Firefighter chases dog and both are missing 411?

a reply to: Lipton

Would the area support that type of gardening? Large scale anyway?

Here's what I was able to find in the past concerning
Los Padres.
ATS
Monterey Hereld
And I'll list some Bigfoot sightings. next.
Above Top Secret

originally posted by: Witness2008
a reply to: Lipton

Would the area support that type of gardening? Large scale anyway?

Yes.

Reported June 17, 2014 Nearly 28,000 Marijuana Plants Removed From Los Padres National Forest

Bust happened on the 12JUN

Imagine how much more vigilant growers in the area would be after this large-scale bust.

Los Padres National Forest is a cluster zone for Disappearances...

Snake bite, spider bite or just about any other kind of wildlife could've injured and kille dhim quite easily. I heard he was barefoot too, which isn't wise in that environment. Could even have been quicksand but I'm sure he knows how to get out of that, unless he was delirious from venom of some sort.

a reply to: abeverage

It's also a huge area of wilderness, like the rest of the above clusters.

What seems more plausible, that someone gets eaten, falls in to hole, gets kidnapped or drowns and sinks...or aliens?

originally posted by: randyvs
Here's what I was able to find in the past concerning
Los Padres.
ATS
Monterey Hereld
And I'll list some Bigfoot sightings. next.
Above Top Secret

The cases that you linked have been resolved as suicides.

The case of the bodies found in the tent...
www.edhat.com...

And then that of the missing women...
www.montereyherald.com... (the second update in the link)

It seems that someone has come up with a novel idea as to possibly finding the dog. The sound of a harmonica causes the pooch to howl.

Meanwhile, I wonder if searchers found that harmonica they were desperately looking for late yesterday. Apparently Duke the Dog has either an affinity for the instrument or a deep loathing of it. Either way, his reaction to the sound of the harmonica is to howl. Loudly. Searchers hope that if someone plays the harmonica, Duke will respond with a howl loud enough to locate him.

www.myfoxla.com...

originally posted by: Lipton
a reply to: abeverage

It's also a huge area of wilderness, like the rest of the above clusters.

What seems more plausible, that someone gets eaten, falls in to hole, gets kidnapped or drowns and sinks...or aliens?

Who said anything about aliens? The cluster zones are not what you think. They have to meet certain odd circumstances not just a disappearance while someone is hiking, they are typically close by and suddenly go missing and barefoot is also odd to me as how far off would you go without shoes?

Investigation in National Parks is also difficult...

a reply to: Witness2008

The Sasquatch reports are bountiful.

What an odd story.

Just my opinion, as someone who worked for nearly 15 years for the forest service in the backcountry, his outdoor decision-making skills weren't that great, if he headed after the dog without boots, water, flashlight...

The original story of it taking two days for his buddy to hike out was weird, too. It was only 15 miles, and a good majority of that was downhill--that's 5 hours, for the slowest hiker. But then I read this KTLA article, which clarifies that his friend spent 2 days looking for Herdman before he hiked out for help.

My first thought was that he ran into an illegal grow. We (forest service) regularly had our tires slashed on vehicles left at the trailhead, found booby traps near plots, etc. Those folks can be ugly.
Or he got a rattlesnake bite, or maybe a scorpion sting, neither are usually fatal if you keep your heart rate low and get help. But it depends on wear you receive the venom, if you are dehydrated, etc.

One of the searchers was bitten by a rattlesnake today, and 2 others had leg injuries yesterday.

Two searchers received leg injuries Wednesday while hiking in rugged terrain, and on another team member was bitten by a rattlesnake and taken to the hospital on Thursday.

Hope they locate him soon.

originally posted by: Jukiodone

I hate to think how many animals might take/move human clothing for other such uses in a big a forest...

Deer! They are notorious for stealing t-shirts to suck the salt out of them from your sweat.

I've enjoyed the many theories being bounced around here, but you've all missed something absolutely glaringly obvious. Quite possibly we're not seeing the wood because of the trees.

From the article in the OP...

His friend said Herdman was barefoot and wearing only shorts and a T-shirt when he ran after the dog when it took off unexpectedly Friday night from their campsite.

Now, can anybody tell me the headline of the article in the OP?

"Search for missing firefighter narrows after backpack, footprints found"

Why was his backpack not back at the camp? His friend clearly stated what he was wearing when he bolted "after the dog." And, speaking for myself, if I was so worried about my faithful companion that I was prepared to go dashing over treacherous ground barefoot to get him back, I don't think I'd stop to grab my backpack unless I was grabbing shoes.

And let's just think one second... What was it about his dog running off that made him feel the need to go after it? I mean, when I had a dog I used to walk him in woods, fields or beaches all the time. 99% of those times he'd be out of sight almost the same second his lead came off. I didn't worry about him. He'd go crazy for a couple minutes then come back to me to play.

Looking at this, I'd have to say I see a lot of reasons TC has linked this disappearance to those in Missing 411. A lot of the people in those books for some reason are found without shoes, or only their shoes are found (indicating they've been removed). Here we have someone who is already without shoes, and therefore vulnerable because (as Paulides believes) if you want to reduce the distance someone in the forest can easily get to, taking their shoes is an easy way to do that. The ground's treacherous, wet and cold. Without shoes it will be extremely difficult to move quickly or easily anywhere.
And keeping that in mind, why did he run off with no shoes? Whether he's an experienced hiker or not is irrelevant. I'm not an experienced hiker, but common sense tells me that going through the woods barefoot is a stupid idea! It takes, what, 30 seconds to lace a pair on? The firefighter's behaviour is reminiscent of a couple cases from the books. Off the top of my head, I recall a lady who said she was heading back to her car, and just stared at her friends when they were shouting to her, before walking off. With her dog. A middle aged man (who, ironically, was part of an SAR team) just standing up after a day's search and walking off. He was looked for within minutes but couldn't be located.
And quite a few cases in the books echo this one in an even more ominous way, albeit they usually involve kids. Several cases involve family pets going missing sometime before the person. Usually, that person is out looking for the pet when they don't come back. Several days later, the pet will return and usually is dry, fed and watered. One dog was so recently fed it turned away food! Usually those dogs will never return to the body of the owner, and can't be coerced into leading teams back.

I think I'll be watching this pretty closely. randyvs, is there any word on what the weather was like after the incident? Report say's survivable, but what's survivable for me isn't what's survivable for you!

I got the impression the pack back was at the camp site.

a reply to: JackofBlades

I don't see where anyone else has touched on this anywhere?
But I'll respond to your excellent post like this.

The day Herdman went missing was friday the 13th.

Under a full moon even.

originally posted by: randyvs
a reply to: Witness2008

The Sasquatch reports are bountiful.

I was reading of the Sasquatch accounts, you're right, there are a lot of them. Amazing what lurks around out there that we are still in denial over.

Sending Herdman my better vibes.

originally posted by: randyvs
a reply to: roadgravel

How about quicksand?

I think that would be possible. The dog and the firefighter were last known to have entered a creek bed from the footsteps and trails left. Usually a creek-bed is actually the roof layer of an underground water system. So maybe there is somewhere that he and/or the dog could have fallen down.

Wish the time he left the camp was mentioned. I am going to guess there was still some light since camp was being set up.

a reply to: randyvs

I was just reading some articles a couple of days ago about how so many go missing or just seem to vanish in National Parks. It makes me wonder where they all go.

The dog has been found.

abc7.com...

I'm concerned that the dog was not near Herdman.

a reply to: Witness2008

Great news! Now find this guy alive and put us all in the LOL
forum!

a reply to: Witness2008

The dog has been found.

...and lost again.