A few other things have emerged relating to their preparedness for the excursion (or rather lack of it).
They were travelling light. Apart from the CamelBak water bladder and the backpack carrier for the baby, no other carry pack was found and nothing to suggest they planned a picnic lunch by the river or anything of that sort. They had a few snacks and a bottle containing baby formula (presumably tucked into a pouch on the baby carrier) but that was it. No additional clothing beyond the minimal items they were wearing. Everything points to the probability they intended it to be a short “in-and-out” hike, returning before the mid-day heat. Perhaps their original intent was to do no more than scope out the trails for a more extensive hike on a future occasion (speculation).
Ms Chung did not have her cellphone with her. They had only Mr Gerrish’s phone and no signal was obtainable where they were found. It’s possible they might have obtained a signal if one of them had gone off the trail to climb to higher ground, but there was no footprint evidence to suggest such an attempt. The keys to their truck being found on the short section of the dirt path between the two adult bodies is unexplained. There was speculation (nothing more) that there might have been a “take the keys and go” moment, with the more able of the two being urged to go for help and either being incapable or unwilling to leave the other. It would fit a scenario where two exhausted people had their collective progress further impeded by something the autopsies would not necessarily have revealed… one of them having twisted their ankle for example, or the dog having collapsed. Just speculation.
The maximum 2.5 litres of water they had between them would have had to cover the dog’s needs as well as their own. Certainly not enough for a long hike in those temperatures in exposed sun. There was no bowl for the dog to drink from. It would have been possible to meet the dog’s needs directly from the CamelBak but potentially wasting further water by spillage. Drinking to keep hydrated does not in itself give protection from heat exhaustion when the sun is beating down on you. Any water usage on their exposed skin to try and keep cool would also have eroded the amount available for keeping hydrated.
There is confusion about whether any water remained in the CamelBak because the words used in the official statements were taken too literally in subsequent press reports. The bladder was virtually empty in the sense that a small trickle remained which provided a large enough sample for toxicology. Not virtually empty in the sense that a feasible amount for drinking could have still been obtained from it.
If they had any expectation that the dog’s needs (or even their own needs) could be met in part by drinking from or splashing in the river (if they reached it), there was no evidence that this had happened. Although the river sections of the trail were subsequently closed in relation to Anatoxin-A contamination, there were already signs warning of the possibility of harmful algal bloom posted at the main access areas to the river, advising against people or their pets swimming in or drinking the water. If they had seen such signs they may have been discouraged from any reliance on the river to supplement their needs.
Amateur sleuths immediately began digging into Mr Gerrish’s and Ms Chung’s social media accounts before they were taken off-line shortly after the bodies were found. Some of those sleuths concluded that Mr Gerrish was an adventurous hiker and perhaps no stranger to “pushing the envelope”. The couple had previously hiked in the Himalayas where there was reference to some sort of life-threatening situation regarding heat or lack of water and reference to a trek through the Gobi Desert that turned out to be more strenuous than expected, despite them being part of a larger group with support staff and supplies. Since moving to Mariposa County they had been on several hikes, at least a couple of which involved steep descents and ascents back up from canyons, but nothing as arduous as their last hike. Mr Gerrish had been using an app called “AllTrails” and they had shared some maps from it:
https://www.alltrails.com/
Although not confirmed in official statements, the particular terminology used by the formal investigators led the amateur sleuths to conclude that Mr Gerrish had switched to using the more sophisticated “onX” app for his latest “research”, such as it was.
https://www.onxmaps.com/
The app provides a basic map of the selected area, onto which you can overlay your intended route, with additional features if you wish, and then save it on your account as “your” map. There are more options if you upgrade to a “pro-account”, including things such as colour codes to show the difficulty of the individual trails along the route, the elevation, and the weather forecast. The formal investigators (presumably having been given access to his account by the software providers) seemingly concluded that Mr Gerrish had not created a map for this particular hike with that degree of sophistication or detail… and had only created his map the night before. It appears he may have only recently begun using the onX app (rather than AllTrails as previously) and perhaps wasn't yet familiarised with how to get the best from it. If he had utilised the full capabilities of the app, it should have been apparent that the route between the way points he had entered was really not a viable option for a short morning out with a small child and a dog, carrying minimal essentials… and especially not in the temperatures encountered later in the day.
It has been reported that the Mariposa Gazette plans to publish a more detailed feature-length article on 28th October, so it should be appearing here very soon:
https://www.mariposagazette.com/
