EISPIRATEN

Arrived to Mount Waterman trail 4:30am. I didnt know it at the time, but the ANF doesnt recognize this as a trail....the only MtWaterman trail is from 3 pts, and thats the trail Eugene's group had taken. It was 47 degrees...and quiet, with a bright half moon in the sky. No auto along the highway, just a complete expletive of a group and trip that lead to this. I had already been on the lookout since Chilao...stopping frequently along Waterman to yell out into the night only to get a slight echo back.

Headed up to Kratka ridge, encountering one fly greeting me along the ridge at 5:15 am. Search the eastern end of Krakta, probably 90% and taking 4 hours. Headed up to Waterman, meeting a SAR group just below the summit. It was about 2:00 pm by the time I was back at the car.....angry and mumbling to myself that something doesnt add up that the usual MtWaterman trail was taken. Not everywhere had been stepped on, but I was out of ideas.

In theory he could be anywhere since he was ditched, but the search will focus on the southside of Waterman and Devils Canyon for now.

Morning over the SG wilderness.
SG wilderness again...N Fork Bear Creek

Same location looking towards Twin Peaks

Waterman travel


one of the old roads

Do you have a link to an article with more info? NVM, article is here.

Ditched, as in 'intentionally abandoned'?

I did notice a lot of ranger/sheriff activity when I was up at 3 Pts/Chilao/Charlton on Sunday night, and the 3 Pts parking was closed.

Had not heard of this incident. Where was he & when last seen?

Also, here's a reddit thread with some more info: reddit thread

He wasn't ditched, group hikers quite often hike at their own pace and wait for the slower groups to catch up. I don't know how far back was the last point of contact but the group wasn't being purposeful in leaving him behind. It sounds like another group of novice hikers who hadn't brought enough liquids or were prepared for a moderate hike. It is a head scratcher to get lost while being on that trail and I'm wondering how it happened at all, perhaps a fall off the trail into Devil's Canyon? I read that he only had one small water bottle so my biggest concern would be dehydration even with the moderate temps.

Nice of you to search.

Did you get to Waterman from Red Box on Angeles Forest Highway, or did you drive in the Wrightwood? I was going to head back there but it looked like ACH was closed between Wrightwood and Waterman.

David R wrote: He wasn't ditched, group hikers quite often hike at their own pace and wait for the slower groups to catch up. I don't know how far back was the last point of contact but the group wasn't being purposeful in leaving him behind. It sounds like another group of novice hikers who hadn't brought enough liquids or were prepared for a moderate hike. It is a head scratcher to get lost while being on that trail and I'm wondering how it happened at all, perhaps a fall off the trail into Devil's Canyon? I read that he only had one small water bottle so my biggest concern would be dehydration even with the moderate temps.

I dont know what you call it then, but a major factor(in theory) is that he gets back to the highway and is not incentivized to take a car back down. Its kind of like you see he can get to Hwy 2 and then so what? If he gets back down , no one is there. Nothing is there. It was 'he will or he wont' make it back to cilivilization.

The last time they claim he was sighted was back at Waterman summit. So thats about 6.6 miles of not knowing where this guy is....and thats about all I believe them.

As far as 3 points trail/Devils Canyon. They searched the west ridge to the 3 pts trail, so its whittling down in that respect....but yeah, its down to where the helicopters cant see after the umpteenth time of scanning. Down the rest of the west ridge...Chilao Creek...Devils Canyon...heck, there were a couple of ANF employees with binoculars on the N fork of Bear Creek too. But basically anything north of the 3 pts trail on the map is like 1% possible, so it'll have to be south.

If he was last seen on the summit, the north side of the west ridge is possible isn't it (i.e. he was trying to get to the highway)?

Lots of cool rocks and boulders on Waterman - on top of peak, along west ridge and on both north and south sides of west ridge. Plenty of places to crawl into and try to keep warm and not be seen.

Heck, I've been bouldering on top of Waterman and there were places that I could easily have fallen into between two fins and still be there trying to get out with a broken wrist and ankle.

I have been following the story. This is very sad. Whether or not the group intentionally left him behind angers me. As a hiking group leader, I never leave my people behind no matter how slow they are. Sometimes it can be frustrating when slower hikers cannot keep up. I do make it a point to always look back or stop to allow them to catch up. I also make it a point to hike with experienced hikers and not beginners.

As Hikeup said, on the peak of Mt. Waterman there are many places to crawl into and keep warm.

@AW nice of you to search for Eugene.

Any news have they scaled back the search? I can't find any updates on this. We are getting to the point where it is going to be a recovery and not a rescue unfortunately. This one really bothers me because it really shouldn't happen here. If he's not found by the 4th I'm going out there to look. I have some theories based on him last being seen on the summit and then the other hikers going back to try and find him.

No updates published, but they havent scaled anything back that I know of. I look to be at 3pts (via Big T road which is nearer to me anyway) this weekend moseying around.
Montrose search and rescue is the lead on this, so their twitter or facebook is the newest publishes.

David R wrote: I have some theories based on him last being seen on the summit and then the other hikers going back to try and find him.

What are you thinking David?

I'm thinking that if they went back to find him the probability of him getting in trouble on the first three miles out of Three Points is minimal as they would've spotted him. I don't know timing of things and how long they waited but my bet is the trouble started further up. The trail from Three Points doesn't have much dramatic topography with very few places for drop offs and getting killed, that just feels like the wrong answer. All of this is on trail so I think he missed the junction to go down to Three Points and continued along the ridge. Now he knows enough to know that he has to go down to the right or south, where that turnoff is he doesn't know. So he gets to the switchback that starts down to ACH but he knows that's the wrong way. There is a use trail that continues along the east ridge that AW walked up. He starts to get confused as the use trail diminishes and he makes a fatal mistake and decides something is wrong I need to go down to the south and he figures one of those gullies will get him back to the trail. I know there is one gully that drops directly from the last switchback a perfect place for this confusion to take hold and make the wrong choice. I don't know how steep these gullies are, there is one with an easy egress at the low point between Kratka and Waterman but that makes less sense to me since the road is so close you can't miss it. If he tried one of these gullies and fell further down, they get steep and are deeply recessed. He would only be found by someone going through the canyon and it sounds like Bear Canyon and its subsidiary canyons are only being looked at remotely. I need to look at the steepness and see if this is a possibility because he is older, so it has to be a reasonable choice and not some crazy incline that only people on this site would attempt.

The second weaker theory is a fall off of the Three Point trail and to look for places where this is possible and go down to those spots off the trail and look around as he may have been injured but not killed and could have dragged himself further from the trail towards Devil's Canyon.

I was thinking something very similar. He misses the junction for the trail back to 3 Points on the descent, eventually realizes he's made a mistake, tries to correct that error by dropping south, then falls or ends up in the upper reaches of Bear Canyon. Doesn't seem realistic that he would just continue east along the ridge toward Kratka.

The other possibility is that he got confused when the connector from Waterman intersects the trail back the 3 Points and he headed east toward the Twins instead of west. But I think Montrose SAR checked that route the first night they were out.

headsizeburrito and I descended one of the chutes dropping down to upper Bear Canyon last year. It's steep and not very stable up there. Really not a good place to get lost if you're not used to such terrain and don't have a map.

Montrose SAR tweeted 45 mins ago that Mr. Jo has been found alive. Sounds like he was in Devil's Canyon but limited details. He has been airlifted to the hospital. Good outcome.

Awesome.

KTLA Article

Quote: He was drinking water out of the Devil’s Canyon creek.

Excellent news! I guess he missed the turn after all and was too pooped to hike back up the trail. I'm not surprised he couldn't make it down Devil's without food. It's hard enough with a full pack of supplies.

Great news! I've seen some of the updates and wasn't expecting a good outcome, but this is why you keep looking and don't give up. Like those idiots in Cucamonga Canyon or that lady that went missing in Hawaii for a week recently, with some water access and decent weather conditions people can last a while. Still not a lot of detail on his exact location, but it sounds like he just kept descending into the canyon to get water and try to find a way out. Not always a good plan with the risk of falling, getting cliffed out etc, but a pretty common response when somebody is lost. As Dima said it's a pretty rugged area, so he's lucky he apparently wasn't seriously hurt.

Here's a map that was posted by the Altadena Sheriff Station on FB. Apparently Jo went deep into Devil's Canyon, far off his original route.

Wait, what? What are the lines? If each line is a gps track a searcher took, then they made sure that this gentleman didn't summit Triplet Rocks by accident. Probably, not, right?

So happy they found him but obviously a newbie hiker. He managed to get all the way down Devil's Canyon and passed the trail that leads you out! I'm guessing on Day 7 he was starting to lose it a bit and also didn't realize there was a trail.

dima wrote: Wait, what? What are the lines? If each line is a gps track a searcher took, then they made sure that this gentleman didn't summit Triplet Rocks by accident. Probably, not, right?

I don't think the parallel lines are tracks. They appear to be known routes, ridges, or canyons. It looks like they searched about one-third down the ridge to Triplets and returned.

Sean wrote:

dima wrote: Wait, what? What are the lines? If each line is a gps track a searcher took, then they made sure that this gentleman didn't summit Triplet Rocks by accident. Probably, not, right?

I don't think the parallel lines are tracks. They appear to be known routes, ridges, or canyons. It looks like they searched about one-third down the ridge to Triplets and returned.

So maybe it's a combination of known routes and SAR tracks.

I wonder what Jo's track was. Did he accidentally take the Twin Peaks Trail and descend Devil's Canyon from the saddle? Or did he go down one of the chutes from the Three Points Trail?

I had just helped installed a trail sign at the Waterman, 3 points, twin peaks junction that same day Jo got lost. Feels ironic. Glad he was found safe.

ReFreshing wrote: I had just helped installed a trail sign at the Waterman, 3 points, twin peaks junction that same day Jo got lost. Feels ironic. Glad he was found safe.

That's crazy.

Btw, does anyone else think it was a bit ambitious for a 73-year-old to hike from Three Points to Waterman? That's a fairly difficult hike.

Anthony wrote: Btw, does anyone else think it was a bit ambitious for a 73-year-old to hike from Three Points to Waterman? That's a fairly difficult hike.

You're talking about a dude who survived for a week in Devil's Canyon. I don't think ambition was the problem.

Sean wrote:

Anthony wrote: Btw, does anyone else think it was a bit ambitious for a 73-year-old to hike from Three Points to Waterman? That's a fairly difficult hike.

You're talking about a dude who survived for a week in Devil's Canyon. I don't think ambition was the problem.

By "ambitious," I'm not talking about his will to survive. I'm talking about whether he should have been doing that hike in the first place. I'm just curious what type of shape he's in and what his experience is. I would only recommend that hike to experienced hikers who are in good shape.