Hey, all. Haven’t posted in a while.
Supposing the dog was the first to show signs of illness, maybe from heat, and possibly having to be carried (as I believe was first posited by
@Lexiintoronto in Thread 1), it would make sense to me that EC might have left a healthy but flagging JG with the baby and dog so that she could quickly return to the car for some necessity…cold water? Ice? Cooler? in order to help with the sick dog. If EC believed JG was okay to care for the two dependents, with the sick dog tethered to JG so as not to try to follow EC, and the baby off of JG’s back so as to keep them both cooler, she might well have dashed off unencumbered to the car, then tried to return to her family, with some necessity. If I put myself and my dh, child, and dog in their position, under those circumstances, I could see it unfolding that way. Ultimately, the heat would have caught up to each family member in his/her own time. Moo.
As an aside, my family often hikes with a cooler and snacks waiting in the car, which we generally try to park in a shady spot if hiking in heat. I have no idea if this would have been a habit of the Gerrish-Chungs. Simply my own experience and imo.