CA CA - Arthur Jeffrey Estes, 25, Yosemite National Park, 1976 May 24

[MadMcGoo]

Missing Person / NamUs #MP61622Arthur Jeffrey Estes, Male, White / Caucasian
​

Date of Last Contact: May 24, 1976
Missing From: Yosemite National Park, Mariposa County, California
First Name: Arthur
Middle Name: Jeffrey
Last Name: Estes
Nickname/Alias: Jeff
Missing Age: 25 years old
Height: 5' 10" (70 Inches)
Weight: 165 lbs
Hair Color: Brown; full, medium length
Facial Hair Description: Mustache
Eye Color: Green
Clothing: Blue levis, blue sweatshirt, baseball cap
Footwear: Vibram soled hiking boots
Accessories: Dark colored frame pack

Circumstances of Disappearance: Estes was dropped off at May Lake Road and Tioga Road in Yosemite National Park for a solo 2 day hike to Yosemite Valley via May Lake and Snow Creek Trail. Estes was never seen or heard from again.

National Park Service - Yosemite:
PO Box 517 9000 B
Lost Arrow Yosemite, California 95389
Agency Case Number: NP19189993

 

[glamourkitty1922]

In researching this, I found nothing except the conspiracy theories. If I had to make a guess, I would say he had an accident while hiking and died. Yosemite is a huge wilderness area and he was probably just never found. That's really sad.

 

[kemo]

I’ve been on that trail and it is well marked and fairly well traveled, even back in the 70’s. Most of the way, his route would have followed a small creek in a canyon. I don’t see how anyone could get hopelessly lost. The trail is well marked and should have been easy to follow. Occasionally even a first class trail can have points where a hiker can inadvertently lose the trail. Generally you figure it out very quickly and retrace your steps.

For different reasons hikers will leave the trail. Sometimes an adventurous backpacker will try to find a shortcut or perhaps a more interesting route or they realize they are off the trail but don’t want to backtrack and figure it makes more sense to push on. Off trail hiking definitely adds an element to the wilderness experience but it also greatly increases the chance of injury and decreases the chance of rescue if you are injured. That particular trail is through very steep, rough county that does not really lend itself to bushwhacking (off trail hiking) but that is the most likely explanation for Arthur’s disappearance.

There is a self styled investigative reporter/ internet sleuth who has made a career of creating fear that people who go missing in the wilderness are victims of some nefarious conspiracy. It’s nonsense. The backcountry can be dangerous and mishaps do happen on occasion; even to the well prepared and experienced.

 

[glamourkitty1922]

I’ve been on that trail and it is well marked and fairly well traveled, even back in the 70’s. Most of the way, his route would have followed a small creek in a canyon. I don’t see how anyone could get hopelessly lost. The trail is well marked and should have been easy to follow. Occasionally even a first class trail can have points where a hiker can inadvertently lose the trail. Generally you figure it out very quickly and retrace your steps.

For different reasons hikers will leave the trail. Sometimes an adventurous backpacker will try to find a shortcut or perhaps a more interesting route or they realize they are off the trail but don’t want to backtrack and figure it makes more sense to push on. Off trail hiking definitely adds an element to the wilderness experience but it also greatly increases the chance of injury and decreases the chance of rescue if you are injured. That particular trail is through very steep, rough county that does not really lend itself to bushwhacking (off trail hiking) but that is the most likely explanation for Arthur’s disappearance.

There is a self styled investigative reporter/ internet sleuth who has made a career of creating fear that people who go missing in the wilderness are victims of some nefarious conspiracy. It’s nonsense. The backcountry can be dangerous and mishaps do happen on occasion; even to the well prepared and experienced.

I've always loved hiking and camping in the wilderness. The person you're talking about is where the conspiracy theories are coming from! It seems his opinion is that nobody could ever get lost in wilderness areas or parks.

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Arthur - it's now been 47 years.

 

[hesson11]

Missing Person / NamUs #MP61622Arthur Jeffrey Estes, Male, White / Caucasian
View attachment 216122​

Date of Last Contact: May 24, 1976
Missing From: Yosemite National Park, Mariposa County, California
First Name: Arthur
Middle Name: Jeffrey
Last Name: Estes
Nickname/Alias: Jeff
Missing Age: 25 years old
Height: 5' 10" (70 Inches)
Weight: 165 lbs
Hair Color: Brown; full, medium length
Facial Hair Description: Mustache
Eye Color: Green
Clothing: Blue levis, blue sweatshirt, baseball cap
Footwear: Vibram soled hiking boots
Accessories: Dark colored frame pack

Circumstances of Disappearance: Estes was dropped off at May Lake Road and Tioga Road in Yosemite National Park for a solo 2 day hike to Yosemite Valley via May Lake and Snow Creek Trail. Estes was never seen or heard from again.

National Park Service - Yosemite:
PO Box 517 9000 B
Lost Arrow Yosemite, California 95389
Agency Case Number: NP19189993

Jeff was one of my best friends. I can tell you that he never met a trail he liked. Jeff lived off trail. He was off trail. If anyone was going to go where he'd been told not to, it was Jeff.

Feeling a bit nostalgic, with a reunion of old friends coming up, I thought of him today, hit up Google and found all of you. Thanks for this, for remembering someone you didn't even know.

We met at the University of Florida in 1969 when I joined his fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta. Not your typical frat guy. None of us really were. There is a group of us still around who get together regularly, and we remember Jeff in all his spirited waywardness. After all these years, he'll always remain the kid we knew, the way we knew him, the guy who'd go off trail.

Yet, not one of us would be at all surprised if he knocked on our door tomorrow, looked at us with those searing damn-it-all eyes and asked if we could spare a beer or two. Nothing would be more like him than to check out for forty-some years only so he could see the looks on our faces when he showed back up again.

At one of our friend's weddings, in June of 1976, one of us decided to call Estes—we rarely used first names—because he'd recently left Gainesville for "parts unknown," as he would have put it. We heard he landed a job at Yellowstone or Yosemite or somewhere, so one of us got the number of the park rangers' office (not easy in those days) and called. We were all partying pretty good, and the guy who placed the call made a loud announcement that he'd been told Jeff went on a hike a few weeks before and had not returned. We all laughed for a moment. Jeff kind of lived on the point of no return. He'd be all right. Then we stopped laughing. How long did they say, exactly? We've heard nothing since.

Not long before he left Gainesville, we were having a few beers—when weren't we?—and for some reason made a pact to meet under the bell tower in the center of Munich on October 8, 1980. That date seemed like an eternity away to us. I often wonder whether he'd have been there if I'd showed up. I probably should have.

I'm 73 years old now, and Jeff's old friends are hanging in there better than we ever would have thought. We've lost a couple of good ones along the way. But Jeff would probably have been surprised we've made it this far. And he would definitely not be surprised that he himself didn't. He'd have been pretty damn sure that somewhere along the line, he'd have gone off trail.

Thanks for letting me reminisce.
=Bob