I am deeply saddened by the news of Mr. Likely's passing. Although I never met him, I found myself checking this thread every couple of hours. The last two night I actually had trouble falling asleep because I was thinking about him, his family and his fellow hikers.
I have no idea about the politics involved in doing such a thing, but it seems that doing something as simple as lining the trail with rocks in this area would be helpful. Looking at the Google Earth image below, it looks like the area we have been discussing is only a 1/3 to 1/2 mile long.
I realize that the agencies involved are short on funding and man power, but I'm guessing they wouldn't have too much trouble finding volunteers to help. I can think of a half dozen people (including myself) that would be happy to donate some time.
