Hi everyone. Newbie here, and like you all, this case has fascinated me from the get-go.
Has anyone commented that their bodies were found in positions consistent with the “lightning crouch”? I’ve known since a youngster in my Sierra backpacking days that when lightning is nearby, you remove any high-profile metal gear like backpacks (or in this case, babycarrier), get a distance from others (Mom 30 yards away), and you crouch down with heels touching and ears covered. When I read that Dad was found sitting with the baby next to him still in the pack and the dog there too, it just felt obvious he had ripped off his pack, crouched down, and held the dog down so it wouldn’t be a canine lightning rod. Mom did the right thing by increasing distance. But everything reads that they were all taken simultaneously through a ground current strike.
There was recorded lighting activity in the area that day (Source: blitzortung.org) Between around 4:38 and 6:25pm, there were 4 recorded strikes roughly 25 miles east of the family’s location. I’ve attached screenshots, but you can go to the website and play around with the time and date inputs. That website admits it doesn’t receive data on all strikes - its data comes from volunteers who may or may not have their detection devices on at any given time.
But assuming that same weather system was to the west overhead the family 30 minutes to an hour earlier, then lightning becomes a distinct possibility. Contrary to what others have said, ground current strikes often don’t leave traumatic injuries like direct strikes do. No torn off clothing, exploded shoes, long burn marks, etc. By the time they were found after nearly 48 hours exposed in hot weather and sun, it might be very difficult to clearly distinguish subtle entry/exit marks or singed skin in an initial autopsy.
And for anyone not convinced of the terrible, deadly power of the ground current released by lightning, over 300 reindeer in Norway dropped dead from cardiac arrest instantaneously due to ground current from a single lightning strike.
https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2016/08/29/europe/reindeer-killed-lightning-trnd/index.html
I have a very different narrative of that day that I hope is true, and that I believe is based on what LE and friends are saying about them. They were knowledgeable and well-prepared. They knew the area. They were loving and doting parents and pet owners. They probably knew it would be very hot. They probably knew there was a “Caution” about algae at the Hites Cove section of the river. By the way, a toxic algae “Caution” is the first advisory level above “None” (i.e. no concern) and is below the next two advisory levels, “Warning” and “Danger.” (Source:
My Water Quality: California Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs)
Nobody thinks “Let’s go on an 8.5 mile hike in 100+ degree weather and subject our baby and dog to torment and possible death.” But they might think “Let’s spend this miserably hot day down at the river, soaking and splashing in the cool mountain water and resting under streamside shade.” So they start the hike early with food and water for the day, and they arrive down at the river between 9 and 10am when it’s in the 80s or 90s. They say know about the algae situation, so they follow the loop 2 or 3 miles upstream to be well away from it. Then, they spend the next several hours just enjoying the day, soaking themselves and the baby and the dog, maybe even napping in wet clothes in some shade. Around 4pm, they decide to hike up the switchbacks to their car. They are in a deep canyon and those switchbacks are on an east-south face, so the trail up might have very well been in the shade for some time, depending on when the sun passed over the peak. Maybe they all took one last good soak and started the switchbacks with wet clothes and wet fur. Maybe the evaporation and the lack of direct sunshine kept them all pretty comfortable. No one had to suffer. No paws had to burn.
But then, halfway up, perhaps the sky above the crest they were climbing darkened. Perhaps they heard a nearby thunder clap, or the rocks around them started to hum, or they tasted metal, or their hair started to stand up. Perhaps they got some warning that, being exposed on the face of a high peak with no cover, they needed to quickly prepare for a lightning strike.
I’m really hoping this is what happened, despite how tragic it is. It would have been quick. And it would preserve their integrity and reputation as informed, loving people who did everything right, but were simply caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Heatstroke just doesn’t seem to match the scene. They were together, on the trail. People with heatstroke get it at different times, and they get weird. They usually wander. They’re typically not found on trail. These folks had water, which is significant not because of dehydration, but because anyone witnessing a heat emergency in a loved one (which is very distressing from my own experience) would be dumping whatever water was available on the person, or on clothing to wrap around their neck, or on the animal to cool them down. Whoever still had their wits about them would NOT think “I’ll just watch my loved one suffer because this remaining water might come in handy uptrail,” MOO.
