We too took a bunch of photos, most from the peak, although guess there not needed now. Rough traveling to get to the top, came up the south side and down the north, even with temps cooler, got a sweat going. Feet still hurt from all the rock walking.

again, thoughts are with the families

I didn't realize the MCSO requested it not be made public yet - thanks for letting me know!

Paul

As their path been determined?
Is there more than one possible way to reach that destination?
Thanks
Ed

I happened to run into Rick at the Firstwater Trailhead and viewed a few of the pictures of the location. I believe this picture shows the general area.

http://www.changephoenix.com/11/photos1 ... k_076.html

The black scree slopes (just right of center) look identical to where the bodies were found. They were out on the rocks in the open. Not sure if those are the exact spots but they are similar to the photos. I could see Boulder canyon in one of the photos so I am assuming they were on the NE side. Hope this helps.

I was facing NW when I took that photo and yes, it is of the lower NE slope of Yellow Peak. Boulder Canyon was behind and to my right.

When I was out there in that area, I wondered if they were that out in the open it seems plausible they would have been found sooner. But then covering that much terrain even by helicopter, unless you look at that specific spot you would miss them.

One curiosity from my time on Yellow Peak... there was a summit log that had two people up there in October 2010. I'd be curious which route they took to the summit, and how close to they would have come to where the two were found.

If you look below the photo, I have posted the GPS coordinates. However, an easier and much more descriptive thing would be to view the same photo as posted on HikeArizona.com. If you click on the red pin at the top left of the photo, it will pop up a Topo map with the exact location marked.
http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=175809

Hi Mn-Azhiker,
To answer your question,

"One curiosity from my time on Yellow Peak... there was a summit log that had two people up there in October 2010. I'd be curious which route they took to the summit, and how close to they would have come to where the two were found".

That was me and a friend who made the ascent on Yellow Peak. We started our ascent from the southwest end of the mountain up about 3/4 of the way then circled around the west side just below the peak, to the north side, where we stopped at the two large cactus. From there we made the ascent on the peak from the north side. We had thought about hiking into the saddle area on the NE side, but time was running out and so would have been the daylight for our trip back out.
Altho we are experienced hikers, you can fast become a statistic out there if your not careful.Needless to say we weren't very far from the missing hikers, maybe about 50 yards or so I would guess from looking at the posted pics. So close yet so far. I feel kind of bad now that we didn't make that hike NE down into the saddle area, but who would have known. Wasn't meant for us to find them. It was to be Rick.
Best, Treasurehntr ......

Thanks, Treasurehntr, that answers a few questions which had me puzzled.

Your welcome Mn-Azhiker,
Normally we would continue on down the trail to points east. However on that day we decided what the heck, lets climb to the top. A little rougher and longer than we had anticipated and it was still a little warm out.
Best,Treasurehntr ......

I just finished posting photos from my second trip out to Yellow Peak, adding a few more from farther down to the northeast over the open talus slope.

http://www.changephoenix.com/11/2011-01-28YellowPeak.html

According to an article in the AJ news, the third body was found on Black Mesa.
http://www.ajnews.com/vol15/012411/pdfs/AJNEWS_012411.pdf