Missing hiker in Mazatzals - gpsjoe (Joe Domin)

[Dschur]

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Searched Routes

Southern Ravines Map

Forecast Mormon Grove & Peeley

Crews looking for missing hiker
By Alexis Bechman

November 16, 2010
Tonto Rim Search and Rescue volunteers and Gila County Sheriff officers are currently searching for an overdue hiker.

The man, whose name has not been released, was last heard from nine days ago and is believed to be hiking near the Mt. Peeley trail or Sheep Mountain, off Forest Road 201, southwest of Payson.

The Gila County Sheriff’s Office first received a call that the man was overdue Monday, Nov. 15 about 9 p.m.

“The hiker has not been heard from since Nov. 7 and frequents the Mazatzal Mountain Wilderness area,” according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.

The missing hiker’s vehicle was located at the Mt. Peeley trailhead.



Six TRSAR volunteers are currently searching the ground. Earlier Tuesday, a Department of Public Safety Ranger helicopter did an aerial search of the area, but found no signs of the man

[MtnResq30]

Summit Register:
Both TRSAR and Mountain Rescue Teams checked out the summit register on the first day of the search. Mountain Rescue only found the TRSAR names and a name from the previous day, not Mr. Domin's.
I have asked around regarding the maintenance of the summit register and some reports state that it is not regularly maintained for some time due to the infrequency of people hiking this peak.
MtnResq30

[Grasshopper]

by Twoseeking » Nov 23 2010 5:42 pm
I was on the Tonto Rim SAR team on Tuesday morning the 16th. We were the first ones to arrive and first to search on the mountain. Maybe some of the info I have will help some of you. When we got on the ridge between Peeley and Sheep Mtn., we saw evidence consisting of broken twigs and branches and disturbed surface. These were slightly aged but appeared to be much fresher than an April hike would have produced. In fact they appeared fresher than the last rainstorm. None of it was clearly identifiable as human versus animal (no partial boot or shoe prints) but it is very rare for animals to produce all of the disturbances we saw. We got as far as Joe's previous endpoint in April, I will call it point A (.35 mile from summit) and two of us continued on to within .23 mile of the summit, my waypoint 009 (33d 59m 20s, 111d 30m 22s). At my waypoint LAST, about 33d 59m 33s, 111d 30m 18s we saw the last of any physical disturbances. From there on, the brush was very thick but we saw no broken twigs, branches or ground disturbances, although we certainly created a lot of our own on our way in and out.

I tend to believe no one had hiked that part of the ridge for a long time. Two days later another of our teams was taken by helicopter to the summit and hiked down to our furthest point and found two sets of footprints, most likely ours from two days before.

At my waypoint 006, 33d 59m 35s, 111d 30m 11s, I saw disturbances heading downhill to the east. Two of us hiked about 100 yards down but could not find evidence of any path toward the summit, which was our assignment to search toward. Now in retrospect and reading the other blogs, I think it is possible that my waypoint 006 could have been a bailout point for Joe. Where I was looking, was one or two ravines west of where SSK44 is suggesting to look. I don't mean to dissuade anyone from following SSK44's advice, but another possible bailout at my waypoint 006 might be worth looking at. Although unlikely, it is possible that Joe might have tried to go along the north flank toward Sheep summit from somewhere in the area of the LAST, but that area is very dangerous with major dropoffs and loose rock. I would discourage anyone other than well equipped rope climbers to venture in there.

This is the fourth time Twoseeking's original 11/23/10 post has been up for all to view and further consider, but I do think worth this fourth time. HAZ- Nonot(Steve) with HAZ- thebrayer's help is now trying to personally reach Twoseeking for some needed clarification for Steve to the above.

What I keep coming back too is this Waypoint #006 location that Twoseeking noted and discusses above and this location which is further shown here in Eric's 11/19/10 "tagged" search photo--> http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=167183 . What if Twoseeking is correct, and GPSjoe really did exit/bailout at this waypoint 006 location, but maybe not a bailout back to the TH via one of these SE ridges/ravines to again gain Thicket Spring TR95 but rather a bailout/exit to get around all the low-dense vegetation if he had continued hiking further on the ridgeline to gain Sheep Mtn Summit?.. and.. either he made it to the summit and then something went terrible wrong after, or he did not make it to the summit via this bailout/exit point going around and up, and something still went terrible wrong.. like him falling into the steep upper section of what I believe is Ravine#4 (in this above referenced pic, lower pic right)? I do believe we can now conclude GPSjoe was at a point where he was willing to try something new at this point what he may have persevered to be a faster route up to the summit via going a little down/around this continuing low-thick vegetation on the ridgeline route? (I also believe we now more clearly understand..via the number of different routes he tried.. how much he wanted to avoid this low-thick vegetation..that just slowed him down).

[Vaporman]

@Hank
Yea, very possibly he dropped into upper ravine 4 in another attempt at Sheep Mt. The section from Sheep Mt to that 3-4 ridge wasn't too bad or overgrown and if he could just find a sane path thru upper ravine 4 it'd wouldn't have been too bad of a route to the summit afterwards...

[nonot]

Summit Register:
Both TRSAR and Mountain Rescue Teams checked out the summit register on the first day of the search. Mountain Rescue only found the TRSAR names and a name from the previous day, not Mr. Domin's.
I have asked around regarding the maintenance of the summit register and some reports state that it is not regularly maintained for some time due to the infrequency of people hiking this peak.
MtnResq30

There was another individual that summitted Sheep Mtn before SAR/MR? Was this individual associated with SAR/MR and aware of Joe's disappearance? The possibility of 2 different hikers attempting to summit sheep mtn on the same week independently of each other seems astronomical.

This also conflicts with the statements from Twoseeking such that they observed no trail disturbance past a certain point along the ridge to sheep mtn on the first day of the search. How did the individual summit sheep mtn before them and leave no trace if not via the ridgeline?

[Vaporman]

[How did the individual summit sheep mtn before them and leave no trace if not via the ridgeline?

Maybe he came up & down the ridges like I did... That would explain all the evidence of recent travel we encountered on that 3-4 ridge.

[Sredfield]

BTW: about 1 mile up from the Peeley TH, I noticed broken brush, followed down to a little level area, then lost the "trail". I have tied a little orange tape to a bush on the trail since I created alot more broken sticks. This area is near a ravine (left side of trail as you ascend), and I was wondering if this could be where those dogs alerted......
RIP, Joe

Was this "left slope down" in the switchbacks ascending Peeley? I'm still trying to visualize the slope down to the left. There are slopes down to the left in these switchbacks but they are not at the distance from the TH mentioned. Attempts for further clarification from arizonadreaming have not been fruitful.

[suzaz]

Jacob and I were up and down anything that looked trampled on in the least bit through those switchbacks.....I'm sure we trampled the brush even more. The more we looked the more we realized It just didn't make sense to cut off the trail and battle the thick brush. If Joe made it to that point and was on the trail there, I think he would have stayed, IMHO.

Summit Register:
and a name from the previous day, not Mr. Domin's.
MtnResq30

[BobP]

There was another individual that summitted Sheep Mtn before SAR/MR? Was this individual associated with SAR/MR and aware of Joe's disappearance? The possibility of 2 different hikers attempting to summit sheep mtn on the same week independently of each other seems astronomical.

I'd "assume" that the original register was removed then...the register we found had tsar names but it was dated 11/18 which would have been after the first day of the search 11/16. http://www.hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=166515
If the other person summited the "previous day" I'd also assume it was 11/14 or 11/15... a week after Joe's attempt.

[SUN_HIKER]

Jacob and I were up and down anything that looked trampled on in the least bit through those switchbacks.....I'm sure we trampled the brush even more. The more we looked the more we realized It just didn't make sense to cut off the trail and battle the thick brush. If Joe made it to that point and was on the trail there, I think he would have stayed, IMHO.

At this point we cannot rule out anything. We don't know the circumstances and don't know his medical condition at that point. He's judgment could have been impaired... and the list goes on. If only we could find an article or swatch of clothing, anything that could help narrow the search.

[Twoseeking]

I was on the Tonto Rim SAR team on Tuesday morning the 16th. We were the first ones to arrive and first to search on the mountain. Maybe some of the info I have will help some of you. When we got on the ridge between Peeley and Sheep Mtn., we saw evidence consisting of broken twigs and branches and disturbed surface. These were slightly aged but appeared to be much fresher than an April hike would have produced. In fact they appeared fresher than the last rainstorm. None of it was clearly identifiable as human versus animal (no partial boot or shoe prints) but it is very rare for animals to produce all of the disturbances we saw. We got as far as Joe's previous endpoint in April, I will call it point A (.35 mile from summit) and two of us continued on to within .23 mile of the summit, my waypoint 009 (33d 59m 20s, 111d 30m 22s). At my waypoint LAST, about 33d 59m 33s, 111d 30m 18s we saw the last of any physical disturbances. From there on, the brush was very thick but we saw no broken twigs, branches or ground disturbances, although we certainly created a lot of our own on our way in and out.

I tend to believe no one had hiked that part of the ridge for a long time. Two days later another of our teams was taken by helicopter to the summit and hiked down to our furthest point and found two sets of footprints, most likely ours from two days before.
At my waypoint 006, 33d 59m 35s, 111d 30m 11s, I saw disturbances heading downhill to the east. Two of us hiked about 100 yards down but could not find evidence of any path toward the summit, which was our assignment to search toward. Now in retrospect and reading the other blogs, I think it is possible that my waypoint 006 could have been a bailout point for Joe. Where I was looking, was one or two ravines west of where SSK44 is suggesting to look. I don't mean to dissuade anyone from following SSK44's advice, but another possible bailout at my waypoint 006 might be worth looking at. Although unlikely, it is possible that Joe might have tried to go along the north flank toward Sheep summit from somewhere in the area of the LAST, but that area is very dangerous with major dropoffs and loose rock. I would discourage anyone other than well equipped rope climbers to venture in there.

I am going to repost this and add comments.

At the time this was posted, I cross referenced these data points against data provided to me via Hank of Joe's previous routes.

A) I believe the SAR search limit point has a typo (20s North vs 30s North)
B) The "Last sign of physical disturbance" point matched up with the extent of Joe's April trip to this area, allowing for relatively minimal GPS discrepancies.
C) The "signs of trail disturbance headed east downhill" is the major point I wish to address
1) At the time this was written, I observed this point lays directly on Joe's April 2010 hike and his December 2009 hike
2) At the time this was written, I was not aware that EAST from this point is uphill towards 6910 peak
3) At the time this was written, I observed a drainage originating at this location, however it heads mostly SOUTH

If anyone is able to contact "Twoseeking" could he be asked the following:

As his "signs of trail disturbance heading east downhill"
-Did he mean downhill (south)?
-Did he mean east (uphill)?
-Did he think downhill to the right (as you are heading back towards the TH) was east at that point?
-Did he mean something different?

Please note that a southernly descent down this drainage falls between the two routes done by Brian and other searchers. (600 ft to east and 1600 ft to west)

Sorry, I have not been on this website for awhile. Here are the answers to your questions. When we are on search missions, we use UTM UPS as our position format and NAD 27 CONUS as the map datum. I converted the data thinking it would be more helpful as a post, but I may have made a conversion error. So for accuracy, here are the original data from my GPS. Point 008 at 12 S 0453343/3761099 and Point 009 at 12 S 0453325/3761115 were recorded near our furthest penetration into the area. We actually had gone several meters further but I could not get my GPS out until I retreated a little. Point LAST is at 12 S 0453420/3761253. Point 006 was at 12 S 0453608/3761306. Nonot is right. I should have said South meaning downhill. I had East in my head from looking at Mt. Ord, but it was a mistake to say that was the direction of disturbances. Please note that the comment by MtnResq30 below in these posts can be misleading. We were the first rescuers from any agency on that mountain on the afternoon of Tuesday the 16th. Helicopter insertions were not made until the next two days.

[fotogirl53]

Sredfield wrote:

Was this "left slope down" in the switchbacks ascending Peeley? I'm still trying to visualize the slope down to the left. There are slopes down to the left in these switchbacks but they are not at the distance from the TH mentioned. Attempts for further clarification from arizonadreaming have not been fruitful.

It is in the switchback area. My estimate of the mileage is just that--my gps was acting up and I can't trust the data. Sorry.

[sam_hikes]

my gps conversion for waypoint 006 is pretty close to the originally published but is about 70 feet closer to the std ridgeline route. (actually right on the route )

I converted it from UTM UPS NAD 27 CONUS to digital degrees WGS84 = 33.993237 & 111.502913.

waypoint 006 is about .65 trail miles from the summit of Sheep Mtn at an elevation of 6720ft

waypoint 006 does lies at the top of a drainage which we eventually crossed on our bushwack/thrash return route to Thicket but we crossed it at approx 5400ft elevation and approx 1 trail mile from the summit of Sheep Mtn. ( drainage is pretty steep with sections likely over 40% which is typical for that area/approach )

[Grasshopper]

@Twoseeking
Thank you for replying back with your clarifications!

At my waypoint 006, 33d 59m 35s, 111d 30m 11s, I saw disturbances heading downhill to the east (Note: now agreed to be "downhill to the south"). Two of us hiked about 100 yards down but could not find evidence of any path toward the summit, which was our assignment to search toward. Now in retrospect and reading the other blogs, I think it is possible that my waypoint 006 could have been a bailout point for Joe.

When we are on search missions, we use UTM UPS as our position format and NAD 27 CONUS as the map datum. I converted the data thinking it would be more helpful as a post, but I may have made a conversion error. So for accuracy, here are the original data from my GPS:

Can someone who understands how to correctly convert this below Twoseekings's GPS format:

Point 006 was at 12 S 0453608/3761306.

..please correctly convert it to our preferred three(3) HAZ formats (so we can plug these coordinates into our TrailDEX Map and reconfirm exactly where this important waypoint location resides on the Sheep Mtn. Ridgeline:
D.d =
DM.m =
DMS =

Thank you!

[Grasshopper]

I converted it from UTM UPS NAD 27 CONUS to digital degrees WGS84 = 33.993237 & 111.502913.

Thank you!

[Grasshopper]

I converted it from UTM UPS NAD 27 CONUS to digital degrees WGS84 = 33.993237 & 111.502913.
waypoint 006 is about .65 trail miles from the summit of Sheep Mtn at an elevation of 6720ft

If your conversion is correct, I agree and also just reconfirms that this 11/19/10 search/reference photo of the visual location for waypoint 006 is still correct:
http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=167183 Also, I brought up on TrailDEX the two previous known ridgeline hikes done by GPSjoe on 12/04/09 and 4/27/10, and like you say, this 006 waypoint location lies dead on both hike tracks, so if he did it again on his last Mon-11/8, he would most likely go by this location again.

[Twoseeking]

A day or two after Nov 18th, I spoke with one of the four TRSAR members who were inserted by helicopter on the summit on the 18th. They broke into two teams of two. One team extensively searched the summit area for sign and found nothing other than the cairn and the empty container "with nothing but dust" in it. They created their own record and left it in the container. The other team made their way back toward the ridge line in the direction of Peeley and eventually found and reported the location of two different footprints which, given the location, were most likely mine and my partner's from the 16th. All four members, one of whom had been on my ridge team on the 16th, hiked out on the ridge toward Peeley.

[Grasshopper]

All four members, one of whom had been on my ridge team on the 16th, hiked out on the ridge toward Peeley.

Thanks for this additional input which is new to us. Do you know if "hiked out on the ridge toward Peeley" actually means they hiked on the ridgeline, then left it to hike the route over Mt.Peeley Summit? or does it mean they hiked the ridgeline to intersect Mazzie Divide TR23 and then #23 back to Peeley TH? We have been trying to confirm that the off trail route from Mt. Peeley Summit to connect with the ridgeline has actually had some TRSAR and/or MR searchers on it from 11/16-11/20pm? (GPSjoe took this route at least twice, 11/16/09 and 11/23/09, and this route going in or coming back was still a possibility for his last Mon-11/8/10).

[nonot]

my gps conversion for waypoint 006 is pretty close to the originally published but is about 70 feet closer to the std ridgeline route. (actually right on the route )

I converted it from UTM UPS NAD 27 CONUS to digital degrees WGS84 = 33.993237 & 111.502913.

waypoint 006 is about .65 trail miles from the summit of Sheep Mtn at an elevation of 6720ft

waypoint 006 does lies at the top of a drainage which we eventually crossed on our bushwack/thrash return route to Thicket but we crossed it at approx 5400ft elevation and approx 1 trail mile from the summit of Sheep Mtn. ( drainage is pretty steep with sections likely over 40% which is typical for that area/approach )

Sam,

Your conversion is close enough to mine, and the original waypoint for 006 by Twoseeking is not much different either. The main problems are the conversions of the extent of their search (which is not truly important.)

If anyone can get out there this weekend, I would highly recommend someone start at the top of drainage 4 and work their way all the way down to the thicket trail. I wish I were free this weekend, or I would do it, rather than ask someone else to take the beating by the jungle in there.

[ssk44]

Just curious for my own interests... The photo below shows the rugged east slope of peak 6,910. Has anyone searched the thick and narrow primary gully and fall zones below cliff edges visible in this photo? Current posted GPS routes show this nasty east slope as not searched but rather skirted around.

IMG_3124 - Copy.JPG

[Vaporman]

When Sam and I hit drainage 4 in the middle section about 5400ft like he said, we found small pools surrounded by ferns with lightly running water from the recent rain. I think ferns need a yearround water source in order to survive. The canyon dried up as we continued down canyon. We were short on time, but in hindsight it would have been prudent to check further up the drainage for more pools on the chance that Joe found some of these pools and hung out there as long as he could...

Has anyone searched the thick and narrow primary gully and fall zones below cliff edges visible in this photo?

I saw Steve glassing it a bit and I looked down from above from a couple spots but I personally don't know of anyone extensively searching those cliffs...

If anyone can get out there this weekend, I would highly recommend someone start at the top of drainage 4 and work their way all the way down to the thicket trail.

Sam & I battled thru some of the worst that lower drainage 4 could throw at us and we prob should have stayed in the drainage all the way to the Thicket trail, but it wasn't too crazy down there just pumpkin exhausting though I suspect the upper section will be quite adventurous. With gravity on our side, it shouldn't be too crazy though canyoneering has certainly upped my tolerance for nasty bushwhacks. I may be able to spare a day later this week...