Found Deceased CA - Paul Miller, 51, Canadian, Joshua Tree Natl Park, San Bernardino Co., 13 Jul 2018 #3

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Witness did contact and talk to the family. His story (Neil) is on thread #1. I have always trusted his account.

“There was one witness who told officials he saw a man matching Miller’s description that morning on the trail and Robinson said they were recently able to talk to him as well.

The witness told the family he was coming off the trail when he passed Miller, who was about halfway in, going the opposite direction of the witness. The witness also told the family that, when in his car leaving, he saw another group of about four people coming in.
'One second at a time': Missing Joshua Tree hiker's wife talks of year without answers, clues
 
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zecats said:
Don’t forget the dog who tracked him as far as the oasis. The handler and Paul’s sister have verified this.
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When? His sister wasn't there. Who is the handler and what cred do they have? When were they there? Why did the SARS dog handlers—who were out there very quickly—not find the same? Timeliness is everything in accounting for someone's tracks.
 
j_in_c said:
4- The clothing and equipment he had is what they had brought with them for travel and adventure. I would definitely be described (if I went missing outdoors) as "experienced" and when I have flown places, I go much lighter (especially for what I anticipate would be a 3 hr short hike). (MOO).
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Sorry, but Paul's equipment was EXTREMELY inappropriate for the conditions, and going out there at all is a sign of EXTREME inexperience, namely total disregard for risks.

Especially when it was explicitly Park Service notice NOT to go hiking in those conditions at that location. Categorically a sign of gross inexperience not to observe Park Service warnings.

Wearing black, short sleeves, and shorts, is all kinds of not experienced.

This has all been covered in detail upthread.
 
RickshawFan said:
This is an article, not a primary source.
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It’s a link from a Toronto newspaper. And a quote from Paul’s sister Dawn Robinson.
Not sure why you’re arguing against things lots of us have read and posted before.

“The original search included a dog team that followed Miller’s scent as far as the oasis.”

“So we know he got at least that far. We’re not sure what happened after that,” Robinson said.“
 
Just finished listening to the podcast that was linked last page.

So Paul made it to the Oasis, according to the report of the dog handler who tracked the scent of Paul there. And Paul was seen halfway on the trail by the hiker/witness coming back. Same witness also said a group of four were headed towards the trail as he was getting into his car in the parking lot.

There goes the argument that he never made it to the park, or didn’t take the trail. According to the podcast, he was a very experienced hiker, having hiked back country with his wife on numerous occasions.

He also had a couple of liters of water with him. It is a fairly well traveled trail.

The prevailing theory is that he climbed some rocks to take a picture of bighorn sheep and slipped and fell in between rocks and was either injured and/or could not get out, eventually succumbing to the elements.

His clothing or other materials have not been found due to flooding which will wash away anything in its path down the washes.

I had thought maybe he was accosted on his way out and in the parking lot but criminals do not lay in wait at trailheads in National Parks to kidnap and murder park goers. So now I don’t know what to think.

Several SAR training exercises have been held around that trail and have yet to find anything connected to Paul or his disappearance.
 
IMO, being experienced and prepared are two different things. You can be both or just one. During family/friend interviews, SAR is able to make a judgment call on the likelihood of “a very experienced hiker” fairly quickly. Many times loved ones are simply clueless or they overstate experience.

I believe Paul was a risk to himself that day.
 
Seajay said:
J
The prevailing theory is that he climbed some rocks to take a picture of bighorn sheep and slipped and fell in between rocks and was either injured and/or could not get out, eventually succumbing to the elements.......Several SAR training exercises have been held around that trail and have yet to find anything connected to Paul or his disappearance.
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Respected snipped.
Yes, this is my theory (BBM), and he will be found. It's just really really hard finding someone outdoors, and when they are likely awkwardly wedged between boulders. It's just a matter of time. They will find him.

Sorry for being a broken record on this. : )
Above all, I pray his family gets closure soon. What agony they must be enduring.

Amateur opinion and speculation
 
RickshawFan said:
Sorry, but Paul's equipment was EXTREMELY inappropriate for the conditions, and going out there at all is a sign of EXTREME inexperience, namely total disregard for risks.
...
This has all been covered in detail upthread.
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I wasn't attempting to argue his experience/no experience, I was just challenging putting that on the list of what makes his case "suspicious" in some way. I don't see how anything about how he was dressed/packed could be used as evidence that he did or did not go hiking that day.

My point is that if his wife, who hiked with him for the prior two weeks, did not find what he wore and packed that day suspicious (based on what items they had with them on this trip), then I am not sure how this supports any theories that he is not in the park? Perhaps I misinterpreted what you were enumerating.
 
K9Enzo said:
IMO, being experienced and prepared are two different things. You can be both or just one. During family/friend interviews, SAR is able to make a judgment call on the likelihood of “a very experienced hiker” fairly quickly. Many times loved ones are simply clueless or they overstate experience.

I believe Paul was a risk to himself that day.
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It's possible that he was very experienced hiking in more temperate climates, but had little experience in desert hiking. He certainly wouldn't be the first to overestimate his skill and underestimate conditions. Hiking in the desert is a whole different ballgame, and he was certainly not equipped for a desert hike in the middle of summer.

It's easy to think you're carrying enough water when you aren't (a couple of liters isn't enough at that time of year, and certainly not enough for three hours of physical exertion), easy to think you'll be back before the heat peaks in mid-afternoon (desert heat is dangerous at all times), easy to think a relatively flat, smooth trail will make for a fast hike (desert terrain can be deceptive).

So, an experienced hiker in other conditions who had no desert experience and overestimated his skill. Sad, and preventable.
 
Wyle_E_Coyote said:
It's possible that he was very experienced hiking in more temperate climates, but had little experience in desert hiking. He certainly wouldn't be the first to overestimate his skill and underestimate conditions. Hiking in the desert is a whole different ballgame, and he was certainly not equipped for a desert hike in the middle of summer.

It's easy to think you're carrying enough water when you aren't (a couple of liters isn't enough at that time of year, and certainly not enough for three hours of physical exertion), easy to think you'll be back before the heat peaks in mid-afternoon (desert heat is dangerous at all times), easy to think a relatively flat, smooth trail will make for a fast hike (desert terrain can be deceptive).

So, an experienced hiker in other conditions who had no desert experience and overestimated his skill. Sad, and preventable.
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Yes. Experienced but not prepared.
 
zecats said:
It’s a link from a Toronto newspaper. And a quote from Paul’s sister Dawn Robinson.
Not sure why you’re arguing against things lots of us have read and posted before.

“The original search included a dog team that followed Miller’s scent as far as the oasis.”

“So we know he got at least that far. We’re not sure what happened after that,” Robinson said.“
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But this wasn’t reported at first, it was reported much, much later. And not reported by park officials or searchers, as I recall.
My memory may be playing tricks on me, so please correct me if I’m wrong. TIA
 
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neesaki said:
But this wasn’t reported at first, it was reported much, much later. And not reported by park officials or searchers, as I recall.
My memory may be playing tricks on me, so please correct me if I’m wrong. TIA
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You are correct. Not sure why, except we know details are often held back or not reported to the press sometimes. Perhaps it took the sister actually going go JTNP to search to find out more details.
In any case, I recall there is a photo of the dog with the dog’s name somewhere on this thread. I remember reading and seeing it with the dog’s handler.

The redirects from WS are hindering my usage on here , but I am still looking.
 
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Too much we don't know.

A newspaper is not an original source.It's a secondary source. This article conveys what other people have said, not what the journalist has independently verified. IIRC There is no independent or corroboratory verification of anything that has been published in print or online relating to this particular case.

IIRC We don't have SARS or law enforcement corroboration for any of the often-quoted sightings, traces, exact whereabouts. Any detail in and around this story.

Exactly nothing is known for sure.

*******
Ask SARS folks or read backcountry accident reports:

Hikers are almost always claimed to be "experienced" by family members when they go missing. The risks they take—in gear, timing, over-confidence, cluelessness, not paying attention to danger signals— blare loudly that they are FAR from experienced. Everything about Paul's hike—from the decision to go to the getup he wore—likewise speaks volumes for his lack of experience.
 
j_in_c said:
I wasn't attempting to argue his experience/no experience, I was just challenging putting that on the list of what makes his case "suspicious" in some way. I don't see how anything about how he was dressed/packed could be used as evidence that he did or did not go hiking that day.
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I'm not saying that his getup was evidence either way that he did or did not go hiking that day. I'm saying we don't know definitively, IMO, what the getup was.

And everything that someone or other reported he had on him was "off the wall"! Seriously, who wears black on a dangerously hot and sunny day?

None of this story makes any sense to me...
 
Experienced does not equal smart.

Also, plenty of people wear dark clothing when they hike, no matter what the weather. They don't feel the heat as much as others. Or they don't have anything else to wear. That's frequently the case for larger people like me--big sizes often only come in black. That doesn't apply to Paul, but he might not have had any other hiking clothes with him, and he might well have decided wearing less than ideal clothing was better than not going hiking at all.
 
carbuff said:
Experienced does not equal smart.

Also, plenty of people wear dark clothing when they hike, no matter what the weather. They don't feel the heat as much as others. Or they don't have anything else to wear. That's frequently the case for larger people like me--big sizes often only come in black. That doesn't apply to Paul, but he might not have had any other hiking clothes with him, and he might well have decided wearing less than ideal clothing was better than not going hiking at all.
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It seems you're forgetting that the temperature would be over 100 degrees, he was reported to be in short sleeves in the blazing sun, and he was wearing shorts. "Feeling heat" doesn't come close to the high possibility of heat stroke in these conditions. Nope, this is not an "experienced" hiker.
 
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