Found Deceased CA - Rachel Nguyen, 20, & Joseph Orbeso, 21, Joshua Tree Nat'l Park, 27 July 2017 #2

[whitelilac]

^ There are sandy and flatter areas, just dotted by the Joshua trees and boulder outcrops here and there, though no sand dunes. But the terrain varies greatly, the area is nearly 800,000 acres. I personally never did the Maze Loop, but visited other parts. I remember walking over beautiful flat rocks on one occasion from our parked car and realizing that it was very easy to become disoriented, to lose a sense of direction, and made sure I could still see the car. It was nowhere near the type of terrain shown by the drone, which looks very forbidding.

There are other areas off road where the abandoned mine shafts are, quite dangerous and not frequented much by hikers. Having followed Erin Corwin's case, I remember an article that stated there were some 7000 mine shafts. Eventually she was found in one of those.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Tree_National_Park

 

[TruthIsStranger]

After reading that article I'm starting to think that all these desert parks should automatically be closed when the temperature is forecast to be over 100 degrees. It was too hot for even the searchers to be out there. Nobody should be out hiking in the desert in that type of weather.

I don't understand how you can't get lost out there. Wow! Unless you have an electronic thingamajiggy whose name I can't recall, how in the world do you find your way? I've seen social media comments regarding the park from people that have been there that say that the signs at the maze are not clear and/or consistently visible and thar the Nat Geo map from the bookstore is inaccurate. How scary! Not only does this not sound like a fun vacation to me, it sounds like my worst nightmare--akin to underwater cave spelunking. Yes, I'm a wuss.

 

[cvaldez1975]

FYI, that stuff is on her twitter and tumblr (same username, rach0de). Ton of twitter follows for vaping and 420/stoner accounts, lot of tumblr reblog content of similar thing, and a few text posts hinting of drug use.

MJ use is very common among CA youth. A lot more common than other states. It's almost nothing here.


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[bears10]

MJ use is very common among CA youth. A lot more common than other states. It's almost nothing here.


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I’m on the east coast and MJ is very common here and has been for decades. I think it’s jjst a regular thing and not that big of a deal.

 

[wsthrow]

Nah, I'm very aware of that. It's not alarming in the slightest imo. Just wanted to point it out since some didn't know she was also into recreational drugs. Whether it's a contributing factor or not, who knows for sure, but I suppose whatever they've released seems to be indicate they weren't using when they actually went hiking.

 

[yukoncornelius]

This is from the last page of Thread 1, it confuses me:

yukoncornelius wrote:


Who is "Mr. Young" and why would he want Joseph to go down as a murderer? Do you have a link for this statement? TIA.

Sorry, that was a typo. Mr. Young is a childhood friend of Joseph's and he was quoted as saying he did not want Joseph to go down as a murderer.

 

[Elainera]

Sorry, that was a typo. Mr. Young is a childhood friend of Joseph's and he was quoted as saying he did not want Joseph to go down as a murderer.

Oh good! The statement had left me in a state of puzzlement. I mean who would say such a thing? Not a friend! Thanks for clearing that up!

 

[KaaBoom]

I don't understand how you can't get lost out there. Wow! Unless you have an electronic thingamajiggy whose name I can't recall, how in the world do you find your way? I've seen social media comments regarding the park from people that have been there that say that the signs at the maze are not clear and/or consistently visible and thar the Nat Geo map from the bookstore is inaccurate. How scary! Not only does this not sound like a fun vacation to me, it sounds like my worst nightmare--akin to underwater cave spelunking. Yes, I'm a wuss.

I don't know either, but I know one thing. If I ever visit there, it's going to be in December or January, when it's cool.

 

[Steph9676]

Such a sad story.

 

[Force Ten]

Wow, we made it to a second thread.

There is supposedly a FB group called You Caring asking for donations and using Joseph's picture. The Orbeso family has no part or affiliation with this. Just FYI.


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[everybodhi]

Has it rained a lot? I wonder if they tried to scratch a message into the dirt but it was washed away.

Zero rain, CA rarely gets any rain in the summer, rain comes in the fall and winter.
There could have been enough wind to blow tracks from the sand.
The problem with the maze, even if you find the trail, unless you have a gps or compass, you may have a hard time knowing which direction to go.

 

[lindamichelle1]

wow, i read the other day that the bodies were found, been following this case from the beginning and bookmarked it to read later and just started reading from where I left off from and the next post was about the gunshots, actually was shocked. I tend to want to lean to it being mercy shooting, they probably thought they woudl rather this than to die of dehydration.
I feel like if he planned to never come back he would probably have said goodbye to his parents a bit better instead of rushing off like it said. How they usually have a long hug but he didnt have time.
It also sounded like maybe Rachel got injured? that probably slowed them down and panicked them a bit more.

 

[everybodhi]

I don't know either, but I know one thing. If I ever visit there, it's going to be in December or January, when it's cool.

I would never go to the desert to hike in the summer, CA has thousands of miles of ocean trails, it stays nice and cool on those trails all summer and they are outrageously beautiful.
The super bloom we had in early spring, Feb-Apr, because of the previous rainy winter, would have been a great time to go to Joshua Tree.
If you go to the maze, I would suggest an extra battery charger and a tracker app, something you can use to alert people for help if you get in a bind.
Also, I wouldn't hike the maze without alerting the park rangers of my plans, as they recommend.

Tracker app https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/followmee-mobile-gps-tracker/id640133448?mt=8

Joshua Tree's wildflowers are just starting to bloom. Here are tours that will take you there

 

[bacilou]

Just want to say in regards to people asking how they could get lost 2 miles from the trail, there is nothing to suggest that they hadn't gone even further a distance away and tried to make their way back finally ending up two miles from the trail. They could have walked many more miles away, started walking back but found that they couldn't go any further due to extremities and lack of supplies. Especially as it's been said that they had walked in circles. It's possible that they'd gone back on themselves and ended up in the same place and given up IMO. I feel terrible for the families that this has been called a murder suicide. Its assisted suicide at worst. 🙁 Personally I'd want control over how I died if I knew that I had the option. Gunshot or dehydration? Id choose a gunshot every time. Bless them. So sad.

 

[lizardjustice]

Zero rain, CA rarely gets any rain in the summer, rain comes in the fall and winter.
There could have been enough wind to blow tracks from the sand.
The problem with the maze, even if you find the trail, unless you have a gps or compass, you may have a hard time knowing which direction to go.

It rained to the point of having flash floods just days after the two went missing.

 

[everybodhi]

It rained to the point of having flash floods just days after the two went missing.

Really? I guess it's different in the south then, we didn't get rain this summer in northern CA, we rarely do.
Since it rained in those temps, the resulting humidity would make it even worse.

 

[lizardjustice]

Really? I guess it's different in the south then, we didn't get rain this summer in northern CA, we rarely do.

We don't have frequent rain in the summer, but we do get the ends of tropical storms that hit incredibly hard and cause flooding. Rachel and Joseph went missing July 27. On the 29th there were thunderstorms in Joshua Tree, including in the park, and there were flash flood warnings throughout the area. August 3rd there were again flash flood warnings.

 

[iscaremyself]

Has it rained a lot? I wonder if they tried to scratch a message into the dirt but it was washed away.

it rained a couple times after they went missing..they could have spelled out a message with little rocks if they thought about it

 

[iscaremyself]

I had trouble getting a sense of the scale. How big would the average green shrub be? How tall might one of the tallest rock formations be? I see what i think are washes--how wide are they, usually? Thanks for any insight on this from any sleuthers.

the bushes can be as big as trees and the boulders big as cars

 

[Seajay]

We don't have frequent rain in the summer, but we do get the ends of tropical storms that hit incredibly hard and cause flooding. Rachel and Joseph went missing July 27. On the 29th there were thunderstorms in Joshua Tree, including in the park, and there were flash flood warnings throughout the area. August 3rd there were again flash flood warnings.

Yes, I remember this and that's why I hoped that somehow, they could make a water catchment system and survive. I had hope for them each time it rained.

Without knowing when they died, it's hard now to tell if they could have survived this and they just gave up too soon.