Ok, here we go.
If you don't try, you will never know.
Monday, I plan on emailing the Head Ranger at the Mesa Ranger District and asking for a meeting to discuss the ongoing Search efforts to look for Joe. I am sure that he is aware of the fact that there are still many concerned parties out there, due to the publicity generated during the actual Fire Incident.
But, before I do this, I need to know that there are people behind me, willing to help organize, and commit, on short notice to one all-out search effort to take place for an entire weekend in the month of November. And the earlier in November we could swing it, the better. Once inclement weather hits that area, there will be no hope of pulling it off. FR201 is bound to be an absolute mess and any moisture on it, would most likely make it impassable to
all vehicles.
As it is now, we would need people with
very capable 4x4s who are also willing to take others. We need experienced, seasoned Hikers who can handle the type of terrain and remoteness that this search would require. There is a good chance that FR201 is so bad, that we will not make it all the way to the Mount Peeley TH with vehicles. I would plan on making this a backpack trip, with possibly a base camp set up somewhere near Sheep Mountain to where it won't be a huge Hike out just to get some food and shuteye. Then a Hike out to the vehicles Sunday afternoon, depending on drive time to get out and off FR201 completely.
Something that, if by some wild hope, the FS would probably require in order to even consider allowing this, would be for every participant to sign a Waiver, freeing the FS from any sort of liability in the Event of any kind of accident. So participants would have to be willing to sign such a Waiver, if in fact, we can pull this off.
One thing that Joe's family has explicitly expressed in a very recent email is that they welcome our efforts to continue searching for Joe, but are adamant that all precautions are taken so that no one gets "
hurt,
lost or
arrested" in the process of the Search. We need to honor their request and attempt to do this in the safest way possible. If it turns out that FR201 is simply just impassable, then we either Hoof it or call it off at that point....
In the event that there is a meeting with the FS and it gets far enough, I hope that the FS can give a better idea of what the actual status of the Road is. It is possible that they have already been working on it.
So, before I proceed in starting the wheel turning, I need commitments. I'm not going to go through any of this if only one or two people are going to commit. This whole thing is going to require a large group effort in order to have any hopes of pulling it off. If I get past the first hurdle and am granted a meeting, then I need to go into that meeting with a presentation in hand. What we want to do, how we are going to do it, and when, and that's going to take some serious planning. So I need people on board from Day 1. And I don't mean "interested" people. I need commitments...
If I actually get lucky and convince the FS to let us do this, then I will make this an Official Event with a very short date. We need to beat the Weather....
And then it is possible, that I may not hear back from the FS, or he simply will not entertain a meeting and I will have written this huge post for nothing.....
HAZ members, the ball is now in your court.....
Route Editor
Route Scout
