I used to work as a Park Ranger; we had people go missing in the woods all the time. The one thing I noticed though is that those who were intent on committing suicide would usually leave plenty of evidence behind - they'd leave their car running with the door open and all their personal belongings inside, or they'd make a trail out of sticks and pine cones to where their body was, they'd break branches (again leading to their body), etc. More concerning were those who got injured in the woods who had been hiking alone - in some places cell phone service was sketchy or non/existent, so they'd have to either have to make it on their own to where they could call us for assistance, or else we'd find their car in a parking lot when we were locking up for the evening. Then I'd have to start hiking the trails, or sometimes I'd use an ATV or snow machine to being my investigation. My Lieutenant would then get out the drone. We had night vision equipment too, which was helpful. But it's still hard to find a single person amid a massive wilderness - my patrol area was over 2,000 acres! On weekends, when I was on foot patrol, it wasn't uncommon for me to log over 20 miles per day patrolling... So, I suspect that Max most likely fell, or suffered some other kind of problem (i.e., heart attack - these are VERY common among middle-age men who are out hiking).
