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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

Diane, you guys be careful. The road leading to Peeley TH could potentially become real nasty when wet/snow.

We are turning around. It is DANGEROUS on this road.visibility is less than 5 ft in front of truck it is rain/hailing. Please do not put your life on the line today.

hikngrl wrote:We are turning around. It is DANGEROUS on this road.visibility is less than 5 ft in front of truck it is rain/hailing. Please do not put your life on the line today.

I am thankful you guys made this decision. This road is scary enough under dry conditions IMO, especially the closer it get's to Peeley TH.

I'd like to think this will draw to a close over the coming weeks... I can't see getting Joe off my mind (...or anyone else's) until this sees some resolution. I'm scheduled to finish my current work project at the end of the year, then was going to switch over to full time training for January... but, I could see traveling over there for the month instead. What is the weather like in that area in January?

imike,
January weather in the search area can be very bad. Snow and rain there today. Road conditions really go down hill out there with bad weather. Just keep everyone in your thoughts as you already are doing and we will let you know.

cabel wrote:imike,
January weather in the search area can be very bad. Snow and rain there today. Road conditions really go down hill out there with bad weather. Just keep everyone in your thoughts as you already are doing and we will let you know.

According to the Sheriff, Rangers will most likely close the road to Peeley because it becomes too dangerous.

imike wrote:I'd like to think this will draw to a close over the coming weeks... I can't see getting Joe off my mind (...or anyone else's) until this sees some resolution. I'm scheduled to finish my current work project at the end of the year, then was going to switch over to full time training for January... but, I could see traveling over there for the month instead. What is the weather like in that area in January?

imike, unless this early snow melts quickly, the rd to Peeley TH may be impassable until spring.

I'm going to be headed up forest rd 25A Monday morning around 9am. I'm hoping to find trail # 260 or if I can't find that trail I'll go up #86 and then back down to #88 and the searching the Southern side of Sheep mt. I'm hiking as a member of this Hike Arizona group so if anyone else is interested let me know. I will be riding my ATV into the area leaving my one ton close to the hwy.

hikngrl wrote:It is DANGEROUS on this road.visibility is less than 5 ft in front of truck it is rain/hailing. Please do not put your life on the line today.

This is reaching a new level of depressing. That area is no place to be in that weather.

Also, thanks whoever is putting up everything on the main page. Before I could figure out how to get my route up there, it appeared. Great job!

It looks like HAZ hasn't hit Thicket Springs trail but now its all ours. I imagine someone will head up there during the week. If anyone wants to head up this coming weekend, I'd be down for going. I might need to meet up with someone with a sturdier ride depending on how this weather effects the road.

I just want to throw out a big thanks to all here on HAZ, and on AZH, who banded together to try and help find a friend of both our communities. Joe touched all of our lives in one way or another. I was very impressed with the combined effort. Nice to meet some of the HAZ folks out there. Hopefully we can bring this event to closure soon. Joe B, thanks for the links at the bottom of the homepage, that was very convenient, and appreciated.

A very big thanks to the involved SAR units that devoted a lot of time to the search. Obviously tempers flared, but I hope you all understand the circumstances, and can see it from both sides.

Unfortunately, today was a bad day for leading a search out there. Maybe things will get better during the week.

Happy trails all...

Tough_Boots wrote:It looks like HAZ hasn't hit Thicket Springs trail but now its all ours. I imagine someone will head up there during the week. If anyone wants to head up this coming weekend, I'd be down for going. I might need to meet up with someone with a sturdier ride depending on how this weather effects the road.

Denny and Dave did that Friday, but haven't posted a route yet. I'm not sure if either of them carries a GPS.

As far as I know, HAZ has searched all the trails in the area except for West Fork 260, and the E Fork Sycamore Rd route. I am not completely clear on topohikers route...

Thicket Trail: in entirety by Denny/Dave, portions (or all?) by topohiker
Cornocopia: Northern 25% by topohiker and Denny/Dave, southern 75% by toughboots.
Saddle Mtn by Denny Dave, and portions by someone in the forum I have never met in person.
Little Saddle, and Sunflower by someone in the forum I have never met in person (same as above). Possibly by Denny/Dave, as I've lost track of the routing of the AZT between 87 and FR25...
Deer Creek trail by myself
Mt Peeley summit by myself and Eric.
Mt Peeley to Sheep Ridge by Eric
Divide trail to Sheep Ridge by a group of 4(5?) HAZers
Sheep Ridge to Sheet Mtn summit by Eric and the group of 4 HAZers.
Mazatzal Divide trail From Peeley TH to west side of Mt Peeley: by numerable hikers
Mazatzal Divide trail west of Peeley to Mt Catherine by someone in the forum I have never met in person
Someone in the forum provided a third hand report of people hiking on the Mazatzal Divide Trail as far as Bear Springs
Sheep Creek Trail (eastern portion) by topohiker.


Now some other things in the area, like all the mine areas and mining roads, have not been searched that I know of, toughboots did a portion of the eastern one, including FR25A. However, based on the available info it seems unlikely Joe would have been in these mining areas.

As far as I am aware, SAR has searched
Mazzie Divide Trail to Sheep Ridge, and Sheep Ridge to Sheep Mtn Summit
Heli-dropped onto Sheep Mtn Summit and searching within 0.3 miles of the summit
Helidropped onto Sheep Mtn Ridge and searching of (inexact) drainages on the south and southeast side of Sheep Mtn.

He seemed intrigued my the davey-gowen loop are we sure he wasnt down in the canyon? My prayers go out to him and his family.

@david_allen_3
He did that with Hank a week or so before he went missing

We went up 201 prepared to hike in rain, snow, wind, sleet, hail or whatever bad weather conditions there might be and tried to remain hopeful. As the road climbed in elevation the clouds seemed to totally engulf us completely reducing visibility. I don't know why but I never even imagined that the clouds would be so low and so thick today. There was no chance of seeing anything or anyone more than 3-5 feet away from us and that would have to have been from our knees down. We were totally overwhelmed with disappointment and then ultimately made the decision to turn back. I am so sorry.

I am wondering why anybody hiking alone anywhere would not spend a few bucks for a Spot2 beacon? It seems like such a good idea. Am I missing something?
Prayers to Joe
Randy

Can anyone take a guess at when in the spring the snow and weather would normally clear up?

Well, Randy I owned a Spot when they first came out. Joe and I tested it in the desert and in the forest. We found it to be unreliable at that time. In the forest it became virtually useless due to foliage. The other thing we didn't like with the Spot was that it's only a one way communication and you had no confirmation that a signal that was sent out was actually received. (one could send out a distress signal thinking help was on the way, when in reality it was not received)

We had my husband tracking us only to find out that only a fraction of the signals were received.
Because most of our hikes were in the forest, I discontinued Spot and instead when we went to places in WY etc. rented a Iridium Sat. phone.

I may go back and check out the newer spots as I'm told they have improved their antenna quite a bit.

RU Kidding wrote:I am wondering why anybody hiking alone anywhere would not spend a few bucks for a Spot2 beacon? It seems like such a good idea. Am I missing something?
Prayers to Joe
Randy

Okay... I think I'm sold on the Spot idea... guess I'll order one. Is there a thread going on what is the better unit?

Did anyone check their Spot device in the areas being searched for Joe? Are they effective in there? When is the Spring thaw for that area?

SUN_HIKER wrote:I may go back and check out the newer spots as I'm told they have improved their antenna quite a bit.

imike wrote:Okay... I think I'm sold on the Spot idea... guess I'll order one. Is there a thread going on what is the better unit?

Here's the link to the SPOT thread
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=3072