The above linked article describes that he was "submerged in a mountain drainage 25 yards off the trail and 1.7 miles from the Yerba Canyon trailhead, off N.M. 150 north of Taos." AP states, "He was about 25 yards from the trail and hidden from view by dense vegetation and a steep, rocky slope."
There are no reports that he told anyone where he was going. The only reports show that his girlfriend reported him missing, and that his car was found at the trailhead (i.e., confirming it was not reported to be there by an individual that knew he was there).
While the weather does seem to get kind of windy (20-28 mph gusts) late in the evening, there doesn't seem to be evidence of flash flooding or heavy rains before or after June 13th. Nor does there seem to be any evidence that heavy storms would have completely halted a search (especially given police found his car at a trailhead and confirmed his cell signal was on the trail, so they knew where to look for him).
Given all this, he was still a 61-year-old man that might have tripped down a ravine, rolled through dense vegetation, and remained there lifeless for days.
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noob421 ago
Just some facts about his death...
The above linked article describes that he was "submerged in a mountain drainage 25 yards off the trail and 1.7 miles from the Yerba Canyon trailhead, off N.M. 150 north of Taos." AP states, "He was about 25 yards from the trail and hidden from view by dense vegetation and a steep, rocky slope."
There are no reports that he told anyone where he was going. The only reports show that his girlfriend reported him missing, and that his car was found at the trailhead (i.e., confirming it was not reported to be there by an individual that knew he was there).
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/carson/recreation/ohv/recarea/?recid=44386&actid=50 - a description of the trail.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MEDIA/stelprdb5339277.pdf - a map of the trail, which he seems to have traveled 1.7 miles on.
https://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KSKX/2015/6/13/DailyHistory.html?req_city=Taos+Pueblo&req_state=NM&req_statename=New+Mexico&reqdb.zip=87571&reqdb.magic=2&reqdb.wmo=99999 - historic radar data shows .34 inches fell all day on June 13, and temp was at 55 and rising to 60s at 3 PM. It had been in the high 70s all three days prior with 0.01 rainfall. This was measured at the airport, which is 4 miles from the trail.
While the weather does seem to get kind of windy (20-28 mph gusts) late in the evening, there doesn't seem to be evidence of flash flooding or heavy rains before or after June 13th. Nor does there seem to be any evidence that heavy storms would have completely halted a search (especially given police found his car at a trailhead and confirmed his cell signal was on the trail, so they knew where to look for him).
Given all this, he was still a 61-year-old man that might have tripped down a ravine, rolled through dense vegetation, and remained there lifeless for days.