Kalimouse,
Thank you for your writeup and the helpful information. I too became recently introduced to Matthew's case and would like to bring him home.
A couple of points I would like to mention. Although I do not know the address where his female friend resides, the central area of Chatsworth (Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Lassen Street) is about 10 miles from the Mulholland Hwy/Old Topanga Canyon Road intersection. If he caught all green traffic lights, traveling the 10 miles in 15 minutes equates to 40mph.
In regards the treacherous dirt road portion of the Topanga Tower Motorway being too narrow to turn around once one drives onto it, if Matthew somehow came to his senses in those 15 minutes it took him to traverse the Motorway's one mile (0.7 miles on dirt), he had three opportunities to turn around while on the dirt portion. The road widens at about 0.25 miles down the dirt portion, widens again at 0.58 miles, and at 0.63 miles the dirt road splits, allowing for a 3-way turn-around. Either his drug-impaired state of mind or his suicidal directive guided him nonstop down to where his BMW got stuck. He probably forgot, or was unaware, that there was a large boulder blocking the path to allow for passage shortly after the eroded gully, until after he got stuck, since he was too focused on that gully.
Regarding the eroded gully, I'm a bit surprised he got his beemer stuck there, since the graded level section was wide enough to pass with all four wheels on the ground had he squeezed closer to the lookout-side of the path, through the bushes on the side. (I know it was mentioned that the gully opened up beneath the BMW's weight, but looking at historical aerial photos on GoogleEarth, that gully was there prior to August 2018.)
I too find it believable that Matthew's vehicle could have been stuck there since 7:30am until the early hours of the following day without being reported. According to Weather Underground, the temperature was 85 degrees that August 10th of 2018; it may have been too warm for many to venture out. During your visit, the temps peaked at 70 degrees, a lot more pleasant for a hike. Also, these days with Covid-19, more people are home from work and seek out outdoor activities, hence you may have observed a busier day than when Matthew was there. And, except from one small spot from the lookout (southeasterly corner) , the vehicle would have not been visible from above. I am even willing to believe that some people may have come upon the BMW, and although they found it very strange and at a dangerous location, some may have not reported it, since they didn't actually see anyone in a danger, or just didn't want to deal with it.
Today (Saturday, 6/20) my buddy and I visited Rosa's Lookout, and we repelled down that eroded gully about 150' down from the path (based on the length of my rope). As we repelled down, we scanned both sides of the gully, good 10 yards in either direction. Other than some bottles, cans, tea candles, and one rattling rattlesnake, we found no sign of poor Matthew or his clothing. Earlier I wrote that I noticed something red on the drone photos down in that gully, but the only red material we came across down there were bushels of red flowers on a shrub.
We then explored the area beneath the lookout where Matthew's hat was found. Don't know whether this belonged to Matthew, but we did find a collapsed portion of a glasses case, of which I'm attaching a photo. At first I did not know what it was, because the case was missing its sides and was flattened, until I got home and searched it out online. Below I am also attaching a photo of what the case looks like when new.
I'm hoping to return to Rosa's Lookout in the near future to continue searching for poor Matthew.
Thank you for your writeup and the helpful information. I too became recently introduced to Matthew's case and would like to bring him home.
A couple of points I would like to mention. Although I do not know the address where his female friend resides, the central area of Chatsworth (Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Lassen Street) is about 10 miles from the Mulholland Hwy/Old Topanga Canyon Road intersection. If he caught all green traffic lights, traveling the 10 miles in 15 minutes equates to 40mph.
In regards the treacherous dirt road portion of the Topanga Tower Motorway being too narrow to turn around once one drives onto it, if Matthew somehow came to his senses in those 15 minutes it took him to traverse the Motorway's one mile (0.7 miles on dirt), he had three opportunities to turn around while on the dirt portion. The road widens at about 0.25 miles down the dirt portion, widens again at 0.58 miles, and at 0.63 miles the dirt road splits, allowing for a 3-way turn-around. Either his drug-impaired state of mind or his suicidal directive guided him nonstop down to where his BMW got stuck. He probably forgot, or was unaware, that there was a large boulder blocking the path to allow for passage shortly after the eroded gully, until after he got stuck, since he was too focused on that gully.
Regarding the eroded gully, I'm a bit surprised he got his beemer stuck there, since the graded level section was wide enough to pass with all four wheels on the ground had he squeezed closer to the lookout-side of the path, through the bushes on the side. (I know it was mentioned that the gully opened up beneath the BMW's weight, but looking at historical aerial photos on GoogleEarth, that gully was there prior to August 2018.)
I too find it believable that Matthew's vehicle could have been stuck there since 7:30am until the early hours of the following day without being reported. According to Weather Underground, the temperature was 85 degrees that August 10th of 2018; it may have been too warm for many to venture out. During your visit, the temps peaked at 70 degrees, a lot more pleasant for a hike. Also, these days with Covid-19, more people are home from work and seek out outdoor activities, hence you may have observed a busier day than when Matthew was there. And, except from one small spot from the lookout (southeasterly corner) , the vehicle would have not been visible from above. I am even willing to believe that some people may have come upon the BMW, and although they found it very strange and at a dangerous location, some may have not reported it, since they didn't actually see anyone in a danger, or just didn't want to deal with it.
Today (Saturday, 6/20) my buddy and I visited Rosa's Lookout, and we repelled down that eroded gully about 150' down from the path (based on the length of my rope). As we repelled down, we scanned both sides of the gully, good 10 yards in either direction. Other than some bottles, cans, tea candles, and one rattling rattlesnake, we found no sign of poor Matthew or his clothing. Earlier I wrote that I noticed something red on the drone photos down in that gully, but the only red material we came across down there were bushels of red flowers on a shrub.
We then explored the area beneath the lookout where Matthew's hat was found. Don't know whether this belonged to Matthew, but we did find a collapsed portion of a glasses case, of which I'm attaching a photo. At first I did not know what it was, because the case was missing its sides and was flattened, until I got home and searched it out online. Below I am also attaching a photo of what the case looks like when new.
I'm hoping to return to Rosa's Lookout in the near future to continue searching for poor Matthew.
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