We have entered October which means I get a little on the spooky side. What it looks like is going to happen is I will officially start my "Ghosts of the Past" Halloween series later this month. I have some commitments I have to keep so I do not want to start anything until those are taken care of. So, I kind of look at this blog entry as a prelude to what I will be doing. However, I want to make it clear that what I am showing here deals with real world unsolved mysteries that friends and families are still seeking closure to. So, I am going to be sensitive, serious, and matter of fact about how I explain this one.
Back in August, 2005 my brother and I had just completed two major mountain scrambles that either border Yosemite or are in it. We were very excited, came home, and I was looking at the local Eastern Sierra news. I noticed that a woman, Nita Mayo, from Hawthrone, NV had gone missing during the days I was doing those hikes. Her car was parked at Donnell Vista past Sonora Pass on HWY 108. I remember some special searches the locals did up until the winter. Over the years I have checked into anything that was said about this since she was never found.
Then in 2014 another woman, Patricia Tolhurst, went missing and again her car was found parked at Donnell Vista. Then in 2016, Breck Phelps, was fishing nearby and his car was found about 1/4 mile from Donnell Vista. None of these people have been found. I will link a few articles that go into more detail below.
Donnell Vista has become a very mysterious place to me. I had all these ideas in my head of how the place should look like and how isolated it must be. If I ever went to this place, should I bring weapons? Two years ago in October I decided to make a visit just to see what the place is like. No, I did not bring any weapons.
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There is a major elevation drop off and you can see Donnell Vista lake below.  |
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This is part of the parking lot. It goes into a circle from the main highway. If you look carefully you can see the rest rooms in the middle of the picture.  The rest rooms. The paper that shows Nita Mayo as missing is the middle there and can be seen in my video. Interesting enough, another person that went missing a month before I visited and is still missing was listed right next to her, but that was somewhere in Yosemite. Many people have gone missing there to never to be found. Let me give my assessment before I link my video and some of the articles I have seen. This area is isolated, but not as isolated as other places I have been at. There were a bunch of cars parked, families walking around the trail, and I never got the feeling I was ever really alone there. Lots of cars passed by as well, and there are campsites a few miles in each direction. So it was not as isolated as I had imaged it would be. Keep in mind this was in October in middle of the day. I am not sure what it is like during other times in the year or earlier or later in the day. Yeah, the terrain is one that if you make a few mistakes you might not be found for a long time. Yet, it is hard to imagine not being found eventually over a period of time. This is puzzling. So, my conclusion is that in at least one of these cases foul play probably happened. I do not know enough about each case other than what I have seen on the internet and newspapers. So, I do not want to say anymore than that. If you follow this blog you know I always say something like, "nature does not play by rules." Well, when you are travelling in isolated areas that same idea applies. You need to be prepared for not only nature, but people you could encounter. 99.999% of people are good and helpful, but there is always that tiny % you just do not know about. The video covers what I showed here, but I also used the opportunity to show some of the terrain one encounters in clips back to Sonora Pass: Some articles: |
