Missing hiker in the Mazatzals

[bretinthewild]

Story says Gary Morris, 73 is the fire chief from the Pine-Strawberry district and was hiking the AZT from Sunflower to Doll Baby Ranch, was overdue as of Tuesday morning 10/29/19

If anyone is in the area keep an eye out.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/lo ... 503864001/

[CannondaleKid]

I just hope they get to the bottom of these faulty GPS apps leading people the wrong way

Maybe he was holding it upside down...

[david_allen_3]

Seeing how I met him on the trail the day he got lost I can chime in and say there was about a zero percent chance he would make it out on time. Very nice guy though.

[rcorfman]

Seeing how I met him on the trail the day he got lost I can chime in and say there was about a zero percent chance he would make it out on time. I could explain more but rather not. Very nice guy though.

Perhaps he stopped off at the White Mountains first and was green blazing his way along the trail?

[SuperstitionGuy]

Or maybe it was just a pair of those cheap AA batteries purchased at Dollar Tree?

[FOTG]

Maybe he was holding it upside down

In all seriousness, Payson SAR seems to be kind of bungling this one. I am sure its tough to come out and say hey one of our guys made some mistakes and had to spend an extra night in the wilderness. But instead of vague and cryptic references to an app or a GPS and some sort of "technical" error, which helps no one. Why not make it a teachable moment and just come out and say the errors were human made, but here are some ways you can avoid making the same mistakes. Isn't that their job? Ultimately, if someone undertook a 50 mile backpack and was purely relying on an electronic app to get them from start to finish that is a "human" error in itself. Seems the chief is getting a little bit of the good ol boy treatment on this one to me.

[RedRoxx44]

Glad he was found. My .02 worth. If you are undertaking a long on trail, or even short off trail, review your route, the general direction, the topography itself. Are you traveling generally northwest?? Minus some switchbacks or canyon crossing. Are you mainly ridge or canyon traveling or a mix?? If you are supposed to be going northwest and you have hiked 2+ miles east don't you think something is wrong?? I am just giving this as an example; not what he did or did not do. Note the trail conditions, even on really old trails cuttings of brush can still be seen years later, in certain areas, especially near the base of the plant, although it has grown and is blocking the trail. Animal trails, scree slides, misleading openings in vegetation that seem trail like is a problem, but you can usually ascertain that pretty quickly. If you get to really steep, cliffed out, weird routes that make no sense probably 85% of the time that is not the way.

[hikeaz]

I read a report that this was the 3rd time he had backpacked this section. It did not mention the time duration between each trip.

[CannondaleKid]

In all seriousness, Payson SAR seems to be kind of bungling this one.

Agreed. Without full transparency the general public will never get the benefit of a teachable moment.

[chumley]

This thread is destined for locking. This kind of thoughtful discussion on a relevant topic can’t be allowed as the opinions expressed might be deemed offensive to somebody. Let’s all be nice here, ok?

[Tough_Boots]

I don't know why everyone is so taken with a man from that generation not admitting to a mistake. Seems par for the course to me.

[sidhayes]

What generation?

[Nighthiker]

I have been reviewing my topo maps, old and new editions. USFS forest maps and wilderness maps including the first edition. Arizona Trail information from various sources. Though I have two basic GPS devices I do not use a mapping program for hand held units. I do know that some mapping software gives the location for the Payson Ranger District as either the fire station in Starr Valley or the Home Depot in Payson. The first edition of the Tonto National Forest topo map book list the Sharp Creek Camp ground in two locations, one is correct the other is located in Pine.