WOT

On the eve of Ranger Frank Soledad's twenty-year anniversary stewarding the Deadswitch area, he drives me to the Glass Lake Trailhead parking lot in his four-door Wrangler. For the locals, this place is unremarkable. Every trailhead in the area is the same—a dirt clearing with a few logs to serve as parking barriers, and a map in a pine frame that has seen better days. Also near the map is a lockbox where day hikers are supposed to drop a five-dollar fee, but Frank says he gave up stocking the envelopes years ago. No one ever paid.

The only car in the lot is a Subaru Forester. Frank says it belongs to a pair of regulars who spend a few weeks near Triplet Lakes every summer.

"Found Janet's car right over there." Frank points to a spot to the left of the trail map. "Only sign of them we ever found."

I ask him about the cellphones and the possible na?veté of leaving them at home, to which he shakes his head.

"Listen, I can't speak for why they wouldn't want to take photos of their hike. But I spent a lot of time talking with the parents of all the women. These young ladies spent more time in national forests and wilderness areas than most of our visitors. They knew their stuff." He shrugs. "Maybe they didn't take their phones because of the extra weight, or because they were afraid they'd lose them. Janet's dad said she always rented a satellite phone anyway. That phone we tried tracing, but the device hadn't been turned on since it left the rental office. Again, that's typical of backpackers. Satellite phones stay off unless there's reason to call out."

And there it is, the second half of the communication mystery. The scenarios where all five women wouldn't think to call out for help are limited. Either they lost the phone, or the elements, such as a lightning bolt on granite, killed them all at once.

"Trust me, I've speculated long and hard on this." Frank scratches his chin with a solemn glance toward the trailhead. "But it's useless with no other evidence. All I know is this isn't some kind of Chris McCandless tragedy," he says, referring to the famous case of the unprepared young man who lost his life in the Alaska wilderness. "These women weren't known for recklessness. That to me is the most frightening part of this whole thing."