It might take a half gallon (1.22 in Virginia rn approx.) to get up that mountain but it doesn’t take that much to get back down. Especially in a manual transmission. They haven’t said if he was even out of gas. Buena Vista is not far from the Appalachian trail (maybe 6-8 miles?), I don’t know how far from panther falls. I’ve driven down that mountain from the trail to Buena Vista with low gas and not worried. I could cruise to the bottom.
I think he had no reason to kill himself. I think he lost his keys, slipped and fell and it was long enough before they searched that area (if at all) that his remains were scavenged. They said the area was very treacherous for searching. When he lost his keys, he probably didn’t want to wake his parents considering the hour, whatever that was. So he kept looking. We know he left his phone at the parents’ earlier that day, but I’m not sure whether he lived there full time. It says in the article shared above which keys were lost I thought, although the fb site said that info was not being shared.
I live about 3 hours away, learned about this from a poster hung here which startled me only because it was a solo hiker and I am too. I think this is just the danger of solo hiking. I think his dog was in the car so he wouldn’t run off while the keys were lost in the dark. Hikers pride themselves on only needing a couple bucks in gas for an adventure. His just went wrong.
One thing I don’t understand is why he would be at the campground, unless the parking is otherwise right there. If he was stalking around the campground for no reason that would lend to a psychotic break theory.
So my theories in order of likelihood:
1. Hiking accident
2. Psychotic break, exposure
3. Faked own death, left dog to be found
