Found Deceased CA - Paul Miller, 51, Canadian missing in Joshua Tree Natl Park, San Bernardino Co., 13 Jul 2018 #2

[tarabull]

I'm going out on a limb to say, IMHO there's a pretty good chance only 1/5 of the JOSAR group is over 80 years of age...

Friends Of Joshua Tree on Instagram: “We are not pulling down a pile of rock . We are #volunteers of the #searchandrescue team #JOSAR and are training today on how to build…”

 

[jash]

From yesterday fwiw

Meet Chaos -a valuable member of Joshua Tree's Search & Rescue!

Joshua Tree National Park

I'm going out on a limb to say, IMHO there's a pretty good chance only 1/5 of the JOSAR group is over 80 years of age...

Friends Of Joshua Tree on Instagram: “We are not pulling down a pile of rock . We are #volunteers of the #searchandrescue team #JOSAR and are training today on how to build…”

Thanks for posting! I think these people are amazing to spend their time and money to help strangers.

I quoted an article earlier about Chaos' handler. She gets up at 3am and drives 90 miles to help search in JTNP! It would be great if the families of the missing donated gas cards to the searchers.

 

[jash]

The wife saying she last saw him leave around 9 vs. Neil saying he was 2/3 of the way to the oasis at 9ish. That is a pretty large discrepancy. To be on the trail and 2/3 of the way to the oasis, he probably would have had to leave the hotel around, what? 815? 8? You figure in driving there plus hiking 2/3 of the way out.

<quote snipped for space>
Thank you for highlighting this.

In the radio interview Paul's wife did last month, she stated that the searchers had figured out how far Paul could have gone in that amount of time and they felt they had sufficiently searched 80% of that ground ("under every rock and crevice"). What happens to their calculations if his start time was earlier by 30-60 minutes?

CA - CA - Paul Miller, 51, Canadian missing in Joshua Tree National Park, San Bernardino Co., 13 Jul 2018

 

[rosesfromangels]

<quote snipped for space>
Thank you for highlighting this.

In the radio interview Paul's wife did last month, she stated that the searchers had figured out how far Paul could have gone in that amount of time and they felt they had sufficiently searched 80% of that ground ("under every rock and crevice"). What happens to their calculations if his start time was earlier by 30-60 minutes?

CA - CA - Paul Miller, 51, Canadian missing in Joshua Tree National Park, San Bernardino Co., 13 Jul 2018

All very good points Jash. I attribute the variance to human error and memory. Understandable given the circumstances. I really hope those responsible will double down on the search efforts, and once again scour the suspected path. He's there - they just can't "see" him. It's really hard. Searchers walk within 2" of remains and miss them. Mike Grefner, the DJ from Whistler, B.C. Canada is a perfect example. Another example was a young man who had hung himself from a tree outdoors. (Can't remember his name). I mean he was hanging from a tree and he wasn't "seen". It's an odd phenomenon. Mother Nature embraces remains and camouflages them well.

 

[tarabull]

This should attract visitors to JTNP.

Maybe someone will stumble upon Paul out there this Saturday, when park admission is FREE

Visit Joshua Tree for free Saturday - Palm Springs Newswire

 

[rosesfromangels]

This should attract visitors to JTNP.

Maybe someone will stumble upon Paul out there this Saturday, when park admission is FREE

Visit Joshua Tree for free Saturday - Palm Springs Newswire

I hope it's not children. : (
Further, I really do hope park visitors are aware they could stumble across a missing person. If anything, it would most likely attract a bunch of people given Halloween approaching and what not. I'm sorry to say that, but there are alot of ghoulish grisssly seeking types.

 

[zecats]

This should attract visitors to JTNP.

Maybe someone will stumble upon Paul out there this Saturday, when park admission is FREE

Visit Joshua Tree for free Saturday - Palm Springs Newswire

Wondering if there are (still) missing posters at the trailhead or visitors’ center. Awareness of what one might stumble upon is probably a good thing, not to mention awareness of a missing person to begin with.

 

[frisson]

I understood that there are dogs who track a scent of a live person. Then there are other dogs who track dead bodies... the scent of death. Sorry to say that bluntly. Did they do both?

 

[Tim Callahan]

I’ve posted previously that I thought it was very strange that he would go out on a whim just to photograph bighorn sheep — if he was just a casual snapshot taker, it seems like going through great lengths for something that would be relatively trivial to a casual photo taker, and on the other hand, if he were big into wildlife photography, then yes, they go through great lengths to get the shot, but don’t do it on a whim like that.
Very coincidentally, I met a guy at a breakfast of mutual friends the other day who IS big into wildlife photography, more so than anybody I’ve previously met. At the breakfast, he showed a bunch of photos of his recent trip to the Arctic Circle to photograph mostly polar bears, and I have no doubt he spent north of $5,000 on his expedition and froze a lot to do so. I mentioned Paul’s case to him, and he pretty much confirmed my same suspicions — that if he was so into wildlife photography that he had to go out on a special trip just to photograph bighorn sheep, surely he would have planned it out much more, gone out earlier, been better prepared, not gone out at the last minute, etc. Not to say it couldn’t have been impulsive, but to me, it just seems like an excuse to go out on his own.
On a side note, the photos the guy showed at the breakfast were good, but not spectacular. I think that shows how fanatical these guys can be if it’s truly their hobby. They don’t have to be professional, but even the amateurs that are crazy about wildlife photography show a great deal more dedication than Paul seemed to show. Just saying.

 

[frisson]

I’ve posted previously that I thought it was very strange that he would go out on a whim just to photograph bighorn sheep — if he was just a casual snapshot taker, it seems like going through great lengths for something that would be relatively trivial to a casual photo taker, and on the other hand, if he were big into wildlife photography, then yes, they go through great lengths to get the shot, but don’t do it on a whim like that.
Very coincidentally, I met a guy at a breakfast of mutual friends the other day who IS big into wildlife photography, more so than anybody I’ve previously met. At the breakfast, he showed a bunch of photos of his recent trip to the Arctic Circle to photograph mostly polar bears, and I have no doubt he spent north of $5,000 on his expedition and froze a lot to do so. I mentioned Paul’s case to him, and he pretty much confirmed my same suspicions — that if he was so into wildlife photography that he had to go out on a special trip just to photograph bighorn sheep, surely he would have planned it out much more, gone out earlier, been better prepared, not gone out at the last minute, etc. Not to say it couldn’t have been impulsive, but to me, it just seems like an excuse to go out on his own.
On a side note, the photos the guy showed at the breakfast were good, but not spectacular. I think that shows how fanatical these guys can be if it’s truly their hobby. They don’t have to be professional, but even the amateurs that are crazy about wildlife photography show a great deal more dedication than Paul seemed to show. Just saying.

Thank you for reading my mind. I wanted to say all these same things, but you said it much better.

 

[zecats]

I understood that there are dogs who track a scent of a live person. Then there are other dogs who track dead bodies... the scent of death. Sorry to say that bluntly. Did they do both?

On another missing hiker thread for Sam Sayers, there was a mention of dogs in WA state that are trained to do both. I read some research about how using placentas are used to train cadaver dogs. They are used in various stages of decay. Be interesting to know how to train them to to do both.

 

[rosesfromangels]

On another missing hiker thread for Sam Sayers, there was a mention of dogs in WA state that are trained to do both. I read some research about how using placentas are used to train cadaver dogs. They are used in various stages of decay. Be interesting to know how to train them to to do both.

The cadaver dogs are trained with a simulated chemical, only available to certified facilities. It’s truly amazing. There is a lot you can read by googling. From what I read they train dogs for separate skills; live or remains. But I’m no expert, perhaps a SAR can comment.

 

[carbuff]

Slightly O/T: D0gs with their sensitive noses are being trained to detect all kinds of scents. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has a dog who's being trained to detect the scents given off by pests in art work: Riley the Museum Dog

In other cases I've followed, they've used dogs trained to scent bodies under water, which is apparently different than bodies on the surface or buried in dirt.

 

[MaryG12]

I’ve posted previously that I thought it was very strange that he would go out on a whim just to photograph bighorn sheep — if he was just a casual snapshot taker, it seems like going through great lengths for something that would be relatively trivial to a casual photo taker, and on the other hand, if he were big into wildlife photography, then yes, they go through great lengths to get the shot, but don’t do it on a whim like that.
Very coincidentally, I met a guy at a breakfast of mutual friends the other day who IS big into wildlife photography, more so than anybody I’ve previously met. At the breakfast, he showed a bunch of photos of his recent trip to the Arctic Circle to photograph mostly polar bears, and I have no doubt he spent north of $5,000 on his expedition and froze a lot to do so. I mentioned Paul’s case to him, and he pretty much confirmed my same suspicions — that if he was so into wildlife photography that he had to go out on a special trip just to photograph bighorn sheep, surely he would have planned it out much more, gone out earlier, been better prepared, not gone out at the last minute, etc. Not to say it couldn’t have been impulsive, but to me, it just seems like an excuse to go out on his own.
On a side note, the photos the guy showed at the breakfast were good, but not spectacular. I think that shows how fanatical these guys can be if it’s truly their hobby. They don’t have to be professional, but even the amateurs that are crazy about wildlife photography show a great deal more dedication than Paul seemed to show. Just saying.

Totally understand.

I got into hiking back in college to fulfill a phys ed requirement, and starting taking photos of the different parks and trails as part of the requirement. For me, it's more out of personal appeal, nature photography, than professional, and back then I used those disposable cameras for taking photos (yup, that long ago!). I always took photos of unique rock formations, animals, even butterflies.

Today I have the photos neatly organized in a couple of small photo albums.

 

[carbuff]

I take a lot of photos when I'm hiking. Flowers, water features, and rocks and shadows, mostly. I'd take take more wildlife pictures but we don't usually see too much. But I don't do much of anything with them. Sometimes use them as a source for ideas for painting or refer to them for details for a scene I'm writing, but that's about it. I just like making the photo in the first place (and have since I got my first Instamatic...).

So I don't necessarily find Paul's explanation unreasonable. It's the kind of thing I might do, especially if I had to kill a couple of hours waiting for time to leave for the airport.

 

[MntnHiker]

I am not a big wildlife person (I enjoy them while hiking, but photographing them with my crappy iPhone isn't really my thing lol), BUT I do love getting shots in the national parks during sunrise and sunset. We were in the Badlands this summer and the forecast was for rain in the morning. I randomly woke up at 430 AM, saw pink through the window, realize we had an amazing sunrise after all and made my husband get out of bed, throw on clothes with me, and drive up to a certain trail to get the sunrise photos (and experience) I so desperately wanted.

So I do get the impulsive or spontaneous decision to do something like this, especially if bighorn sheep were kind of his "thing" and he didn't see any yet on the trip and was leaving in a few short hours and felt this was his last chance.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

I also think it's reasonable that a tourist/hiker such as Paul might want mostly to SEE some bighorn sheep, and photographing them could be a simple documentation or memento of the sight rather than "wildlife photography" as a specific or focused hobby.

 

[Tim Callahan]

I take a lot of photos when I'm hiking. Flowers, water features, and rocks and shadows, mostly. I'd take take more wildlife pictures but we don't usually see too much. But I don't do much of anything with them. Sometimes use them as a source for ideas for painting or refer to them for details for a scene I'm writing, but that's about it. I just like making the photo in the first place (and have since I got my first Instamatic...).

So I don't necessarily find Paul's explanation unreasonable. It's the kind of thing I might do, especially if I had to kill a couple of hours waiting for time to leave for the airport.

I take a ton of photos when I’m out hiking (my wife would say way too many), but I just photograph what I see, and wouldn’t go very far out of my way in search of something special. Of course, everyone’s different and it’s impossible for us to “get into his head”; it just strikes me as odd from my perspective.

 

[Eevee Pie]

Bighorn sheep have been known to be found at 49 Palms Oasis, so it’s really not an entirely unreasonable goal to see them:

Joshua Tree Announces Temporary Closure of 49 Palms Oasis - Joshua Tree National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Doesn’t sound like Paul followed most of the tips here, though:
How (and where) to safely see a Peninsular bighorn sheep in the desert this summer

 

[tarabull]

...and yet we are being told Paul is an experienced hiker



Where are you Paul?