Hite's Cove on the S Fork of the Merced River isn't far from YNP and no doubt has it's share of rattlers, pumas, and both chemically and genetically altered weirdos, however the danger apparently is from Has-Mat as this very sad and tragic story seems to indicate.
Something to do with old mines? I don't know but do be cautious is your photographic travels take you to this area!
https://www.foxnews.com/us/californi...te-hiking-area
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
That is very bizarre. If they died in a mine that seems explainable by CO or CO2, but out in open country would be a different story and very strange indeed.
Could have eaten wild mushrooms, either around there or in something en route. Autopsies should weed out the wild theories. Mushroom poisoning leads to a lot of stomach bleeding. It always amazes me just how nonchalant even people on trails around here are about picking mushrooms in an uninformed manner. Over in Oakhurst, I remember when an entire family died within two hours of a salad with freshly picked Amanita "death angel" mushrooms in them. I'm going to turn on Channel 4 right now.
The side streams would be running dry this time of year, so it's unlikely they died from drinking toxic water, especially so close to the car. I've gotten some nice shots around there.
Doesn’t explain the dead dog.Originally Posted by Drew Wiley
In the late 1800s my distant relatives held a large family reunion in Poland. Handed down story goes that around 2 dozen of them died from eating poison mushrooms that were in a side dish. On the other end of the spectrum, in the 1970s I had an uncle who loved to pick and eat wild mushrooms, but only after completing 2 courses in the picking and consuming of wild mushrooms. When foraging for them with him one afternoon in the woods of Massachusetts, he wouldn't even let me pick a single mushroom before he inspected it. As Drew stated, "how nonchalant even people on trails around here are about picking mushrooms in an uninformed manner"... same goes for here in New England. One time came across a pair of hikers who were snacking on wild mushrooms. I ask them if they knew what they were doing. Reply was something like that you just don't eat the orange ones because those are the ones that could be poisonous!
Yikes!
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
Wow!!! That is sad news for sure. That just sounds aweful for their family waiting for them to come home.
Certainly bizarre and not what you would think of when out in that direction.
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Quite frightening and sad. No signs of trauma.
Like Drew, I'm thinking it was something ingested.
An updated report says the trailhead has a sign warning of toxic algae in the river.
Here's an image of the four victims, all so healthy looking:
Drinking out of the main River would be nuts, but would more likely involve giardia or e-Coli infection, and take a few days to produce sickness.
If this is a case of drinking bad water, I'd agree that one can rule out giardia or e-coli since they're slow acting.
Blue-green algae, by contrast, is speedy. Maybe 3 or 4 hours after ingesting for symptoms to appear.
Make that very nasty GI symptoms. People and dogs.
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