This and the Reddit post shed a whole new light on this issue.Matthew wrote: Wed May 06, 2026 5:10 pm The thing is is that the yoga group that subjects A, B, and C are in is literally a cult...
I did consider that, initially because I would be inclined to believe something like that vs a uti or a brain bleed/infarct, simply because a uti would be much slower to develop and both hikers would have noticed signs of confusion from her (which maybe they did but I hadn't heard that yet.) Most strokes present with some degree of motor and coordination deficit, not always but typically. I just feel in both those scenarios, I would expect to hear something along the lines to where Hiker A and Hiker C (or just Hiker A later on) earlier on in the trip having noticed Monica was "off" somehow at some point leading up to her disappearance. But that would be a very odd thing for her companions to omit from the story.GoalHiking wrote: Wed May 06, 2026 4:34 pmThis meditation thing makes me wonder if they engaged in any mind-enhancing substances on the summit.
I think you're on to something, what if Monica Reza never went on the hike? If the two people she hiked with were paid off by agents of a foreign government it is possible that this was the cover up while they absconded her earlier. An agent from China who was Caucasian dressed up as Monica did the hike, she took off her costume, hid out and was later picked up by the two paid informants. The actual kidnapping happened the night before and Monica was smuggled onto the Beijing Star which was leaving the port of Long Beach that next day. Everyone is looking for Monica in the mountains but in actuality she was on the slow ship to China.Also, and maybe I'm being a little tinfoily here, so feel free to mock me for what I am about to suggest but do you feel like Monica looks different in the picture where she's walking at a distance?
No doubt you are refereeing to the people in robes...I was hoping no one would go there "We could see clearly better who were holding the lanterns, the light was bigger than before. We saw one person wearing black robes with pointy hat and four others wearing the classic white robes. They were ahead of us by maybe 30 to 50 yards. So I told everyone to run back as fast as they can, I think they saw us or heard us because they started to shout that they were going catch us and hang us in that big tree on the trail."David R wrote: Thu May 07, 2026 12:52 pmIf the two people she hiked with were paid off by agents of a foreign government it is possible that this was the cover up while they absconded her earlier...
Another great video. Proves a video is worth 1,000 pictures and all that. What impressed me most was the scope, the difficulty, the immensity of the surroundings. I'm 79 years old and definitely not up to taking these hikes on. My wife and I do 2-3 hikes/week in the foothills of the Rockies, but it's way tamer than anything like this. I was considering asking a couple of younger friends who are rock climbers to go out & give it a shot. They could do the cliffs in Eldorado Canyon near Boulder, Colorado at night in the rain with 40 mph winds. You can't always trust the info online, but I've read that there was no detection of a mountain lion in the area where the 2 hikers heard a woman screaming. If so, that must have been Monica, and she must have taken a left when reaching the trail you profile in the video. If course, that makes no sense, just as taking a left up top makes no sense. All the explanations for that left turn are, in my opinion, problematic. Maybe the beanie is a plant, but if the woman screaming is a woman and not a lion, who could it be except Monica? I take it that the area near the Twin Peaks Saddle has been searched less than Devils Canyon. Do you think it would be worthwhile to search that area? It must be incredibly frustrating for you and many of the hikers in this forum, who have spent so much effort in searching for Monica, not to be getting any feedback from officialdom. The Tips Line has been functioning for months. We need an update.SideQuestHiker wrote: Thu May 07, 2026 1:31 pmMeanwhile...I posted an ambient hike video (the main reason for my YouTube channel) that is somewhat relevant to Monica's disappearance.
Yeah, when you're out there the search area looks so much bigger than it does on maps!coloradohiker wrote: Thu May 07, 2026 5:01 pm What impressed me most was the scope, the difficulty, the immensity of the surroundings.
I suppose it all depends on her state of mind. If she was stumbling down the south slope in a panic she could have easily missed it. On the other hand, someone carefully picking their way down and looking for a trail would have a fair chance of seeing it. Did she know the area well enough to expect a trail in that direction? <shrug>Ry_Ky wrote: Thu May 07, 2026 8:51 pm Do you think she would have recognized it as a trail if/when she came to it? From the videos, I can see that it can be really hard to tell where the trail is sometimes, and easy to miss.
Which official trail is that? There is 10w04 Waterman #1 and 10w05 Waterman#2.Ry_Ky wrote: Thu May 07, 2026 8:51 pm Also, it's possible she could have got onto the Mt. Waterman Trail and later accidentally got off the trail again.
Thanks. That makes sense. If you know there's a trail downhill of the one you were initially hiking on and close by, you'd expect it and probably be able to find it. Even if you didn't know and you managed to stay calm and observant, you might be able to see it. But if you're panicking or rushing, I think it would be easy to miss because it's a narrow trail downhill of you.SideQuestHiker wrote: Fri May 08, 2026 9:53 amI suppose it all depends on her state of mind...Ry_Ky wrote: Thu May 07, 2026 8:51 pm Do you think she would have recognized it as a trail if/when she came to it?
Oop, sorry, doing some research because I'm not a local. On my Caltopo map it just says "Mount Waterman Trail." But I looked up 10x04 Waterman #1 and 10w05 Waterman #2. I was talking about 10W04 Mt. Waterman Trail #1, the one from Three Points Trailhead toward Twin Peaks Saddle. The one directly south and downhill of where Monica and Hiker A were hiking (10w05 Waterman#2?) I can see how this is confusing to hikers.
This is why I find any armchair analysis ridiculous. You are a SAR member yet based on what you read and watched you're confused as far as to why the beanie was found in that drainage. If you hiked the area especially before the search, it makes complete sense that she would have ended over there. The trail they used was infrequently hiked and at the point where she got off trail was a spot where you had to make a sharp turn like a switchback to start down the ridge. Now they have put wood in the area to designate the turn, before there was nothing. At that point you were on a wide saddle, with some rocks ahead of you. If you wanted to drop off going in a similar direction, you would end up right in the drainage where the beanie was found albeit on the wrong side of the mountain. This is just one small example of where all this discussion is based on poor understanding. Also contrary to what is being stated, Waterman is also one of the most gentle mountains in the area with some of the least amount of brush for our area. I have hiked it from just about any direction taking any ridge I like because of that.But I actually bring that up to say I was surprised that the beanie was found in a place that appears so impassable...
Checking caltopo shared maps There is Waterman to Baden-Powell, Dust to Crust #F7VMG997. #1 trail...idk. Its actuallly notMtWaterman...because it takes away from #2s navigation, which is designed for that type of hiker. "Three Points" is one Ive heard a lot. But its been called South Waterman and my personal name as west waterman. West waterman is zoned that way, with more due diligence required and less travellers.
When I initially plotted the location of the beanie, it made a lot of sense to me because it's a direct line downhill from where she likely exited the trail, at that point where the trail makes a sharp right turn, before it was marked with wood. It still makes sense. I'm just saying I am curious about that path after watching SideQuestHiker's video because it seemed like there was more open and passable terrain west of her at that point. But if she's just crashing downhill in a straight line and not looking around much for a gentler path, or she started off along the ridge and went down the drainage anyway, both of those explain the beanie being there. I just wanted to hear from someone who has hiked off trail around the beanie location, because it seems like from SideQuestHiker's video that that drainage is more challenging terrain than the paths he was taking in his shirt visibility test. (Or would those paths he took lead to the beanie location anyway?) Ultimately, it doesn't matter because the beanie was found in that drainage, indicating that she was almost certainly descending through the drainage.David R wrote: Fri May 08, 2026 1:55 pmYou are a SAR member yet based on what you read and watched you're confused as far as to why the beanie was found in that drainage. If you hiked the area especially before the search, it makes complete sense that she would have ended over there.
As someone who has been lost and in distress in the high country of the San Gabriels, I think it's very plausible that Monica made a series of mistakes leading to her doom. I previously outlined them, and I did so assuming that she wasn't in distress but simply got turned around somehow and attempted to self-rescue. This happens to intelligent people who think they know enough to get themselves out of a jam, yet unknowingly have already made a fatal error. Then they get themselves dehydrated and/or panicked, and go down the dark corridor of more bad choices. We're talking about a woman who hadn't learned to put her beanie inside her backpack. We've all made these rookie mistakes. I used to leave my sunglasses on summits a lot, until I learned not to set them down while taking a selfie. The glasses go on your face or in the backpack. The end. I used to clip my gloves to the outside of my pack, until I lost one in the freezing wind on Baldy. The gloves go on your hands or in the pack. And make sure your pack don't have no holes in it! I've been there too. My point is that you might be a rocket scientist, but what good is that if you still lose your beanie in the wilderness? One or two brain farts might result in the loss of your life. That's why it's so important to have a good hiking partner and to share responsibility for each other. It's easy to assume that your follower has learned the critical turns on a route, but it only takes one wrong assumption in the wilderness...SideQuestHiker wrote: Fri May 08, 2026 4:13 pmHow plausible is it that she made that sequence of mistakes? Each individual mistake is plausible, but all of them together? <shrug> I have no idea how to judge the mind of a lost person in distress.
How often have you been what you thought was 100 miles from nowhere when you hear a car on a road a couple of miles away? What about an echo in the mountains that seemed to travel from miles away? There's been discussion about how sound doesn't travel well around boulders and other obstacles, but in certain conditions sounds can travel great distances. Have you ever picked up a conversation between people who were on the other side of a lake? We don't have the full story of what the 2 hikers told the searchers. Were they in the Twin Peaks Saddle or was the sound coming from there? Probably this is not such a great clue. It doesn't narrow the search area that much.SideQuestHiker wrote: Fri May 08, 2026 4:13 pmSo let's say she did go down the south slope. For her to end up crying out in anguish near Twin Peaks Saddle she would have had to make a few more mistakes (beyond going down the south slope).
