zecats
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This is the trail mentioned in the article above that I posted. If this is the right one, it seems fairly busy. Strange no one has spotted him, unless he went off trial. Highly likely it seems. JMODo we know the ages and conditions of the other family members? It's not clear from what I'm reading how many people were on this excursion. His dad is mentioned as being on horseback (by his mom - was she on horseback too? Was his wife there?) Anyway, it would seem there were only 3-4 of them. Since it says he was riding with his family, I doubt there was a guide.
Pregnant wife might not want to walk back by a longer distance; someone needs accompany her back - I'm guessing that's his dad. I don't know if he'd want his mom giving up a horse to walk with him.
Best thing to do would be stay together, although presumably some of the terrain covered by the horses might be really difficult for a human. So they would have all had to go which ever way the walker could handle. They might have been concerned about having the horses out that late. That area is notorious for being maze-like and difficult to walk through without a topo map and a compass (and a headlamp and a sleeping bag).
The articles on this are maddeningly short of info (as is the family's facebook page). I know they don't want untrained searchers, but surely they would want for people who might just be going hiking out that way to be on the look-out? Where is this trailhead? How did he get onto the trail - were they at a trail fork when they separated? All of that would be helpful for people know if they were planning trips out there this week.
Any locals know where the trailhead is? The one he was aiming for?
twin lakes horse trail Montana