I mean no disrespect and if anything, have placed myself in their shoes, excepting I'm completely total novice. Yes I've hiked a little bit here or there, but it's been the mostly, follow the well marked trail or grab a trail map from the ranger's office and do the 2 hr loop. The most I ever took with me was granola bar and some water. I had the clothes on my back, a hat, and maybe a lightweight jacket tied to my waist. These two seemed prepared, maybe not completely well prepared for the high country, but neither completely unprepared. I was up last night for a bio break and water and just couldn't get back to sleep with so many questions swirling around my head.
1. Who were these people? Carole,a registered nurse and her daughter. What of them and their lives? They had family, as members of their family flew to Utah after they were reported missing. And that's one of the things that remains with me. They left the east coast for Utah telling their family to expect them the following week on Saturday September 13th. That strikes me so unusual. Was this typical of this mother / daughter pair to go away yearly on hikes, telling their families we'll see you in a week? I've found myself away from my wife and she from me, but we call each other, even if just for a few minutes daily. I know it's not PC but women are more social than men. I can see a dad/son going on a week adventure and not making plans on calling family for a week, but not women. For one of the pair, to not call family daily is a stretch for me but believable, but for two people living one in Georgia and one in Florida NOT to plan to call a family member daily, it's something I just don't understand.
2. What kind of experience did Carole and Kim have? The various news sites that still have their stories call them experienced. Do we know how experienced? Living where they did, they certainly would know of and maybe hiked the Appalachian trail. Now it probably pales to anything out west but people do get lost and rescued. (I'm not sure how many or if any perish). Did they have high country skills?
3. What was the nature of the interaction between the park ranger and Kim and Carole, when did the interaction take place, where did it take place.? Again, I can't get this out of my mind. Women tend to be way more risk adverse than men. If warned, what was the nature of that warning? Was is a casual, hey folks, you know you've got to be a little better prepared for bad weather - type of thing or was it confrontational? Something like, you two are not dressed for this high country weather. Let me see your survival gear. Open those backpacks. No, no, no this is completely unacceptable. You are not prepared. I'm telling you, go back into XYZ and get rain gear and cold weather gear before you come back on this mountain, understand? Why would they ignore a warning from an authority figure? What time did they interact? Was it 9:00AM (early enough to go somewhere, buy gear and return) or 11:00-12:00 much to late to salvage the day?
4. If a ranger issues a dire warning (if the warning was dire) would they (the ranger) not return sometime during the day check to see if the visitors complied with the warning? Here in MD most of the parks I occasionally visit are closed a dusk. The park is 'swept' for vehicles to make sure all have left, excepting those who are registered to camp. Aren't the trailheads swept daily? Is it my east coastness, but if I were a ranger and warned you that you weren't prepared, I'd be checking the trailheads to see if you complied because I'd be darn angry if you ignored my warning. Were people hiking Sept 8th through Sept 12th so that lots cars come and cars go and single, specific car would stand out?
5. Why didn't they sign in at either of two stations? Was it because they were warned not to hike and thought, Ok let's keep a low profile, hike a short trail and then get out of dodge before we get in more trouble? Did they get mesmerized, planing just a short, quick hike then were overcome by the beauty and vastness of the place, and perhaps feeling euphoric, said, this is unbelievable, let's press on! Did they simply say, you know, we're not going to be camping, just a day hike, there's no need to sign in?
6. Just how long were they hiking? Given the photographic evidence, did they hike 6 hours, 8, 10 hours? When did they arrive in Utah? Did they spend a day relaxing, getting acclimated to the thin air for a day or two before departing on one of 4 or 5 day trips to various destinations. Or did they fly in on Sunday Sept 7th, and use Monday as a easy hike to get acclimated... Given both were living essentially at sea level, what kind of stress was placed on their bodies being at 10,000+ ft for X hours? Were they completely spent? Exhausted? (I guess not based on the pics, as they look so happy and full of life, enjoying the beauty all around them).
7. I'm not picking on Utah as Heavens knows I'm looking forward to retiring in a few years and would love to go back out west to see Utah and other western states, but even today, with as many mishaps, what kind of warnings are there for visiting folks (and not just Utah but the Rockies in general). Are ANY of the lakes in this story physically marked with name, GEO coordinates, and orientation (N/S/E/W)? E.g, big stone boulder or sign, you are HERE at xyz lake? Have any guidebooks or websites provided links or provided information on surviving the high country. I suspect not. It's a shame people are occasionally lost for lack of information and yes I completely understand people SHOULD carefully research any undertaking, but when you don't know, you may not know that you don't know.
Apologies in advance.