I also used to hike. But I never gave it any thought as to crime. I did a lot of my hiking on the Appalachian Trail in GA, NC and VA. In fact, the first few times I went alone and told someone at my command where I would be. Then after a few accidents on the AT, one of which almost ended in the death of a hiker, I joined a couple of small groups in my area that hiked and joined them. Sometime before my last hike some through hikers were murdered on the trail and all of the shelter registers were new and blank. The state police had picked up all the registers up and down the trail after the murders. Then the groups I hiked with broke when others moved out of the area and with no one to go with I gave it up. I still have my hiking boots - heavy leather and not light in weight. That was before the lighter boots with synthetic material like running shoes became common.This case has stayed with me for years, although I don’t have much to contribute... Like several others posting on this thread, I was an avid hiker, although in northern New England. I hiked alone, carrying survival supplies and a concealed firearm. I had a concealed carry license for the states I hiked in. I was aware of occasional crime, mostly near trailheads, and of course there is vulnerability while hiking alone in the isolation of wilderness areas. I was always very aware of noise, color anomalies, and potential hiding places. The only real danger I ever encountered was a bear, but that incident ended without any harm to either myself or the bear.
I will say one thing about David Stodden returning to hike with his other daughters. I think it is way to reclaim the joy that he and other family members experienced in nature. During one hike I made years ago, I sprained an ankle just below the top of a mountain summit. I bound it up and made it back to the trailhead with a metal staff/pole I used for support. I drove myself to a hospital, and my ankle was swollen and sore for a while. But the following year, I actually returned to this trail. I didn’t want this bad experience to ruin my enjoyment of hiking, so I went and completed the same hike where I’d had the accident.
Mountain trails can be full of ambush points and areas where a predator can ambush someone. If 2 people are hiking and talking, they could be distracted and unaware of sounds that could signal a problem, such as the sound of crushing leaves or another person’s breathing.
Israel Keyes comes to mind for this crime. His timeline may or may not fit, but I think the murders were perpetrated by an opportunistic predator. Such an individual may have been in the area with the intent to commit a crime, and the mother and daughter appeared. I hope there’s some DNA that will eventually identify the perpetrator.
Israel Keyes also comes to mind. One thing that leads me away from Keyes is that he hid the bodies of his victims. The fact that Keyes was active in WA was scary for me as my brother hiked, biked and snowshoed in western WA during the time Keyes was there.