All this talk about his wallet gave me this thought...In my life, I have only a few friends, no social media presence, no professional contacts, no employer/coworkers, no close family (parents and siblings are estranged after a childhood of abuse). I also have an invisible disability that keeps me somewhat isolated. I don't talk about it or share much with others beyond the "better do it while I still can" type talk. Thus, people who might care about me if I die, probably just think I'm doing fine and handling my life well on my own.
I could totally see myself seeking out the trail for a personally fulfilling journey, 'finding myself', looking to connect with others taking the same path in life. Not having any support your whole life, but to find it in death...Seeing that there are more people caring about him now than perhaps while he was living. I wonder how that would make MH feel. Would he feel angry that he lived in suffering and loneliness for so long and no one even thought to care about him until his deceased, wasting body was found in the wilderness after so much physical/mental suffering?
It makes me kind of hope, for him, that if he doesn't want his identity known, that he's granted that wish. If those who cared about him could have identified him, perhaps we would already know. It just makes me think he had no one, and lived a life where no one looked out for him.
I'll always wonder what MH wanted, and if he wanted it this way. If he did things to intentionally thwart people from identifying him, or if he planned to meet his end in some way during this excursion. Even if we do find out his identity, maybe he didn't feel that he was important enough to be named in death. This makes me hurt for those who have suffered through life alone, only to receive love much too late to experience it.