[Bootpathguy]

It's long but it's a fascinating read "How 1,600 People Went Missing from Our Public Lands Without a Trace" https://www.outsideonline.com/2164446/leave-no-trace And... Remember this... ( I think about this guy every time I head out on I90 ) http://komonews.com/news/local/search-for-skydiver-missing-near-mount-si-on-hold-11-21-2015

[Celticclimber]

In regards to the BASE jumper. A couple of years back I talked to a guy who was jumping off of the Index Town Wall. We chatted about the guy on Si. He said that this guy asked him to come along. He refused. Say to me that he didn't think this guy had his sh## together. Then he added something else. He said the Si guy's GF was Pg and he didn't want to be a dad. The Index guy thinks he left town.....Occam's Razor?? As for the lost and never found. I have pushed this book for years: DEEP SURVIVAL. WHO LIVES WHO DIES AND WHY. Get it! Live every day like you will die to-marrow. For someday that will be true

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Read the article. A bit startling. Don't know if the overall gist is that searches aren't extensive enough because of limited resources, or that there is something sinister going on and people are being abducted and/or murdered on public lands, or both. Anyway kind of a needle in a haystack situation, you can be really close to remains and not see it. Scent dogs are a useful tool but not infallible. "The Last Season" by Eric Blehm is a fairly fascinating book about a National Park Ranger that went missing in California and the large missing person operation that ensued. All kinds of rumors and innuendo surfaced as that stretched on. The last time I was in the Sierras, a teacher from Pennsylvania went missing during the same time frame. I received an email from Inyo County S&R after I returned home, they were contacting everyone that had wilderness permits in the general area during that time. I saw an article in a paper a couple months later and there was no trace of him at that point.

[Pef]

[Foist]

It would have been a better article without the diversion into conspiracy theory claptrap in the middle.

[Bernardo]

An interesting article. The diversion into conspiracy is perfectly offset by the ultimate outcome of the article. Occam's razor.

[Slugman]

Occam's razor is a tool used for making guesses. It proves nothing, and as often as not leads to ridiculous conclusions. Fewer assumptions does not mean the assumptions are true or accurate. Tens of millions of people visit public lands every year, it would be shocking if large numbers did not disappear.

[Foist]

Yeah offset maybe, but I just feel like conspiracy theory cranks shouldn't be given a platform and credibility like that. That cluster part was hilarious. Those cluster theories are usually bunk to begin with because normal random statistical variation produces clusters, but on top of that, his "clusters" were all the most popular national parks.

[Pyrites]

I thought the same. Popular parks that attract lots of visitors from far away. I remember an MD visiting from D.C. lost from Rainier on a day hike. The snow was still deep if not continuous. Cessna's weighing a ton, and in a few cases large four engine aircraft, go missing for decades. A person? It doesn't take a deep dark mystery for explanation.

[Ringangleclaw]