So what do you think happend? Post here what your thinking happend to Ron.

Please try to base this on facts. And remember his famiy is reading this too.
Thanks:

Given several facts we are pretty sure of, he sent some texts around 9-10am, he talked to his neighbor around noon, then his last cell phone ping off Bonnie Springs was 12:55pm. Ron lived on the east side of town so that would be consistent with him driving to Calico Basin and turning his cell phone off before his hike. That gives him not much more than 4 hours of daylight.

My theory is he went up something close by to where he parked, like Kraft and darkness caught up with him and he took a fall.

Hi, in the home video Darrell posted of Ron playing with the little boy, he mentioned that he's been working his upperbody (arms), is there anywhere particular he might have stopped to do chin-ups? pull-ups? just throwing an idea out there. good luck, God Bless all of you.

Any chance Ron was scheduled to hare a Hash in the area? If he was scouting trail, that would give us some idea of how far and how difficult a route he was planning.

@ Bob HHH; I think that is possible based on a limited conversation I had with a young lady from Pahrump that hashed with Ron and said they were always different.
I gave her a ride up to the lower brown stone search last Saturday.
Hopefully she's on here or the FB page and can describe the variety of Hash's they all did.
I can't remember her name at the moment , just that she was from Pahrump.

Hope that helps.

I would expect a typical weekend Hash run to be a loop trail taking around 2 hours at a jogging pace. This could be anywhere from 2 to 8 miles in length, depending upon the terrain. It could include C2 and even some C3, but not much more technical than that. [The goal is to have fun (and then beer), not to die on trail.] If he was scouting for a Hash Trail which would start and end where his Jeep was found, then he probably didn't plan on getting more than 3 or 4 miles away from his start at most. For an A to B trail he could be double that distance, but it would have to end at a point suitable for carpooling back to the start. [For fellow hashers reading this, I know that there are no rules and anything is possible. Just relating the typical scenarios.] I'm guessing he got into trouble within a few miles of his jeep. If he was trying to create a loop trail, including some unfamiliar territory, he could have run into some impassable areas which delayed him past sunset, after which the dangerous areas might not have been so obvious.

OK, I see that someone posted on FB that typical Hash Trails in the area are more likely to be A2B trails. [Starts at point A, ends elsewhere at point B]. This opens up the search area (still same length of trail, but the effective search radius is doubled since no need to double back) if you believe that Ron was scouting trail. [We have not established that that is the case.] I am wondering if this makes sense since Ron seems to have gotten a late start and only had a few hours until sunset. Unless he had a destination in mind where he could catch an easy ride back to his Jeep, I still feel that he is likely within a few miles of the Jeep.

I am about to hit the road, driving out from LA. Plan to be in the area tonight, staying at the La Quinta on Nellis Blvd. Expect to be among the rocks tomorrow. Anybody want to join up - post local contact info. [I'm not on FB, but I try to watch the posts.]

On On, BobHHH