3 hikers from Utah now missing in the Superstitions

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Paul
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Re: 3 hikers from Utah now missing in the Superstitions

Post by Paul »

My condolences to the families.

I took a crack at creating a 3-D view of the North side of Yellow Peak. This is actual aerial imagery morphed into a 3-D representation based on topographic contours of the area. Pretty rugged looking. There's no vertical exaggeration in this view.

Image
Last edited by Paul on Sat Jan 22, 2011 7:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 3 hikers from Utah now missing in the Superstitions

Post by mn-azhiker »

I've followed this forum since it started in July but for some reason my account registration got messed up and I couldn't log in. No big deal I guess, so I just followed the thread off and on until now, when I decided it was worth registering again to provide something that may help ease the minds of the family members of the three men.

That said, I was out to Yellow Peak yesterday and spent 4 hours on the peak itself, taking almost 200 photos. I have separated the photos into two groups, one only of photos taken of Yellow Peak itself (from numerous viewpoints) and the other group is of photos taken from Yellow Peak to surrounding areas.

So far I've only had time to upload the first group (photos OF Yellow Peak) but they are what is most relevant to the requests from the family members. The first set of 70 photos can be seen on my own web site:
http://www.changephoenix.com/11/2011-01 ... Peak1.html

If any of the family members would like the original resolution size photos, just drop me an email as listed on the web site.

Take care and God bless!
Mark
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Re: 3 hikers from Utah now missing in the Superstitions

Post by LDMGOLD »

Mark:

That is certainly a great bunch of photos. I am sure the photos well help bring closure for the families. Personally I thank you for your wonderful effort.

Tom K.
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Re: 3 hikers from Utah now missing in the Superstitions

Post by cubfan64 »

Wow Mark!!! Not only great photos but a wonderful gesture for the families!

Welcome to DUSA "officially" by the way, and I assume from your username that you're originally from Minnesota? I have family out that way (am from Wisconsin myself) - what's the Minnesota tie-in?

Paul
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Re: 3 hikers from Utah now missing in the Superstitions

Post by Jim Hatt »

Mark,

My personal welcome to the forum also! I am glad you decided to take the bull by the horns, and find a way to circumvent your logon problem.

Like Tom and Paul said... That is a great collection of photos! Nothing pleases me more, than to see someone join the forum who appreciates the beauty and solitude of the Superstitions, and gets out there to enjoy it.

I came to Arizona specifically to search for the golden treasures of Superstition Mountain. So far... It has only teased and evaded me. But what I have found out there, I treasure far more, than that, for which I came to search.

Looking forward to hearing a lot more from you in the future!

Best,

Jim
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Re: 3 hikers from Utah now missing in the Superstitions

Post by mn-azhiker »

cubfan64 wrote:Welcome to DUSA "officially" by the way, and I assume from your username that you're originally from Minnesota? I have family out that way (am from Wisconsin myself) - what's the Minnesota tie-in?
First, thanks to all who gave a warm welcome, Jim, Tom, and you Paul!

Next, before providing my '1 minute bio' I'll make note I have posted the rest of the 1/21 Yellow Peak hike photos... these are of the views FROM Yellow Peak.
http://www.changephoenix.com/11/2011-01 ... Peak2.html
By all the photos featuring Battleship you may get just an inkling of my fascination with that mountain. (Yet it lies third behind Four Peaks and Weaver's Needle for my local favorites)

Ok, the 1-minute bio... please don't blame me if it takes 15 minutes to read... sometimes my mind just runs away with itself. :shock:

1950 - Born in western MN (southeast of Detroit Lakes vicinity)
1952 - Swept away to (at that time) the 'Union of South Africa' 1952 when my parents began a 7 year stint as missionaries for the 'old' Evangelical Lutheran Church. My dad taught pre-seminary to Zulu men... a VERY big no-no during that time of apartheid (pronounced just like it's description, 'apart-hate')
Here's a sampling of photos from SA in the 1950's:
http://www.changephoenix.com/sa/sa-scenic.html

Starting from the middle of the third-to-last row of photos, most are scenes from our front yard. You'll see where my fascination for mountains comes from!
1959 - Left South Africa, Visa pulled and being asked not to return as my father was 'persona non grata' as in get out and stay out! It was a very stormy time on that country's history)
1959 - The good part...
- We flew over Mt Kilimanjaro, a stop in Nairobi, Kenya, another in Khartoum, The Sudan and the last in Africa at Cairo, Egypt. (it was the middle of the night so all we could see was lights glinting off the Nile River)
- Landed in Athens, Greece where my mother flew on to London, England with my three youngest siblings while my father and I and two older siblings began a two-week tour of Europe.
- In Greece we toured the ruins of the Acropolis, the Temple of Athena, and other notables
- Next came Rome where we visited the Colosseum, the Catacombs, the Vatican, and being around Easter we even got a glimpse of Pope John XXIII making an appearance over St Peter's Square....
- I turned 9 in Rome but got my present in Venice the next day, watching a glass-blower make a hand-blown glass tiger only about 2" long with hair-thickness teeth and perfect stripes... that I have to this day. (the tiger, not the stripes! :o )
In Venice we rode in gondolas, spent time in St Mark's Square, even filing into St Mark's Cathedral (notice the 'Mark' theme here?) to view Pope Pius XII lying in state... he had passed away 6 months before. So in the matter of two days we saw two popes.
- Next up, Paris. Of course the Eiffel Tower along with other usual tourist spots.
- Last came Sussex where we stayed with folks we knew from South Africa (where my mom stayed with the young'uns) and spent a number of days taking limousine tours through London, catching the usual Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, etc., but also going to places of interest missed by the big tours.
- Leaving England with only one quick stop for fuel in Glasgow, Scotland and we were back to the good ole USA landing at Idlewild (now JFK) in New York.
- My dad bought a black 59 Plymouth 'Suburban' wagon (looked like a hearse) in NY, promptly drove out of the dealership the wrong way on a one-way street... welcome to the USA! We drove across to MN on the 'Turnpikes/tollways'.

Already it's been more than the allotted 'minute' so I'll need to speed up time...
1959-1960 - St Paul, MN
1960-1970 - NW suburbs of the Twin Cities
1970-1972 - US Army... Ft Leonard Wood, MO and Ft Richardson, AK (spent my time as a personnel specialist instead of a grunt in 'Nam, thank goodness!)
1972-1975 - NW suburbs of the Twin Cities
1975-1982 - Lived on a reasonably large lake 20 mi north of Lake Mille Lacs
1982-2002 - NW & SW suburbs of the Twin Cities
2002-2008 - Scottsdale, Mesa, East Mesa, AZ moving steadily east... the pull of the Superstitions, you know. 8-)
2008 - 4 months in MN... just enough time during an awful late-Winter early-Spring to remind me AZ has become my year-round permanent home.
2008-present - East Mesa area

I was an avid inline skater in MN where I could skate 60 miles in one trip out in the wilds, seeing tons of wildlife deer, fox, wolf, black bear, skated by loon nesting grounds... ahhh, the good parts! Once in AZ, with no paved trails across the desert I got more heavily into mountain biking, racing up 7,000 miles before eventually the hiking took over almost completely, last year being my high point with 531 miles and a fraction under 100,000' of accumulated elevation gain. I'm already off to a great start on my goal of 600 miles and 120,000' AEG this year.

So much for 1-minute, huh?! :shock:
Now looking back on the trip my mind raced off on, I apologize... this probably would have been better placed in a more social thread.

BTW, although very computer savvy (years as a software test engineer) :ugeek: I try not to get too involved in a lot of the social aspects of various boards like DUSA, Hike Arizona and Arizona Hikers, as it can become a black hole of time... time I'd rather spend outdoors in God's wonderful creation. Besides, I lost a family and another life due to time burned away involved in computers, Internet, etc. Facebook? My Space? Black holes of artificial interaction... what's wrong with going out and making face-to-face friends?

Sorry... that's another soapbox I better stay off. ;)

Thanks again for the warm welcome... I hope I don't wear it out. :oops:

Sometime... on the a more appropriate thread, I'll have to tell about my literally hundreds of true snake stories, starting with my first dog giving his life in saving my from a black mamba snake all the way to cutting open a python with a small deer still alive inside!
Stay tuned... but you may have to beg.... :lol:
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Re: 3 hikers from Utah now missing in the Superstitions

Post by cubfan64 »

Holy cow!! I'm exhausted just reading your bio (not to mention depressed at how little I've accomplished in life in comparison and how out of shape I am :p).

Very impressive to say the least.

I completely understand your aversion to the "black hole" that can be forums like this, but I encourage you to stop by now and then when you can and post some photos from some of your hikes and adventures!
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Re: 3 hikers from Utah now missing in the Superstitions

Post by LDMGOLD »

I rode into the Yellow Peak country through Second Water yesterday with Jesse and took a lot of photos of the NE corner of Yellow Peak revealing the talus slope of black basaltic rock two of the victims were found on. We ran into Wayne at First Water Trail Head. I would really appreciate if Wayne would email me a copy of the photos he took of Jesse and I. Wayne is the co-sponsor of the Dutchman's Rendezvous each year now.

We wanted to examine the old mine tunnels near Yellow Peak. The trail from Second Water to the NE corner of Yellow Peak is so grown over by brush it is almost impossible to ride a horse through anymore. The one time I didn't wear chaps and I sure should have had them on. I am still picking out some thorns.

Mark has post so many wonderful photographs of Yellow Peak, there is little point I post mine. I believe the victims relatives have plenty of photos now.

SSAR, as you know now, found the third victim on January 15, 2011. I was there when MCSO and coroner's office removed his body. Nobody or no organization can be faulted for not finding these three victims. They were in the roughest area near Yellow Peak you can find. Treasure hunters wander far off the beaten path and leave little hope of being found unless they tell somebody where there going and when they expect to return. I can't imagine a true blue treasure hunter telling someone where he believes there is a cache of gold. These kind of thoughts are often a fatal attraction for treasure hunters

Tom K.
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Re: 3 hikers from Utah now missing in the Superstitions

Post by cubfan64 »

I'm still hoping someone can post a topo map with marks where the 3 bodies were found - anyone?
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Re: 3 hikers from Utah now missing in the Superstitions

Post by LDMGOLD »

Paul:

The sheriff's office has requested that information not be posted until the case is completed, that is the investigation. I have the information, but I won't post it at this time. I am sure somebody else will post it eventually.

Tom K.
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