Like I said in the beginning, they fell into a hole.

Could it be possible that their vehicle was moved to First Water?
That would divert the search efforts.
Was there any indication on their map that they intended to set out from FW?

Regards:SH.

Hello Wayne,

I would say yes! Their map started a F/W Trailhead. The first thing shown on it was labeled "First Water Road".

Terry,

You are probably correct. They very well could be in the bottom of a hole somewhere. But the longer this drags on with no sign of them turning up. The more I wonder if they "fell" into it... or not.

Best,

Jim

INTERESTING missing without a trace. This is beginning to sound like a Bermuda Triangle thing with the exception we are nowhere near the Bermuda Triangle. Considering all the people searching for these three men you would think some kind of clue would show up. Of course they could have fallen into a shaft, however there are not to many deep shafts with in the wilderness. Many of them have already been checked out. One of the deepest is up on the side of Bluff Springs Mountain above William's Camp. Only time will let us know what happen to them. SSAR are continuing their search grids in hopes of finding something.

Take care and be safe,

Tom K.

I like this quote as a possible solution. There are may tales of caves in Superstition Mnts written in older Arizona newspapers. They are quite mysterious. Its possible that you go in and don’t come out? For what ever reason. Well at least in the above quote it as somewhat of a happy ending.

Ed

gollum posted:

Rep posted:

A somewhat similar event happen to 3 weekend miners in the California desert.

23 years ago Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit performed a recovery of 3 miners from a shaft.
Several decisions in a short period of time cost first one, then a second and finally a third miner their life. Fortunately for the fourth miner, he went for outside help instead of descending the shaft.

Very tragic were these mistakes.

RMRU link below describes the recovery.
http://www.rmru.org/missions/1980s/1987-027.htm

TradClimber

Hello everyone,

I was talking to Malcom's step-daughter Veronica yesterday and she let me know that Robert contacted her and told her that a pair of glasses, and a white water jug w/blue lid were found. My dad wore glasses (bi-focals w/wire frames) and the containers they used to carry water in were the white plastic jugs of water. I have been digging through the pictures I have of my dad, in most of them he doesn't have his glasses on and the others are too grainy, a couple are too dark to see his glasses clearly. My sister said if she could see a picture of the glasses she would be able to tell if they were his or not. I am hoping that these are his glasses and it will lead to his whereabouts.

From the begining my husband kept saying that they went into a cave or a mine. My dad wasn't running from any kind of financial dilemas and he didn't owe money to anyone so I can't see why he wouldn't be where he said he was going. From What I understand about Malcolm is that he had his business and he was doing fairly well at it. There are no reasons that could explain why these two men would want to disappear; I don't know Curtis's financial situation, therefore I can't speak on that.

I appreciate all of the hardwork and dedication given by each and every one of the people who contribute in the search for my dad and his companions.

Many blessings to you, Delila.

Once again me and my family are very thankful for the people who are searching for my uncle Curtis, Ardean, and Malcom.
I know my uncle I've known him for 27 years and I know he is up there somewhere, he didn't run away anywhere, he is too family oriented to cause us grief like this, he was raising his 3 year old granddaughter and was hoping to better her life by finding this treasure, he would never purposely abandon her, something bad happened to him and the others up there.

Please do not give up looking for them. My family and the other two families need closure to this situation. We need to lay them to Rest where they can be visited and loved.

Hello Jim, we are related to Ardean and have wondered about foul play for a while. We have been in touch with energy healers who claim that Ardean was pushed of a cliff, fell about 10 feet on the NW slope of the mountain range. Possibly has a broken leg?
It would be worth to check it out - If you please would. Thank you.
Respectfully desertLilly

Dear DesertLilly,

If you can have the "energy healers" provide me with a map showing the exact place where this event occurred. I will gladly go check out the spot, or pass the map on to someone who will be flying in the area, so they can.

But... I do not have enough time left in this life, to go check out every one of the thousands of NW slopes, that exist in the 160,000 + acres of Wilderness Area out there.

You ladies have to understand that we are still experiencing triple digit temperatures here, and none of us can keep up the pace we set for ourselves, back when there was still a good chance of finding your loved ones alive.

We have not given up! But until the weather breaks, or some "specific" information comes to light, concerning where they might be. I am afraid we have done just about all we can at this time.

Right now we all need a little time to heal our own tired bodies, and recover from the blisters on our feet and sunburns, before we can go back out there, and wander around aimlessly, just hoping to accidentally "stumble" on a clue to where they might be.

This fall when our winter visitors return. There will be hundreds of hikers, joggers and people on horseback, out there on the trails almost every day. (including myself and people like Tom K, GeorgeW, Kurt, and all the rest of us here in the DUSA forums, who are local to the area).

Hopefully one of them will stumble on the clue, we have all been searching for.

All my best,

Jim