Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Missing couple

Has anyone seen this couple? They were driving to Yosemite via Kings Canyon. Their hiking plans were not known.

http://www.sierrawave.net/officials-seeking-information-missing-hikers/

I fear they are missing somewhere like the Thai students whose car is stranded in the middle of the raging Kings River in Kings Canyon:

News video: yourcentralvalley.com


Picture from Bakersfield Now


From the other pictures that show the mangled guard rail they went through, I can only think of one possible reason, and this may also relate to the missing couple from the post above...

Some people who rent cars and drive into the mountains for their first time know NOTHING about overheating brakes. Leave the car in D, and ride the brakes down any of those long grades, and brakes will overheat, and eventually fail completely.

I'd bet real money that the brake rotors on that car are toast.

Texting while driving or taking selfies...

> Texting while driving or taking selfies...

When it's a couple, there is a passenger to do the selfie and texting.

One doesn't get up enough speed to mangle six feet of guard rail in a few seconds.

Then there is the time of day this occurred...

They smacked in to it really hard....

Also, if the serpentine belt snaps, you have no power steering or power brakes...

Critters: if it is cold and wet outside, they like to crawl up under the hood for shelter and warmth. They like gnawing on anything rubber...hoses, belts, wiring, etc. If they can crack an acorn open, they can bite through anything rubber.

I don't know the status of the recovery, but...

It wouldn't take one of those crazy tight-rope walkers to set up a line across the river capable of supporting a zip-line trolley. Then someone could roll out to the car, break windshield and side window, fasten a tow strap through the two windows.

A cable and winch from the road could then drag that car so it would come over to the shoreline.

How hard could this be??

A CH-53 helicopter would work.

I know a helicopter was used previously, but a CH-53 would help.

This doesn't look good:   Now it may be possible that BOTH couples met their demise at almost the same place:

News release form Fresno County Sheriff / Coroner's Office:

    http://files.constantcontact.com/5461da84601/b1c30122-4b36-40e5-b098-bb73e227ceac.pdf

Good luck trying to untangle the explanation...

A blind curve?

If travelling at night, it may be a problem. Not enough time to react and correct.

53 is a really big bird, that canyon looks pretty tight. I don't know if it's worth the risk.

S-64 would also be an excellent choice...............DUG

CH-53 or S-64... You're still going to need to drop somebody down on top of the car to break windows and attach a big strap. ...and then get-outa-Dodge before the heavy lifting begins.

I'd feel a whole lot safer hanging from a line stretched across the canyon.

By the way, scratch the overheated brakes idea. Heading into Kings Canyon, at the point they went off the road, the last four miles before that point there was no descent.

Fresno Bee shows a driving video to the point in this article:
Car parts in Kings River

Using Google Maps street view, this matches the view at :26 seconds in the video:
https://www.google.com/maps/@36.8243676,...!7i13312!8i6656

It appears they were headed OUT of Kings Canyon (west bound). There is a hard left curve where they went off. The curve is preceded by almost a mile of nearly straight road. So maybe they were lulled into a false sense of security and safety.

CalTrans will need to super reinforce the guardrail system at that location to ensure any future incidents from occurring.

Sad...it has to take 4 people to perish to make things happen. My condolences to the families of these tragedies.

I am reminded of my commute from Oakhurst to Fresno. When will CT place guardrails along the granite.

You smack into that granite, you careen off into opposing traffic.

There have been a lot of accidents like this.

They did make rumble strips along the center line from SR 145 to Oakhurst this past summer.

That may deter drivers from falling asleep at the wheel, but it isn't the best solution.

Guardrails need to be installed along the 41 from 22-Mile Gas Station to Coarsegold.

All the prep work would have to be done before the helo arrived and then someone would have to be on top of the car to handle the rigging.

Would only be useful for removing the car, not for a body recovery.

I once spent half a day riding around in the back of a H-53 where the only available seat was a forklift that was being moved from the big deck to the last small boy visited.

And I spent a lot of time moving and working with MH-53s on a LPD. That's a small place to operate with four of them.

Many helos are up to the task of removing that car, but it's not practical. It's going to have to be done the old fashioned way. When it's safe. Unless someone caves to the Thai government pressure.........................DUG

Maybe the two couples were driving, one of them decided to try and pass at high speed and someone lost control/swerved. Perhaps the second car was washed downstream or ended up at the bottom of a deep pool, blind to the air.

Either way, this case is as baffling as it is tragic.

Timing is wrong. Two weeks apart. Stories now indicate that second car ("large white object") has been located, but no location given.

Actually the Fresno County Sheriff pdf (link above) says,
"Deputies and officers found some vehicle parts in the water about 40 yards upstream from the red car. At this point, we
are unable to determine if the parts belong to the white Ford Focus."

The Ford Focus' plate was found during the red car crash investigation, but not connected to the second couple until several days later when they were reported missing.

Steve, Salty is probably referring to more recent reports like this from US News.

This has been a predictably deadly season in the front and backcountry. Sheesh.

Correct. Also, "last seen" dates on the two couples are two weeks apart. Second couple (white ford Focus) was seen August 6.

Ug, these are horrific scenes in a really beautiful area. This year seems out of control with accidents. )-: