I know there was talk late last night and earlier today about him being found in a lake and drowning. I've only heard one reporter say that and it was in a short video issued by News 15 out of Phoenix, and even she didn't say he drowned, she said he was "found in a lake".
First of all, there aren't any real lakes around there, they are more like watering holes and cattle tanks. Many of them are man-made, and were dug by the forest service years and years ago to help the animal population always have a water source. Many of them are located at the higher elevations, which is where the elk, deer and bears like to congregate in the winter months. The majority of these tanks range between 50'-100' feet across and maybe 4'- 8' deep, if that. We have a lot of tanks over here in the area I live that are just like them.
Although I am going to hold off on buying into the drowning theory until an official report is issued, I did sit here this morning and look for those types of water sources close to the area they were camping. Since I don't know where he was found, I really don't know how far out to go with the locations. So for now, I just found the ones within about a 5 to 6 mile radius of where they were camping. The campsite I located is approximate, so don't start busting my chops on how do I know EXACTLY where they were camping and other annoying questions.
You can highlight the individual tanks and basins in the menu to the left. You can zoom in and enlarge using the center wheel on your mouse. You can also click directly on the balloons for a description. Some will have the distance to the family campsite listed to help judge distances from where he disappeared. All of the distances shown are straight-line distance, not actual walking or driving distance.
ETA: If you notice, in the area where the shoe print was supposedly found, I could find NO WATER SOURCES in the area----zilch. What I could find was dried up back when the sat. images were taken.
In my opinion, that in itself may have helped lead to his demise. We're all going to have to wait on the final report to come out.
Map here:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zAAmDUXJe_aE.kcsOUmM2GJ3A&usp=sharing