ACTIVE SEARCH JAPAN - Patricia "Pattie" Wu-Murad, 60, US Citizen, on hiking trip Kumano Kodo Trail, didn't arr next stop Osaka, 10 Apr 2023

[Curiousobserver]

How do we know that stream where the backpack was found runs south?

It seems to go in that direction from the Google Street Views of the current in the area where her backpack was found.

So she was upstream from there (likely) when her backpack entered the water, which may have been on-land most of the time but then washed into the stream during the typhoon or she fell in, or it was tossed in by a third party. It is very easy to get lost hiking but I also wonder how she wouldn't have realized before she got that far upstream from that village. She would be passing landmarks that were not on her plan and a quick look at the map and she would have known.

 

[jennytrevor]

Because I'm not good with directions, excuse me if this makes no sense...

Is it possible she took the wrong trail, thinking it was the correct one, got off that wrong trail, and tried to navigate back to safety/the trail based on improper knowledge of her beginning location, then ending up in the vicinity of the backpack?

 

[Curiousobserver]

Because I'm not good with directions, excuse me if this makes no sense...

Is it possible she took the wrong trail, thinking it was the correct one, got off that wrong trail, and tried to navigate back to safety/the trail based on improper knowledge of her beginning location, then ending up in the vicinity of the backpack?

We will likely never know. When you're lost you can do irrational things. There is certainly a scenario where she walks a long way, realizes she is lost and will not be able to backtrack because she won't have a place to stay- so she tries a shortcut to get herself back on track.

 

[slowpoke]

Another Japanese language article.

奈良県十津川村で行方不明アメリカ人女性の所持品を発見　県警が情報提供求める｜奈良新聞デジタル

奈良県警五條署は25日、昨年4月に十津川村の「熊野古道」で行方不明になったアメリカ人女性、ウームラッド・パトリシア・ピーツェンさん(62)の所持品とみられるリュックサックが見つかったと発表した。

www.nara-np.co.jp

Using Google Translate, it said the backpack was in the stream, which was about 4 km (about 2.5 miles) away north of the village. The fisherman collected it and looked in it, and took a photo. After going home and checking, he reported it to the police. The police retrieved the backpack the next day.

Here’s a picture of the backpack from the news article.

 

[starlightstarbright]

I still think it’s quite odd that it was missing most of its contents. Even with a rip in the side, which I believe was reported, having walked a pilgrimage myself, there would be things stored in all sorts of pockets in that bag. It’s unlikely that it all would have tumbled out of every zip pocket unless the rip was very large. I suppose it’s always possible that the bag was found on land though, someone dug through it looking for valuables, may even have found her name inside, panicked and tossed it in the river.

 

[slowpoke]

I notice the backpack in my last post looks rather clean, and is on a sheet of plastic. The caption to the photo translated to, “A backpack that seems to belong to Patricia (provided by the prefectural police)”.

There’s two photos on the HelpFindPattie FB page of the backpack where it looks dirtier and on gravelly ground. I wonder if those two were taken by the fisherman? Just speculating. MOO


As to the question of why it would have been virtually devoid of contents, could it have been emptied by Pattie herself? Maybe she was injured and immobile or stuck somewhere but was able to open and make use of what was in the backpack (food, extra clothes, first aid supplies, etc) for a time?
MOO

 

[Curiousobserver]

That one chest strap clip (Upper left of the image in the post above) looks badly mangled, compare it to all the other clips in the picture. If she took this off in the normal way then it should be pretty much like all the others (assuming it was undamaged at the start of the trip).