................................................................... ARMED ROBBERY”

“That would be arm robbery.”

“So what they are saying is that police were stumped?”

“can't you just picture a couple of 12 year olds pedaling their bikes down teh road and one of them goes "Hey, whats THAT".....

Mom, guess what me and Johnny found today!”

“Stephen Humphrey, known for his disarming sense of humor...”

“So what they are saying is that police were stumped?”
Nigal
1:57:15 PM
7/05/06


No, that would be the woman.


To paraphrase Dave Attel, the cops took one look at her and thought, now there's a woman who doesn't know how to listen.”

“i know you all heard about it.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16036886/?GT1=8816

It's a miracle they found here and the kids. I hope so much they will find him.”

“Oh they will find him.....”

“or his carcass.”

“I think the term SPRING THAW...comes to mind

He walked away in tennis shoes, heavy coat and NO hat.”

“The way they described his footprints dropping off into the drainage area made it sound to me like he was hallucinating or very disoriented. I am not overly hopeful.”

“yeah, but hey...there such things as christmas miracles ya know.

I am surprised the mom/kids made it.”

“They say he _did_ have some outdoors experience. It would be nice if they find him in time.”

“Ya know I have had to work on searches in wilderness environments, granted in NICE weather...but you got to admire these guys and gals on S&R out there going out to find this guy.”

“The fact that these people thought to burn their tires for warmth is incredible. I don't know if leaving the family is an acceptible senario here.

Don't know what I would do in this situation”

“Sitting here at home.... I would have advised against it. But who knows what desperation would do i that situation. Particularly if disorientation had set in.”

“I am with you on this Rev...you need to view the event in its totality. Why were they there, what happened. Looks like he had bad directions, made som crappy decisions and that (checking the story here) ...wait..this guy was a GEEK and didn't have a GPS....????WTF?

I hate to sound cruel but looks like they made some compounding mistakes.”

“ok confession time.... I HATE Boy Scouts with a screaming passion. But one of the things they have started to do recently is the whole hug a tree thing. It is a whole lot safer to stay in one place and let _them_ find you than to wander around and get everyone lost. But yeah... mistakes just kept piling up.”

“I am not sure how my mental stage would be affected after 7 days in very cold conditions, and not much food. Logical thing would've been staying in the car, but you do that with a screaming baby. I am sure he sort of lost it.”

“I have to wonder if they had a road atlas? Nowadays, we all tend to print off the directions from mapquest and split.

I think everyone should have an updated road atlas in their car. Replaice it evey 5 years with a new edition. Then, they may have been able to figure out where they were and followed a road to some kind of landmark.

If it has been as cold as they are saying in this area, the coat he had was probably not warm enough to keep him warm if having to bivowac out after the sun set. Also, if he was wearing tennis shoes, and they got wet, the first night he was probably in a world of hurt.

Hope he didn't try to journey off a road, because if he did, I am guessing he is gone.”

“They are saying he footprints went into a or near a creek. Rev while you hate Boy Scouts ( and I can understand that to a point) some of those kids take the training seriously. They are saying he ate some berries....not to sure of what is available in that area.

For the past few years I always travel with a GPS. If I am in an area I am not sure of I have a map downloaded....seems strange but it has helped me out of some tough situations.”

“hehehe...
Computer map story......

We wanted to get to a State Park and used the link from the Park website to get directions. Well... we did alright until wel were told to turn onto this really strange road even for a forest road. When the middle of the road started showing long grass we decided we had done something really stupid. (Like following the directions from the mapsite) Turns out the roads hadn't been used as passageways for ages and the road that we ended up on used to have a bridge across the river... maybe.... but there was not even a sing of a bridge abutment at the river.

The only redeeming grace on this one was a guy and his girlfriend had camped at a site along this last road and played the car radio... not thinking it would drain the battery. Let me tell ya.... they were glad to see us get lost.... :?)”

“xl.... there is of course a long story to that. Which I don't need to go into. I try not diss on them too much because I am sure they have some excellent leaders and programs. I just have never experienced any of it.

He apparently walked out of the snowed in area which is where they have lost the tracks. Unfortunately the river in the canyon has become the focus of a search.”

“Rev, we have a great group of leaders and we just got rid of a Council Exec who was a JA@Koff. I guess I stay in to help the kids. But I have a background in training, I have taken some really "LOST" kids and turned them into leaders. I am one of those that if there is a modicum of success I will support it.”

“The SF Chron outdoor writer dude made an interesting point in advising that two adults should not separate in such a situation. His point was that, as conditions worsen and we start to lose our faculties, two people that are halfway rational can often lead to a successful outcome by combining resources, so to speak. Also, you have two pairs of eyes to see something (sign, tower, shack, etc.), so each person essentially covers half the view instead of just one person having to cover it all.”

“Good points bowlder!”

“true!
I did wonder why in the heck she tried to carry her kids through the snow. Thank god she was too weak.”