Please pass this around! Jay has been missing since last week. If you can, please help post this and pass this around or on other forums.

He was last seen driving from Boomtown nevada to Death Valley on 11/27, driving a Jeep Rubicon - black, no doors.

http://briancrichardson.blogspot.com...afontaine.html


Thank you!



http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=844594

You can view the full announcement by following this link:

http://ruggedrocksoffroad.com/forum/index.php?topic=1095.0

He was found dead three miles from his
jeep. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

RIP... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

RIP
A SAD DAY!!

RIP. Poor guy.

I was exactly in those places a year ago. The elevation is high but the snow is seemingly low. Those mountains are not Sierra; those ranges are to the east of Sierra. The Sierra catches all the watery stuff from the ocean, this is why those mountains are relatively dry.

Still, the place is very lonely and very cold. I did not see a single vehicle while traversing the mountains. There were some ghost towns but no real occupied places.

People left the area long ago. Once, there was lots of life. Mark Twain had his first real job in Aurora, the largest city of the area, with plenty of life. Now there are only ruins.

This is the map of the area, with my tracks:




This is how the place looks like:

Every time someone dies out in the wilderness I find myself wondering what could have been done to prevent it.

Why couldn't he start a fire?
Why didn't he stay with his truck?

At all times I have fire, water, power bars, tools, rain ponchos, foil blankets. ETC in my truck. The truck itself is an ideal shelter with more potential of being seen from rescuers. If he had to find a place for a fire then a note left at the truck with direction you traveled would help.

I used to tell my wife when I'd go hunting by myself. "I'll be up whatever canyon with the Jeep pointing in the direction I hike".


I have so many questions about this ordeal. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

RIP fellow wheeler. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

I can guess the following components of the disaster:

1) The guy was alone and tired. His judgment probably was not ideal. Sometimes another person can really help in weighting different options.

2) The guy was alone. It means that he was thinking only about his own survival. When I 'wheel with my wife I am much more cautious than when I 'wheel alone.

3) The Jeep did not have the doors and the full metal body. It may not be very important, but it might affected his decisions.

4) The guy probably was not in a good physical condition. May be he had a cold or else. Dieing after the 3-miles hike on the road seems kinda extreme for me. I usually use the following rules:
- when I go 'wheeling in cold conditions, I never go when I have a cold. I take lots of warm stuff anyway, and I always have various medications with me, just in case.
- when I 'wheel in hot weather (like in a desert in summer time), I prepare myself for the wheeling. For example, I am biking in the middle of the hot days in summer, for couple weeks before the trip, at least. After that preparation, I can withstand the summer desert temperatures easily. I take lots of water with me, too.



difficult to say. Plenty of wood is available along that road. He had the gasoline, too, to ignite the wood.



no metal body ? He did not feel safe ? I do not know.



This is true.

I usually plan any trip (even a one-day excursion) so that I can survive on my own for several days.

Good points.

I have gone off by myself and done some stupid stuff. I had to hike almost ten miles out of a canyon in Idaho before I came up on help. No water, and my snotty girlfriend [email]b@#ching[/email] at me the whole way back. Trust me after burying your rig in the middle of nowhere over and over and over......about the thirtieth time you start putting a survival kit together. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Winter in the Idaho desert near Fairfield. People die out here in the winter. Just one amongst many stuck in the middle of nowhere photos.

Near Fairfield again.....again stuck in the middle of nowhere. The building in the back is only open during the winter of all things. It was a ski slope I was stuck on so.....<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />


Anyway...after years of really only packing beer on expeditions I have learned to take everything needed for a short stay.

I know there are some great lists of tools and emergency items posted here somewhere. I'd advise everybody to take the time to prepare a kit of some sort.

remember the CNET guy who got himself and his family lost in an oregon backroad?

he died trying to get help.

fortunately his wife and 2 kids were found and lived.

1. they used a printed mapquest or something and it was kinda outdated.

2. only had cellphones.

3. tried to burn their tires for signal and warmth.

4. survived for days.

failure everywhere... sad story.

If the doors weren't on his jeep, he lacked a shelter, which means he went unprepared anyway. If he stayed with the jeep, he probably would've been dead anyway, esp if he had no means to improve on what he had.

Be prepared
LEAVE A TRIP PLAN WITH SOMEONE
Stay with your rig- if out in big country, it can be spotted from the air quicker than you can.

A few years ago we had someone head in on the Denali Highway, which is not maintained in winter. They got stranded about 15 miles in from one end of the road. This is a spot where a SPOT is NO GOOD, as you are in the Alaska Range.
Found them 5 miles from their rig, 10 days later, -50F when they embarked. Grandparents and their 3 y/o grandson.

None of this had to happen. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Yet another tool:

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/chp19.php