Into Thin Air: The Vanishing of Wesley Wamsganz in the Adirondacks

November 20th, 2010—As darkness fell on Lake Placid New York, a 22-year-old hiker set off into the High Peaks Wilderness after his shift at The Downtown Diner. Several hiking parties spotted him in his green Carhartt jacket before vanishing into the trees two miles in. Days later, that jacket was found. He was not. Join us this week as we unravel the disappearance of Wesley Wamsganz.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Thousands of people have mysteriously vanished in America's wilderness to
join us as we dive into the deep end of
the unexplainable and try to piece.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Together what happened.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
And you are listening to Locations Unknown. What's up, everybody,

(00:55):
and welcome back to another episode of Locations Unknown.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
I'm your co host Joe E.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Rodalin with me as always as a man who was
the first person to break two world records, which makes
him the first person to break three world records, which
makes them the first person break four world records, and
so on and so on.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Mike Fandabo Gay. Oh, thank you Joe, that's all technically true. Wow,
well that's amazing. I didn't even know that. Well, thank
you to all of our lads. Think about it.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
If you're the first person break two world records, yeah,
well then you're the first person break two world records,
which gives you world record, which makes you the first
person break three world records.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
There you go, and just keep into infinity. You're you're
the first Infinity world record holder. Wow, So we should
find out who that is. Okay, well, we'll get right
on that. We'll find that person. Interview on the Live stream. Yes,
there we go or her or her. Well, thank you
for tuning into locations of the no, and I apologize for

(01:51):
my voice. I'm fighting a little a little cold tonight,
but we're dedicated to the podcast, so no one was
going to notice it until you just pointed it out. Well,
we're like the post office, rain or shine. We're here
and I'm getting Joe sick. But I'd also like to
thank a new Patreon shout out, Nick Speaker, So thank

(02:13):
you so much for supporting the show. Thank you Nick.
If you'd like to call the show, you can call
two eight three nine to one six nine three. Leave
some spicy voicemails or texts. We got a very interesting
text that spicy want spicy spicy one.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yes, we're going to go through all of them on
our live shows, so just start raining them in. We're
not going to do them until then.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
But we got a really interesting text with pictures. Apparently
the grandson of Glenn Hyde from our episode a few
weeks ago texted us, Oh, it was talking about his
dad or grandfather. Really yeah, and then you say, like
we could share what he was saying, or I'll talk
to you after the show. Cool, but yeah, so that's

(02:57):
pretty cool. If you want to listen to some of
the other shows on our network, you can check out
Peanut Butter Mountain Podcast, Off the Trails, The Weirdos, We
Know Who Runs This Park, and Crime Off the Grid.
More to come soon. You can also support the show
through Patreon, YouTube memberships, premium subscriptions on Apple, subscriptions on

(03:19):
Speaker Someday NX. Other than that, we've got a big
live stream coming up on April twenty third, so mark
your calendars. Yep, that's gonna be a fun one. Joe
and I still have to get some logistics figured out
for that, but one happened way or the other. We
will be live. Andy's supposed to.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Be there, although I think he's gonna be a new
father soon, so we'll see.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Cancel it. He's coming. This is way more important though. Yes, No,
that's exciting. So if he's here or not here, he'll
be here in spirit and just know that he's having
a child. Yeah. So other than that, I do not
have any other up.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
It's all right, everybody, let's gear up and get out
to explore locations unknown November twentieth, twenty ten, as Darkness

(04:25):
swallowed Lake Placid, a twenty two year old hiker set
off into the High Peaks Wilderness after his shift at
the Downtown Diner. Several hiking parties spotted him in a
green Carhart jacket, vanishing into the trees two miles in.
Days later, that jacket was found. He was not join

(04:45):
us this week as we unravel the disappearance of Wesley Whamscans.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
So the thing I keep thinking of when I hear
this person's name is from Anchorman Whammy, No Champ Whammy.
I don't know why I haven't seen that movie there.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
I feel like there's Wamscans is the name of a
character in another movie, and it's gonna come to me Wamscans.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, but like Bob Wamscams or something like that. Yeah,
I don't know, there's a movie. It's a very unique.
So that would be very interesting if, yes, that was
in a movie.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
But this story is bringing us to the High Peaks
Wilderness Area of the Adirondacks. Avalanche Lake Pass or Lake
Colden Area is in New York State. Was established in
nineteen seventy two. The official designation as a wilderness area
was in nineteen seventy two. It sees around one hundred
thousand visitors per year. So some interesting facts. Two of

(06:06):
the most popular mountains, Mountain Joe and Mount van Hovenburg,
were named after a pair of lovers who met and
fell in love all camping in the mountains in eighteen
seventy seven. Henry van Hovenburg would go on to establish
the Adirondack Loje would Be, which would burn.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
Down in nineteen oh three and be rebuilt. Isn't that amazing?
Back then you could go camping and you could still
get like mountains named after you.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, and like build a thing yesday there and not
be ticketed. There are forty six mountains. Forty two of
them are over four thousand feet high. Hikers who have
hiked all forty six peaks are referred to as the
Adirondack forty six ers.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, kind of cool, but I mean, I only you're
you're gonna get some haters. So easy saying it's easy.
That's a lot of hiking, But it's a lot of hiking.
But four thousand feet?

Speaker 1 (06:59):
Now are you starting at I know you're not at
sea level? Yeah, but what's the grade? See, you can't
you can't say anything, all right, it's fine, get a
night take. In nineteen oh one, Theatre, Roosevelt was hiking
the Adirondack Mountains when he found out President William McKinley's
health was turning for the worst due to a gunshot wound.
At age forty two, Roosevelt would become the youngest president

(07:22):
in US history. While waiting at a train station after
descending the mountains.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
That's pretty cool. That is cool. Not that the other Yeah,
the other guy was shot, but he's just like, I'm
in a train, all right, Well, you're president of congrats.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
The original Adirondack Lodge was rebuilt in nineteen twenty seven
and renamed the Aedirondick Lodge due to Lake Placid Club
president Melville Dewey's fascination with phonetic spelling.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
And it's spelled LJ LJ. Yeah, he's like me. He
just couldn't spell.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
So he's like, I'm fascinated with phonetic spelling just to
cover up that he can't spell. Worse, all unnecessary vols
and we're removed for ease of pronunciation air quotes. He
was just dumb, but a grifter. I don't want to

(08:11):
disparage him. That's a joke for legal reasons, but our
friends at the COPIN Climate Classification System designate this area
as a humid continental climate, cold snowy winters and warm,
humid summers with year round precipitation. There's extreme variability, so
there are large seasonal seasonal temperature swings with subarctic conditions

(08:33):
at higher elevations. This white claws really getting to me
micro climates. High peaks have tundra like conditions, while valleys
and lake shores are milder. So a little bit about
the terrain. The area is dominated by high, rugged peaks,
with many summits exceeding four thousand feet. Mount Marcy, the
highest peak in New York, towers over landscape at five

(08:55):
three hundred feet. These mountains display steep, ridgelines, jagged out crops,
and bold fields formed by ancient anather site bedrock and
further sculpted by glacial erosion and landslides. Above a certain elevation,
the forest give way to a fragile alpine tundra. The
high elevation zone is marked by sparse vegetation, low growing

(09:16):
alpine meadows and rocky surfaces were only hardy plants remnants
of once more extensive tundra managed to cling to life.
These areas are extremely sensitive to human impact. The terrain
bears clear signs of glacial pass with creeks, kettle ponds,
and glacial erratics scattered throughout the landscape. Numerous clear cold

(09:38):
streams cascade from the slopes, forming waterfalls and merging into
alpine lakes such as Lake Tier of the Clouds and
the reputed source of the Hudson River. Here's a little
bit about the animals in the area. There are black bears, coyotes, moose, bobcats,
bald eagles, painted and snapping turtles.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
One of the things you want to look up for
is exposure.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
There are harsh winds topping seventy miles per hour shortly
after disappearance and temperatures increasingly reaching zerdigris fahnheit, So when
he went missing, there are some pretty strong winds going yeah,
typically November in the Idirondac Springs, cold temperatures. Daytime highs
often range from thirties to forties, while nighttime lows can
drop well below freezing. Snow and ice at higher elevations

(10:23):
likely had accumulation, increasing the risk of hypothermia, making trail slippery.
Shorter daylight hours. With the sun setting earlier, hikers face
limited daylight, increasing the risk of getting caught in the dark.
And again, the wind and precipitation, so rain, sleet, and
snow are possible, along with strong winds at higher elevations,
which could lead to rapid temperature drops in dangerous wind chills.

(10:46):
Hikers and adventures must be prepared for steep, rocky climbs
and sudden changes in weather, as the open summits can
be subject to harsh winds and rapid temperature drops even
when the lower elevations remain relatively mild.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
So some tips for hiking safely. You want to always
plan ahead and check the conditions.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
This is kind of an always thing. Even if it
seems like a nice day. Before you set out, review
the current weather, forecast and trail conditions. You can use
that one app that starts with an A and ends
with trails because they won't sponsor us all and we'll
be competing with them soon.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
Mike.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Mike's building some crazy stuff, and if you're a patron,
you'll know about it, so sign up crazy. The weather
in the high peaks can change suddenly, so plan your
trip with extra time. In case you need to turn back.
The essential gear you'd want layered clothing, including waterproof and
windproof outerwear, get a good shell, a reliable map in
compass or GPS device, a headlamp. It's important to have

(11:40):
some extra food and water as in a first aid kit.
You're gonna want to use bear resistant containers if you're
staying overnight, so food, tolet, trees, and trash should be
secured in the bear canister.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Basically, anything that smells you want to put in there.

Speaker 1 (11:53):
It's not just for the wildlife protection, it also helps
prevent attracting animals to your campsite. Travel with the group
if you can, and inform others where you will be.
Stay on mark trails only. As we said, your impact
can really ruin the landscape, so be prepared for emergencies
and once again, respectfully no trace principle. So Mike tell
us a little bit about mister lams Gans.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah. So the name of this case is Wesley wams Gans.
He was born August thirteenth of nineteen eighty eight. He
went missing on November twentieth of twenty ten. His remains
have not been found. He was a male aged twenty
two we'd be thirty six. As of right now, he
was six foot three, one hundred and eighty pounds. He

(12:37):
had strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes, clothing gear. Last scene
in SO one of the themes of this disappearance is
you'll realize he really had no gear with him when
he went out there, so very unprepared for the conditions
he would have faced. So he had a Carhart jacket.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
Oh, it hit me. It's Succession, the TV show Succession.
Oh Tom wams Gans Huh is one of the characters.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
I remember that.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah, Tom, the tall guy, like the son in law.
That's just the kind of goof dorky.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
Yeah, he ends up being like the CEO. Yeah, I
do remember that. That's that's what I remember the name.
All right, Sorry, go on, No, it just hit me.
He had a black Bob Marley hooded sweatshirt, cotton pants,
hiking shoes, and a red, yellow and green striped beanie cap. Personalitywise,
he was well loved, considered the coolest kid by coworkers.

(13:31):
His cousin Amber says, always energetic, always outgoing, had been
act he though he had been acting weird uh lately,
stated by his sister Sienna, occupation. He was a dishwasher
prep cook at the Downtown Diner in Lake Placid. Experience
in the wilderness, he did have some experiences suggested by

(13:52):
his older sister and best friend Curtis. He always went
into the woods prepared and told someone where he was going.
You usually hikes Mount Baker or somewhere else near their
home in Saranac Lake. So and he said sometimes he
would just go into the forest to seek solitude. So

(14:14):
it sounds kind of like that's what he was doing
this time. But he was a boy scout, went through
the School of Urban Wilderness and Survival, a three week
desert churse where group a group of eight peers are
given a small ration of food and equipment for survival
training in high school. That sounds pretty cool. Actually, yeah,
that puts him up higher on a list of being prepared.

(14:36):
I would say, yeah, I mean just understanding the basics, yeah,
and experience in this location. He had been here several
times for skiing, hiking, and mountain biking, so pretty familiar
with the location. Sorry, just rehydrating there, They're all good, okay,

(15:00):
all right, So getting into the timeline, I wanted to
do something different here before I got into the timeline,
I kind of wanted to go over a high level
summary of the estimated route that Wesley would have taken,
so just because you're gonna hear a lot of different
intersections and trails, and this might help to just make

(15:23):
it a little more coherent for people listening. So Wesley
began began his hike at the Arondiack Loge LJ trailhead
near Heart Lake, heading into the High Peaks wilderness. I
feel like you still say it lodge.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
It's just spelt wrong lodge because he wanted it a phonetic
I guess, yeah, lodge.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
I said it wrong. Yeah, I said loage for some reason.
I don't know why, Probably because he didn't spell it.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah, because he's just phonetic spelling is LJ, but it's
supposed to lodge.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
So his initial route he likely followed was the main
trail from the lodge to Marcy Dam, roughly two miles
along the popular Van Hovenburg trail. Guy even has a
trail named after himself too, So his last confirmed sighting
was near Marcy Dam, a backcountry crossing about two miles
in from the trailhead for Marcy Dam. The route continues

(16:17):
southwest on the Avalanche Pass trail marked with yellow blazes
towards Avalanche Lake and Lake Coldon. It's likely that Wesley
proceeded onto the trail after leaving Marcy Dam. Wesley was
last traveling on the Avalanche Pass trail beyond Marcy Dam,

(16:38):
likely in the vicinity of Avalanche Pass or Lake Coldon.
Like I said, so jumping right into the timeline. It's
November twentieth of twenty ten. It's the morning, so Wesley
was working the day shift at the Downtown Diner in
Lake Placid. Coworkers later noted he was not acting himself

(16:58):
that day. One friend described him as super spiritual in
his demeanor. So this in this unusual behavior had was
seen by coworkers hours before he left work. So Wesley
didn't mention carrying any hiking gear or big pack that day.
He reportedly told the last person he spoke with that

(17:20):
he planned to hike to the Lodge Area, a popular
trailhead in the High Peaks, after work, and like I said,
he had no supplies, no winter clothing, no backpack, just
the clothes on his back. So not what I would
call prepared for hiking in that part of the country

(17:42):
in November, so it's same day, So November twentieth, twenty ten.
It's now early afternoon, so this is when Wesley left work.
He was last seen in the village of Lake class
at around two pm. Leaving the downtown diner. He departed
on foot, heading out of town. Witnesses saw him walking

(18:05):
along Sentinel Road, which leads towards the Adriondack Lodge trailheads
south of Lake Placid. Am I saying that right, Adirondack
Aderan Deck. He's calling Adrian Adirondack, so I will get
that right. No he won't, No, I won't. As he left,

(18:26):
Wesley was wearing only a casual attire for the hike,
and we went over this in the character profile. But yeah,
he had the Carhart jacket and the sweatshirt, cotton pants
and some hiking shoes or boots, and abrims bean cap
with red, yellow green stripes. Police received information that Wesley

(18:47):
likely reached the Adirondack Lodge area that afternoon. Witnesses possibly
spotted him at the lodge parking lot on sun Saturday,
though this sighting was not confirmed. He apparently started down
the lodge trail towards Mount Marcy and Avalanche Pass sometime
in the afternoon on his own, and unfortunately he did

(19:10):
not sign in at any of the trail registers and
no record was found suggesting he headed straight in. It's
now about November twentieth of twenty ten, five pm. This
would be the last known sighting of him, so several
hikers later reported seeing him on the trail as darkness fell.

(19:31):
The last confirmed sighting was near Marcy Dam, about two
miles in from the Adirondack Lodge trailhead early Saturday evening.
One source even noted he was seen farther along near
Avalanche Pass that evening, but most reports pinpoint him around
the Marsi Dam area. So, like we said, this area

(19:52):
is deep in the High Peaks wilderness. And after these
evening sightings, Wesley disappeared and was never seen again. He obviously,
like we said, he was hiking alone. He was not
equipped for overnight survival, and the tempts that night were
below freezing, so harsh conditions to not be prepared for.

(20:15):
So November twenty one of twenty ten, so when Weiseley
failed to return or make contact, his family reported him
missing to the local authorities, so Lake Placid and the
police began initial queries. That day, forest rangers were alerted
that a hiker was overdue in the high peaks, and

(20:39):
like we said, that night, temperatures in the mountains plummeted
into the teens and snow and sleep began moving into
the region, raising the urgency. So very dire situation if
you were stuck out in that wilderness in those conditions,
so we're talking like fifteen degrees fahrenheit weather, snow and sleet,

(21:02):
no survival gear, so and he's in cotton pants, you
would get cold, very cold, and wet very quickly. So
it is now November twenty second of twenty ten, So
the New York Department of Environmental Conservation or DC forest
rangers performed preliminary searches on Monday. They checked local parking areas, trailheads,

(21:27):
roadways for any signs of Wesley or his car, though
he hadn't driven. Trail registers and entry points around the
lodge and other nearby trails, including the Northville Placid Trail terminus,
were reviewed. Rangers did not find any initial closer sightings
that day, so and then even worse by Monday night,

(21:49):
light snow was falling in the high Peaks area, which
would obscure any possible tracks he might have left. And
for those of you just listed, I mean, Joe has
the trail on the screen right now, and it's.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
A whole loop that says it, Yes, I am actually yes.
It says you can like get fifteen of like the
what is it sixty four peaks or something.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Forty three whatever, Yeah, whatever it was, you can get
like fifteen of those peaks just on this loop. That's
a This is a pretty wild trail.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
It's got eleven thousand feet of elevation gain it they
say it takes almost twenty one hours to complete, so
it's no joke somebody.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
I mean, look at that stretch right there. You're like,
h look, good switchbacks there.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah, it's like twenty nine miles eleven thousand feet elevation
gain total by the.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
End of it, and you're like up in the summits
of each mountain pretty much the whole time. Yeah, you're
a chunk of it.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
You're just taking saddles from summit to summit, especially this
whole stretch right here.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Wow, I bet it's beautiful. I'm going to go to
pictures after this. But that's cool.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
It's this would be a really cool loop to do
over the course, like three or four days, like not
to go too crazy with yourself. Yeah, like I'm sure
like speed runners and trail runners and stuff could do
it all in twenty some hours. But this would be
a really cool one to just camp and do over
three or four days, just to take it easy.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Yeah, that's right. Have to look into doing this in
the summer. That'd be a fun one. That would be fun.
So it is now November twenty third of twenty ten,
so search efforts are now intensifying on this day. So
a unified command post was established at the Lodge trailhead

(23:32):
area as multiple agencies joined the search dec Forest Rangers,
New York State Police troopers, and the State Police Special
Operations Response Team otherwise known as SORT assembled to comb.
Why don'd you say it like that because it's just

(23:52):
a SORT. It's just a funny acronym. So who do
you work for? I work for SORT, So to say SORT,
then I won't have to laugh. So they were assembled
to comb the wilderness south of the Loge Lodge area.
That guy, that guy, So they did have canine units

(24:14):
deployed on the ground as well. By Tuesday morning, roughly
forty to sixty personnel were involved in the search, including,
like I said, forest rangers and police. Based on the
last snown location, teams concentrated on trails between Marcy Dam
and Lake Coldon, which includes the Avalanche Pass area. Rangers

(24:36):
and officers fanned out along the Van Hovenburg Trail, Avalanche
Pass Trail, and around Marcy Dam, effectively covering the likely
route Wesley would have taken deeper into the high peaks.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
So I'm just looking some of these pictures in the
snow and it accumulates.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
Holy cow. Yeah, there's like several feet of snow in
a lot of these pictures. It looks beautiful. Yeah, it
looks really absolutely probably some good skiing, yeah, just absolutely gorgeous. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
Look, if you like snowshoot and had some cross country skis,
this could be a really fun winter camp.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yeah. No, it looks really cool. There's so many places
you know, you can go hiking. It's always it always
mind you know, it's mind boggling. We cover a case
of you know, we we've you talk a lot about
the big parks, the national parks. Yeah, but there's so
many locations national forests if.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
You really think about it, I mean, like they're just
areas of the worldness. They just designated and like added amenities.
But like there's so many hidden gems everywhere.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
I mean, we when we used to do our really
big trips every year, we never even considered some of
the national forests out west. Oh yeah, they have some
better hiking than the parks and they're a lot less crowded. Yep. Yeah,
this one only sees it one hundred thousand year. Yeah,
that's really cool. So, uh, it's it's now very late.
On November twenty second, or possibly November twenty third, but

(26:06):
this is when searchers found a critical clue on the trail.
Excuse me so. Wesley's green car heart jacket was discovered
lying in the middle of the trail heading toward Avalanche Pass,
and officials initially declined to publicly specify the item, simply
stating some evidence was found indicating he had been in

(26:29):
the area, But eventually the jacket was confirmed to belong
to Wesley and suggested he had removed it while hiking
despite the cold. This find shifted searchers attention. They now
know Wesley made it at least a few miles in
from the trailhead, and teams began an intensive sweep radiating

(26:50):
out from the jacket's location. Ground teams conducted grid searches
and line searches in the vicinity of Avalanche Pass, Avalanche Lake,
and around Marcy Dam. And this is a technique we've
seen in a lot of more modern search and rescues.

(27:10):
It's very effective for finding any kind of gear someone
might drop, So they looked for any additional belongings such
as hat or other clothing, and signs of a person
leaving the trail. State Police canines attempted to track a
scent from the jacket deeper into the woods. However, by Tuesday,

(27:32):
the weather was deteriorating further with snow and sleet potentially
destroying tracks, and unfortunately, no other items were found on
Tuesday side from the jacket, and with all that weather
in there, it would be really hard for dogs to
pick up on a scent at that point.

Speaker 1 (27:49):
I'm just there's seventeen thousand pictures, so I'm not going
to get through all of them. Yeah, but I'm getting
through a ton of them, and everybody that's here. When
it's snowing has at a minimum skis and snowshoes and
a bunch of gear on. Yeah, and there's been several
signs saying like, do not proceed in this area unless
you have the proper gear. So it's it's a pretty remote,

(28:11):
treacherous area, it would appear.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yeah, and it's not heavily visited, as you said.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
Yeah, so if you don't have the right stuff, it's
gonna be tough. It's gonna be extremely tough. Even in
the pictures where it's like springtime, it's like super thick
because you don't have.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
A lot of people going through it.

Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, so there's a lot of opportunity to get lost
or have air or have problems happen.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yeah. So it is now November twenty fourth of twenty ten,
so the search and rescue operation is still growing in
scale now and it's midweek. So beginning Wednesday, the dec
brought in additional forest rangers and over two dozen volunteer
searchers from the New York State Search and Rescue Organization.

(28:58):
In total, nearly sixty people were actively searching. On Wednesday,
State Police in Raybrook sent two more canine units to
bolster the effort. Search teams were organized into crews to
cover specific grid segments. In the search, authorities implemented a
type three grid search, a systematic sweep of the area
by searchers spaced at intervals, centered on the spot where

(29:22):
Wesley's jacket was found. This meant thoroughly checking drainages, thickets,
and terrain features in case Hees succumbed to hypothermia or
saw shelter nearby. The grid search between Avalanche Pass and
Marcy Dam continued throughout Wednesday. A State police helicopter, sorry,

(29:46):
just lost my spot. A State Police helicopter was deployed
to overfly the high peaks. Unfortunately, high winds and poor
flying conditions in the mountains forced the helicopter to turn
back and abandoned the mission on Wednesday. Songers planned to
try again when the weather allowed. The bad weather not
only hampered air searches, but also made ground searching treacherous

(30:07):
so you know you're talking wind chill and risk of blowdown,
so search dogs also were used to try to pick
up Wesley's trail again. However, the usefulness was limited by
several factors, including days of snow and rain, which most
likely had washed away any scent that might have still
been out there, and many search personnel hikers had been

(30:30):
in the area, complicating the centrail. So handlers directed canines
into more remote or off trail areas in the hopes
of detecting human scent where people normally wouldn't be. But
they didn't have any luck. And throughout all of this,
conditions in the high peaks were deteriorating by the hour
and were now winter like. Temperatures dropped down to ten

(30:52):
degrees fahrenheit Wednesday night, with snow, sleep and freezing rain
over the preceding days. So just terrible conditions to be
hiking and let alone, you know, conducting a search and
rescue operation. Yeah, and again he doesn't have any of
the proper gear for this type of scenario. No, just

(31:12):
you know, a couple of minutes asleep would have soaked them. Yeah,
and then it's done. And that those conditions said.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
I keep trying to hold myself from talking about theory,
so I'll I'll keep waiting.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
Okay. So it's now November twenty fifth, twenty ten. This
would be Thanksgiving. So this is why I love search
and rescue people in general. They all they went out
on their Thanksgiving and continued searching. Not only you know,
risking their lives on a holiday when they could be

(31:46):
you know, in the comfort of their own homes, you know,
eating food and watching football, but also the weather conditions
we're talking, you know, extremely cold weather, bad wind, chills,
you know, heavy snow, and they're all out there still
searching for this guy, someone they've never even met.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
It's a and you can't even this hell think it is.
You can't even see this trail on the map. Yeah,
so you'll see.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
I Yeah, wow, Like it's like it is a trail,
but it's that's thick. It's very thick. So I just
want to once again give you know, props to anyone
listening who is involved with search and rescue and just
the dedication those crews have. Yes, they even go out
on holidays in really bad weather to help find someone

(32:32):
they've never even met. So can't thank them enough for
doing that. But so search crews did not relent despite
the holiday. Like I said, forest rangers, state police, and
volunteers spent Thanksgiving in the field searching for Wesley. The
search command made use of the slight break in the
weather on Thursday, conditions improve enough to get the helicopter

(32:53):
back in the air with cammer winds, the state Police
helicopter conducted aerial searches on Thursday, so the crew overflew
the Marcy Dam to Lake Cold and Corridor, scanning open areas,
lakes and drainages for any sign such as tracks or

(33:13):
a body against the snow. Unfortunately, nothing definitive was spotted
from the air. Ground search teams continued their grid searches
and expanded into adjacent areas. On Thanksgiving, they searched along
the Algonquin Peak Trail, Lake coldon Shoreline and Indian Pass
areas as needed, covering all possible routes out of the

(33:35):
Avalanche Pass Vicinity. Searchers were now on their fifth day
of efforts in these terrible conditions, which was obviously both
physically and emotionally taxing. Many local volunteers who were off
work for the holiday offered to help. Officials obviously welcomed
the extra volunteers, but asked that they coordinate through DEC's

(33:59):
Search command before entering the woods. The infusion of volunteers
helped cover more ground. By the end of Thanksgiving day,
no new evidence was found. Crews had now covered most
trails and drainages in the eastern high peaks near the
near where Wesley was last seen. The end, Like I said,
the only items are covered remained the green jacket, and

(34:22):
later on it was revealed a belt was also found.
See we'll talk about that below. So obviously, Wesley had
not been located November twenty sixth, twenty ten, so the
search is now entering its sixth full day. Dozens of

(34:44):
searchers were still engaged by this point, search operations that
covered approximately eight to ten square miles in and around
the trail system around the Lodge to Avalanche Lake, which
just seems like such a hard area to search, especially
with the weather. Yeah, you got the weather, You've got
the terrain, You've got the thick vegetation. Even though it's November,

(35:04):
a lot of the leaves are probably down, it's still thick.
People are so good, I know, Like none of them
have to do that. No, they don't get paid the duet. Yeah,
a lot of them don't have to do that, and
they're risking their lives. They could easily get lost or
die out there too. Yeah, but they want to, which
is which is kind of good. That's awesome. So, like
I said, they're covering. They've covered eight to ten square

(35:25):
miles in rough terrain, rough conditions. Yeah, they covered all
the high private about high probability areas, trails, waters, known campsites, ravines,
and they went over these areas multiple times. So Friday's
weather improved a little bit. It remained cold but was clear,

(35:46):
which helped with visibility. Crews took advantage of daylight to
revisit difficult spots, spots such as thick spruce areas or
blowdown zones that might have been overlooked. The helicopter was
also re also resurveyed areas from overhead, and canine units
were cycled through various search grids. Again, with the weekend approaching,

(36:08):
authorities reiterated calls for anyone with information on Wesley's whereabouts
to come forward. They also coordinated a larger volunteer turnout
for the weekend. Hikers familiar with the high peaks were
encouraged to help on Saturday and Sunday under ranger guidance.
Family and friends also joined in on the search and

(36:29):
waited at command post for news. So a lot of
people still out there, you know, almost a week into
the search.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
Jordan McCall took some amazing photos by the way, So Jordan,
if you're listening and you're an all trails user, great.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
Props you great pictures. So, as of Friday evening, the
massive search still hadn't found Wesley. Rescuers had now endured
about a week of sub freezing nights searching just rugged terrain.
Morale was challenging, but teams were determined to continue into

(37:06):
the weekend while there was still any signs of hope
in finding him alive. So it's now the weekend. It's
November twenty seventh to November twenty eighth. After eight days
of exhaustive searches, the formal search operation began to skill down.

(37:27):
Some search activity continued into Saturday, with fresh volunteer teams
checking lower probability zones and rechecking certain areas with refined strategies.
By this time, however, no new evidence had emerged beyond
the jacket and now belt are already found, and sadly,
the likelihood of a survival outcome had sadly diminished giving

(37:48):
the frigid conditions, no gear, no shelter. So by Sunday,
November twenty eighth, DC and State Police made the decision
to transition the case to a limitted continuous search status.
This meant that the large scale ground search was suspended,
but forest rangers would continue to patrol the area and

(38:09):
follow up on any fresh leads or sightings that might arise. So,
in other words, search efforts didn't completely cease, but they
were greatly reduced. And a lot of times search and
rescue teams will do training in areas where people have
gone missing, just because they obviously, for one, need to
train you know, year round, and two they might stumble

(38:33):
across something during their training, and why not do it
in an area where someone went missing. Yeah, So the
official search spanned eight days, and I would say one
of the more brutal searches we've search and rescue operations
we've covered, just as far as terrain and weather. It
just sounded like a brutal, miserable time out there, something

(38:59):
you would do if you were just hiking. Yeah, But
like we said, these people are dedicated to, you know,
finding missing people, so they're gonna go out there no
matter what. And in a case like this, I mean,
you got to find this person in the first twenty
four hours, I think if you really want to find them, alive. Yeah, absolutely,

(39:22):
maybe even less than that, like twelve hours based on
the gear head. I mean, if if one of us
went missing with you know, our forty pounds of gear
that we normally carry, we might be able to make
it a night.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
But if I had all the gear, I could make
it a couple of weeks. I bring way too much
stuff right.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
So at its peak, like I said, the search had
around sixty people forest ranger, state troopers, park police, Star
volunteers and others. Searchers covered Eastern high Peaks wilderness thoroughly,
including all trails, drainage's peaks between the Lodge, Marcy Dam,
Avalanche Pass, Avalanche Lake, and Lake Coldon. They employed foot teams,

(40:06):
canine unons, air support, and grid search techniques. Despite all
of these efforts, only the coat and belt were found,
And like I said November twenty eighth, the active search
was skilled back. So some of the challenges this search faced,

(40:28):
I figured I would sum up because this is one
of the more narrowly search and rescue operations I've read
about on a search for a missing person. So the weather,
for one, the weather was just brutal, so harsh winter
like weather hit the high Peaks. In the days immediately
after Wesley's disappearance, temperatures dropped into the single digits at night,

(40:49):
and the area was hit with snow, sleet, and freezing rain,
so all of the stuff you don't want while you're searching.
These conditions posed many problems. They endangered the subject so
biggest risk is hypothermia, and hampered the search efforts. So
fresh snow also likely buried any footprints or tracks, and

(41:09):
ice made it even harder to travel in the area,
and the high winds on some of the days grounded
the helicopters, so you really had a lot of rangers
waiting around at times for openings in the weather to
fly and search. Excuse me. Another issue with this area

(41:31):
was the rugged train. So the High Peaks Wilderness is
notorious for its rough, mountainous train. Even though in the
beginning I joked that, you know, the peaks are only
four thousand feet it's rugged. Yeah, it's super that's it's
a tough four thousand feet. It's not absolutely it's not
like rolling gentle hills. It's just so vast. Yeah, I

(41:52):
take back. I'm gonna wrap it scroll from the top.
See I've warned you I know, I'm gonna take back
my comment. I said it as a joke. I didn't.
I didn't, I didn't mean it. I swear and I
apologize for pronouncing you're part of the country. You're wrong.
Just step in it. I know it was all over.
It's my it's my Dayquilbriine.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
Today, I'm I'm trying to There's this one picture that
just showed a bunch of peaks in the background. Keep going,
I'll find it. But it just really was a great
example of just how vast it is.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
Because if you didn't know they were four thousand feet,
you would think it they were taller. Absolutely, yeah, I
mean these mountains look, you know, some of the pictures
look like something you'd see in Colorado. Yeah, like that one, up,
go back up, so you're right like down one there
we go. Yeah, yeah, like that one. I'd be like, oh,
that's Rocky Mountain National Park. Yeah. But they're just aggressive, Yeah, yeah,

(42:47):
they're not. There's nothing easy about them. So my comment,
I take it back.

Speaker 1 (42:52):
Yeah, you better.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
I better. So. The search zone around Avalanche Pass and
Marcy Dam includes dense for steep slopes, cliffs, boulder fields,
and frozen marshes. Navigating off trail in this an area
is extremely difficult. Search teams often had to bushwhack through
thick underbrush and over blowdown, which I guess I should
have mentioned before. His fallen trees in below freezing temperatures,

(43:18):
so the terrain could easily have hidden a body. And
there are crevasses, deep snow drifts, and thick evergreen cover.
So this all greatly impacted the search. Another thing that
really impacted the search was the lack of equipment. So
Wesley had no camping gear, light, or winter clothing. For searchers,

(43:42):
this meant he likely would not be sheltering in an
obvious spot like a tent or a lit fire, and
could have been incapacitated quickly by the cold. And you
don't think about it with no gear. You know, if
like someone like Joe or I went out there with
our you know, thousand pounds of gear on our back,
there might be a lot of to find. Yeah, But

(44:02):
if you're just going out there in the clothes on
your back, like, that's even harder for searchers. The there's
no evidence really that you were out there. So you know,
a person without the proper gear might wander radically due
to hypothermia or attempt to find any refuge like under
a log or in a hollow, which are very hard

(44:24):
to spot. The fact that he shed his jacket, which
is a sign of possible paradoxical undressing hypothermia, yeah, indicated
he was in distress. This made the mission essentially one
of a search and probable recovery, and searchers had to
consider that he might be lying hidden under the snow

(44:47):
or foliage. So, you know, obviously scent and time loss
was an issue that you know, the canines really you know,
never had a chance they got out. They didn't get
out there until forty eight hours after you went missing,
and by that time they had already been snowing and sleeping.

(45:08):
So it's all you know, we've talked about, you know,
dog teams in the search for people, and it's you know,
it's pretty hard and good conditions and now you're factoring
in you know, this really inhospitable weather, wind and rain
and snow, and it just compounds the the uh, the
difficulty for a canine unit to find it the scent

(45:31):
you're looking for. So, you know, logistics and safety of
the search were a big problem. So coordinating a large
search in wilderness is logically logistically complex. We had multiple
agencies involved, and they had to communicate and work and
sync over vast areas. We talked about we talked a

(45:52):
couple episodes ago about how they used to search, you know,
one hundred years ago, and think of a large search
like this but without radios, like I mean, it's it
would have been impossible. Basically.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
So this this person, I'm looking at his activity on
all trails. Yeah, he wrote, afternoon hike, moving time eighteen
hours and thirty six minutes. Total time twenty one hours,
fifty six minutes.

Speaker 2 (46:16):
On this hike.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
Yeah, Wesley would have taken Yeah, I don't it sounds
like you didn't do nearly the whole thing. But yeah,
this person was doing you know, thirty.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
Three minute miles. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. And
that I mean after seeing the train, I mean, yeah,
it's not like it's flat ground. Yeah. So yeah, so
you know, searchers faced hazards, just like Wesley would have hypothermia, exhaustion,
injury from the train. They had to be pulled out

(46:48):
at times for rest and to avoid night hazards. The
short daylight hours in this time of the year, you know,
sun setting before five pm limited how long cruise could
safely grid search each day, so all around, uh, just
tough searching and so you know, getting into theories, I

(47:11):
will cover kind of the what people are saying, what
law enforcement is saying, so excuse me. Authorities treated this
case as a missing hiker in the dangerous wilderness environment.
They found no evidence of foul play during the search,
so official efforts centered on the assumption that he got lost, injured,

(47:33):
or succumbed to the elements. So the main theory that research,
you know, researchers, UH, search and rescues personnel were talking
about was accidental wilderness death, so exposure, hypothermia. So the
primary theories that Wesley died due to exposure or other

(47:56):
natural hazards in the high peaks. He obviously set up
off alone with no supplies, food, or winter gear. Rangers
and police tracked him into the backcountry between Marci Dam
and Lake Coldon. A few days later, searches, like we said,
found his jacket line in the middle of the trail
toward Avalanche Pass. This obviously suggested he continued deeper into

(48:19):
the rough terrain. Critically the weather turned brutal in the
days after he disappeared. Given these conditions, officials believe he
likely to become the hypothermia or exposure overnight. In advanced
stages of hypothermia. Like I said earlier, Joe's mentioned this
lots of times victims can paradoxically shed clothing, which the

(48:39):
fact that his heavy jacket and belt were removed supports
this scenario. Search teams found no shelter or fire that
he might have used, implying he was unable to stave
off the cold, and one of the regional magazines noted
on this case, people die in these mountains, They drown
in these rivers. Some of them disappear without a trace.

(49:02):
Pretty pretty brutal statement. So sadly, the leaning theory appears
to be that he passed away due to exposure. Another
very you know, high probable theory is accidental fall or drowning,
so it's obviously closely related to exposure. Uh. Investigators also

(49:26):
considered that he might have suffered an injury, for example,
a fall from a steep train into water, which would uh,
you know, speed up hypothermia, and you know, if he
was hiking at night, that could have easily happened. Could
have also fallen through crevasse, could have fallen and then

(49:47):
got under thick brush, So another is that. Another is
that he fell through the ice or into a streamer
pond and his body sank or was carried out of
the immediate search range. Such accidents have occurred before. Hikers
have drowned or become wedged in terrain, only to be
scovered long after. Because only as jacket was found, officials

(50:12):
had to consider that he himself might might be hidden
somewhere nearby, possibly in water under snow. So the search
is failure to find him, despite dogs, helicopters and dozens
of rangers, reinforces the notion that he might have ended
up in a spot difficult to detect. Importantly, no signs
of a struggler crime were observed, like I said, so

(50:34):
the items were covered were intact and oddly tidy. His
coat was found delicately placed like an offering by one account,
which aligns more with the paradoxical undressing. So one of
the more less likely theories was foul play. Authorities did

(50:54):
consider the possibility of foul play, but there was obviously
no evidence of this, and he went into the woods alone.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
No one reported suspicious persons in the area, and nothing
was found to suggest a struggle. Like Joe mentioned, the
High Peaks Wilderness is remote. Encountering criminal activity there is
very unlikely, and the state police have kept the case
open as a missing person's investigations, so they don't think
it was foul play. Some of the other theories. I

(51:25):
there were some paranormal theories that I didn't write down,
kind of around the four one one stuff, so you know,
big Bigfoot. Yeah, so that's off the deep end, off
the deep end. You know. Some people floated that he
went out there and maybe committed suicide because he was
like like on a spiritual quest. But his family and
friends said he was not in He wasn't in like

(51:48):
when he left work. He wasn't in like a suicidal mindset.
He was in kind of like almost like a spiritual quest,
like he was going out there to find himself, you know.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
Not I can see that twenty two year old like
trying to figure life out. Maybe he just said, like
making a rash decision, not necessarily a suicidal one, just
I want to get in touch with nature. I want
to go Yeah, like you said, go and find myself.
I'm gonna go do something hard, do something different, just
change it up a bit.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
But it's aired. I'm just gonna go for like an hour. Yeah,
I'm gonna hike. Because he got done at work in
like two in the afternoon. It's light out till five.
It's probably like you know what, before I go home,
it's just gonna go for a quick walk in the woods,
you know.

Speaker 1 (52:33):
And if it was rainy with how much brush. So
that's a big thing too that I don't think we
talk about a lot is you don't have to get
rained down.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
To get wet.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
If you're going through thick brush where it's been raining
and stripping on you, you're wiping it on there. All of
a sudden, you can become pretty soaked. Even though it's
not rain it could be sunny out and if you're
wearing the wrong clothes, it's right temperature, like that's gonna
suck all the heat off of your body.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
Or really quick. He could have been just it could
have rained and there could have been you know, large
puddles on the trail. He could have slipped and just
fallen in a puddle. Yeah, So I just I have
a car he you know, he hadn't he didn't he
own he didn't own a car, so he walked everywhere.
So I think like if you or I were to
go hiking there, we would have parked a car at
the trail head, Like, Okay, you're two miles in, but

(53:19):
maybe it's five miles from town. Like if we fell
and got wet, we just walked back the car warm up.
He doesn't have a car to yeah, to go wind.

Speaker 1 (53:27):
I am like ninety nine point nine percent down the
hypothermia paradoxical in dressing router, not necessarily completely undressing, but
obviously I I just keep going back.

Speaker 2 (53:38):
His coat was probably soaking wet, so we took it.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
Off neatly placed it there. Yeah, it's interesting, well maybe
to dry out. Yeah, Like so like if you're thinking
about like you spread it out, like if it's wet,
you're not going to keep wearing it. Uh.

Speaker 2 (53:51):
And he probably did.

Speaker 1 (53:51):
The same thing with other articles of clothing and just
unfortunately to come to the elements over time, it just
sounded like it.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
Was really treacherous.

Speaker 1 (53:59):
Few days following that, Yeah, and you just can't survive
that without gear.

Speaker 2 (54:04):
I wonder how far so they found his belt and
his coat and the you know, we're talking ten degrees
out that night, snowing. How far could someone walk?

Speaker 1 (54:19):
I feel like pretty far, I think, so, yeah, yeah,
I mean it's it could go either way, but I
feel like we've done enough of these cases where it seems.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
Like people get pretty far.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
Yeah, so that you know, I've heard crazier things like
if you just have the will to keep moving and
keep moving and.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
Yeah, I mean he was a young, fit guy. Yeah,
and if you're not in the right frame of mind
like you we've heard stories about I've seen like people
feel warm.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
That's I've told it a couple of times, probably earlier
in the show. But when we were doing Long's Peak,
I was with two guys and it started blizzarding, and
we separated into groups of two because there's some people
that were behind. So two guys went ahead and I
was waiting with another guy for someone that was It
became like white out, so we didn't want to keep

(55:10):
moving and spread out because he was by himself, so
we just two of us waited for the third guy
to come up, and the other two went ahead so
we didn't have anyone alone. And as we were coming
around a bend. The two guys who went ahead were
walking back and they did different clothes on, and they
said they were wet and they were going back to
the car to change. The car was like a day's
hike away, and you could tell like they were just

(55:33):
they and they were calm and they were talking normally,
but the things they were saying were just insane. So
and we were just like, no, we're not doing that.
We're going back to camp. They're like, oh, okay, Like
they would have.

Speaker 2 (55:43):
Ended up on our show.

Speaker 1 (55:44):
They would have tried walking back to the car in
a blizzard, and like they took off all their wet
clothes to put on their dry clothes, which then subsequently
got wet. So they're making a lot of really bad decisions.
Because we were at altitude, it was cold, they were wet.
They're like I was fully wit it before my eyes,
and like we had to get them to camp. We
set up tents, we get them warm. Yeah, and then

(56:05):
they kind of started coming to and like realizing like
holy cow, like that would have been really bad.

Speaker 2 (56:10):
Yeah, we cut a trip short one year on Mountaineer.
We were up probably eight thousand feet in sideways rain
in like thirty five degree weather and I had planned
for rain, so like I had rain gear, I had
all my stuff and dry but who didn't know? Everyone did.
But the thing was like I had, you know, stuff

(56:30):
in dry sacks, and it was the wind. It was
probably forty mile in our winds. We couldn't get a
fire going. I was just cutting into you, yeah, setting
up my tent, like it got completely soaked inside, Like
I had no chance to even like like keep it dry.
And my rain gear, even though I had rain gear on,

(56:51):
it was the wind and rain was coming out in
so heavy Oh overheat. Oh that's interesting, all right, I've
never seen that notice for all right. No, yeah, So
like even with my rain gear, I was getting soaked,
like it was soaking through the rein gear. So I

(57:11):
remember our group like we all had maybe one you know,
like as soon as I rolled my sleeping bag out,
it was soaked, so like everyone in the group had
one change of dry clothes left. And we kind of
made the decision the next morning to head back down

(57:31):
just because we expected the weather to continue to be
like that in the coming days, where like it's not
worth you know, yeah, it would have been worth it. Yeah,
So like it's yeah, it can Uh, even when you're prepared,
it can be you know, bad enough. You got to
turn around, and it's it's too bad. He you know,

(57:55):
went out there unprepared in this type of these types
of conditions and this happened, and in twenty ten it's
you know, fifteen years later and nothing has been found. Yeah,
I mean it's just so remote. Yeah, so that's too bad.
But you know, someday someone might stumble across. The thing
is though, you know, he probably if he's taken his
coat off, he probably wasn't staying on trail. Yeah, he

(58:18):
probably maybe thought like uf I go this way, I'll
you know.

Speaker 1 (58:21):
Or I don't think at that point.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
You don't have it's not you don't have logical things exactly.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
We always think about what what, oh, what would a
reasonable person do? Yeah, and not that he's not reasonable.
It's in that state.

Speaker 2 (58:32):
You're not No one is reasonable, No one is reasonable.
That's why they call it paradoxical. It's like it's just
doesn't make sense. Yeah, and I saw it. And the
weirdest thing was when I saw it was that they seemed.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
Completely with it. Yeah, the way they're acting, the way
they are talking, but they're just doing stuff that was
just like this is the dumbest thing you could do
in this situation. And they're just like, oh, we're just
going And they were so calm. They're like, yeah, we're
going to the car because we there's more clothes there.

Speaker 2 (58:57):
When they warmed up and you like talk to him
later about it, did they like what was it like
for them during that scenario?

Speaker 1 (59:04):
It kind of dawned on them and I think they're
kind of they kind of had that like, oh my god,
like I could have.

Speaker 2 (59:09):
Did they kind of remember like what they were doing
or do you kind of have amnesia they had? They
were confused. They were a lot of confusion.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
They don't necessarily remember the whole thing, But it was
more kind of like a realization of all that could
have been really bad. Yeah, yeah it was, and in
that moment, you don't realize how Like to me, it
was like, no, we're just gonna keep going, like it's fine.
Like they left their backpacks at the camp site, like
they they went to where we were setting.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Up our camp, but they didn't have the tens.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
Yeah, which was that was a bad decision, Like we
should have sent the tents with them, so they could
have set up yeah, or maybe it wasn't a bad decision,
but they had left all their gearbacks, so they were
walking back with nothing.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
Change, they put on different clothes and we're like, oh,
we're just gonna go.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
Back to the car. And they were already soaked together
and granted it was day two of hiking to where
we were going. Yeah, and like they could have probably
made it to the car, but like, why risk it?
Well it's not in that state. Yeah, you said a
day a day hike, like.

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
Yeah, now going downhill so much faster, there's Yeah, it
was late in the afternoon. It would have been dark
before they got there, so it would have been a
disaster and there was just no rationale. Yeah that made sense.
But they were calm, that's the thing. It wasn't like
you're dealing with someone who's crazy. Yeah, it was someone
who's completely calm. Seemed like they knew what they were doing.
Like so if you didn't know any better, you could

(01:00:26):
be like, oh, yeah, they know what's going on, and
then they just wander off and potentially just you know,
you couldn't even see.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
The trail either. Yeah, so crazy, So.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
Let us know what you think about the case. I'm
I'm pretty much thinking it was he got lost unfortunately
to come to the elements, but let us know. And
thanks again for tuning into our show. We appreciate all
of your for listening and sharing locations unknown with your
friends and family. Be sure to like and follow some Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
and YouTube where you can find the videos of each episode. Also,

(01:00:56):
if you'd like to support the show monetarily, please visit
our website in Facebook's or to buy some sweet swag.
You can also subscribe to our patron account, YouTube, Apple
and all the other places where you can get access
to additional shows and soon a really cool streaming thing
for paid customers. And lastly, when enjoying the beauty of nature,

(01:01:17):
whether backpacking, camping, or simply taking a walk, always remember
to leave no trace.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
Thanks and we will see you all next time.