Sometimes a desert is like a Trojan horse. Few desert rats disagree that the desert can be a beautiful, magical place. It’s wide open horizons and endless views across miles of sand, cacti, Joshua Trees, boulders and mountains, especially at sunrise and sunset, can be captivating. The allure is reminiscent of a Siren’s song though that can trick you like a ship upon a sandy sea, drawing you closer to the rocks until it’s too late. The desert holds its secrets. It lies, it cajoles and beguiles until you let your guard down. Then it can strike like a coiled rattler without warning and have deadly consequences to those unprepared to deal with its wrath.
Experienced desertphiles realize the desert environment has inherent dangers of extremes, but surprisingly it is often the experienced hikers who may vanish into thin air, just as much as neophyte city dwellers overwhelmed with the beauty of the desert and woefully underprepared to handle an emergency when one developed. Some become high profile missing persons cases, while others may go practically unnoticed. Unresolved cases may go on for years, long after search efforts have ceased. People will often be alone when trouble finds them, but there are exceptions.
Getting lost without adequate water in the summer is a common thread among many of the desert’s victims. Add mental illness, drugs or elevated emotions like anger or panic to the mix and the possibility of death or serious injury becomes even more likely. Some people may assume that being in a national park setting, like Joshua Tree, assures their safety due to the oftentimes mistaken idea that others will never be too far off to help if trouble arises. Humans get comfortable in their urban habitats, but out in the desert where harsh Mother Nature reigns supreme, is an entirely different matter altogether.
Many may not realize most national parks, like Joshua Tree, usually have no cell phone service. Help will no longer be a quick call away. Distances become tricky to judge, even for experts. Oftentimes it is much farther than someone can guess. Despite searing hot days, temperatures often plummet at night and hypothermia can set in. Being inattentive to ones surroundings or going off-path can lead to confusion.
There are lots of reasons a simple trip can turn disastrous and the desert is a very unforgiving place. By reading the tragedies enumerated here, we hope that you can learn from their experiences and avoid making similar ones. These people are just a small portion of people who have lost their lives in the desert. Our utmost respect goes to their grieving families, and the dedicated searchers for their efforts.
According to the New York Times, on June 24, 2010, Bill Ewasko traveled alone from his home in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, to Joshua Tree National Park, where he planned to day hike over a period of several days. Ewasko, 66, was an avid jogger, a Vietnam vet and a longtime fan of the desert West. Ewasko left a rough itinerary behind with his girlfriend. Carey’s Castle was only one of several locations on Ewasko’s itinerary. Unfortunately, the list included sites as far-flung places more than an hour’s drive from the park.
A handful of other trails within the park were also featured on his list. There was Keys View, an overlook with views of the San Andreas Fault, as well as the exposed summit of Quail Mountain, Joshua Tree’s highest point, part of a slow transition into the park’s mountainous western region. Several days later, a California Highway Patrol helicopter finally spotted Ewasko’s car at the Juniper Flats trail head, nearly a 90-minute drive from the Carey’s Castle trail head. An intensive search was launched until resources were exhausted.
Experts discovered at 6:50 a.m. on Sunday, June 27, 2010, three days after Bill last spoke with his girlfriend, his cellphone pinged a Verizon tower just outside the park’s northwestern edge, above the town of Yucca Valley. This placed him so far beyond the official search area that, when rescuers first learned of the ping in 2010, many simply did not believe the data. An incoming rush of voice mail messages and texts would have crashed his weak battery before Bill could place a call.
Over the next 11 years, thousands of hours were spent by amateur sleuths continuing to search for Bill. Finally the big break everyone was hoping for happened when a pair of backpackers from Tennessee were hiking in the backcountry and accidentally stumbled upon human skeletal remains in Joshua Tree National Park on February 9, 2022, nearly 10 miles from where Bill had last parked but only one mile from the main road. They found a back pack, car keys, an old flip-type cell phone and Bill Ewasko’s drivers license. At last, Bill would get to come home.
Lauren Cho, a 30-year old visual artist from New Jersey fondly called “El”, went mysteriously missing in Yucca Valley after walking away from her rented Airbnb in the late afternoon with only the clothes on her back on June 28, 2021. Friends and family figured she had walked off into the desert hills. Local news station KESQ reported she vanished without a trace.
Close friends recalled she was upset before she left. A massive search effort was launched past two weeks but to no avail. Her case gained notoriety from Inside Edition, but there was also controversy because it was alleged that missing cases for women of color did not get the same widespread sensational attention, as in the recent case of YouTuber Gabby Petito, who mysteriously disappeared during the summer of 2021 while on a cross-country trip in her van with a boyfriend.
Four months later, authorities confirmed that previously unidentified remains found on October 9, 2021, in the rugged terrain of the open desert between Morongo Valley and Yucca Valley, were indeed El’s.
Susan Schmeirer, 65, and her husband, William, 64, of Williamsburg, Virginia, went missing after a visit to Amboy Crater during a cross-country trip to see a daughter in California. They were due to arrive at Palm Springs on June 2, 2018. Surveillance footage showed the couple was at the crater’s visitor center off National Trails Highway in Amboy, a desert community about 50 miles north of Twentynine Palms and 100 miles from Palm Springs. Their empty car was found at the trailhead for Amboy Crater on June 13, 2018, about 10 days after they were reported missing.
William’s body was discovered three days later. It was eventually determined he died of heat exhaustion. The temperature on the day of their hike was recorded in the triple digits and searches were delayed due to the extreme heat. By 10 a.m. most days, the ground temperatures in the lava fields exceeded 160 degrees, police said.
His wife’s remains weren’t found until 10 months later, east of Amboy Crater towards the ghost town of Amboy. She had also died of accidental heat-related causes. Susan was the fifth fatality at Amboy Crater in less than a year.
Barbara Thomas, 69, of Bullhead City, Arizona, had not been seen since July 12, 2019, when she vanished in the remote Mojave Desert east of Kelbaker Road, about twenty miles north of Interstate 40, while on a two-mile hike with her husband Robert, 71. Temperatures in the area at the time were over 100°F, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Barbara was last seen wearing a black bikini, a red baseball cap, black socks and a pair of hiking boots. Robert added she was carrying a can of beer but no supplies. He said Barbara turned a corner while he stopped to take a photograph and simply disappeared. He returned to their RV camper parked on the shoulder but she had not returned. Robert suspected she was kidnapped and taken to Las Vegas.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department dismissed the idea that she had been abducted. In a press interview, Robert admitted the police considered him their prime suspect after he failed a polygraph. An intensive search followed but efforts were halted on July 23, 2019, due to excessive heat in the triple digits. The case gained international interest.
Barbara’s remains were not found until 14 months later when she was discovered by random hikers on November 27, 2020, in the desert off Kelbaker Road near Essex, California, the sheriff’s department said.
The decomposed remains of Joseph Orbeso, 21, of Lakewood and Rachel Nguyen, 20, of Westminster, California, were found by a Joshua Tree ranger on Oct. 15, 2017, in a secluded area locked in an embrace under a tree, nearly three months after they went missing in Joshua Tree National Park. The owner of a bed and breakfast near the park reported the couple missing July 28, 2017 after they failed to check out of their room, according to authorities.
The remains were found about 2 miles from where they had parked their car near the entrance to the Maze Loop trail. It was determined Orbeso shot and killed his girlfriend, Rachel Nguyen, 20, and then turned the handgun on himself, according to a news release. The gun was registered to Joseph. Experts believe the couple could have been seeking shelter from the blazing sun under the tree. Family told The Desert Sun that this wasn’t a murderous act but rather one of compassion.
They surmised Rachel appeared to have been in distress due to a head injury and with no water, they reached a point of desperation where they wanted to ease their pain. Detectives learned the couple obtained hallucinogenic drugs prior to entering the park and they found a hallucinogenic mushroom in a backpack under Orbeso’s body. The toxicology test did not reveal any drugs in Orbeso’s system at the time of death. A separate test on Nguyen found trace elements of cannabis in her system.
Experienced Canadian hiker, Paul Miller, 51, was last seen by his wife about 9 a.m. when he left to hike at 49 Palms Oasis, a 3-mile loop. About noon that day, she notified officials that her husband had not returned, prompting the search. His vehicle was found in the parking lot at the trailhead of 49 Palm Oasis on July 13, 2018. As the summer wore on and temperatures increased, the search crews were scaled back. Miller had no cell phone with him, nor could search and rescue K9’s pick up his scent.
Five months later, Joshua Tree National Park authorities reported that on Dec. 19, 2018, human remains had been spotted near the trail, according to the Desert Sun. The discovery came through photographs from a drone flyover of the area in late November, officials said, and they were recovered the next day. Paul was found in a shaded area and still had water and food. It appeared he had made the hike to 49 Palms Oasis and was coming back out the wrong way, authorities determined. He didn’t suffer long.
We highly recommend hikers carry a satellite communicator with you, like or similar to the tiny Garmin 010-01879-00 InReach Mini, Lightweight and Compact Satellite Communicator we carry while out in the field. It’s supposed to work even if cell phones don’t. We bought ours at Costco for under $300.
You can also find it online and in some sports or outdoor stores. It allows you to trigger an interactive SOS to the 24/7 search and rescue monitoring center (satellite subscription required). We pay a renewable monthly subscription of about $20. We’ve never needed to use ours yet but it’s good to know we have one if things go south in a hurry.
This one hooks on your backpack, belt loop or can be worn in your pocket. You can access downloadable maps, U.S. NOAA charts, color aerial imagery and more by using the free Garmin Earthmate app and compatible devices. While relying on only one method doesn’t guarantee your safety, when combined with other survival precautions and preparations, it may save your life.
Well written and right on spot. Too many go unprepared and further out of communication. Sat phone rentals are available, as the garmin you just mentioned. 99% of people wont spend the money.
Water is number one for things people should but dont bring enough of. I always have plenty plus a gallon container in the truck. My time in the desert ends in May and wont begin until October if I am going to be doing any hiking.