I don't mean to sound flip when I say this -- because three lives are at risk or possibly already lost -- but this is almost a caricature of what not to do.

Temperatures have been ~105°-115°.

Search Continues for 'Lost Dutchman Mine' Treasure Hunters

What the article doesn't say is that two of the hikers have medical conditions, and one had to be rescued last year in the same area while hunting for the Lost Dutchman.

This could've been avoided so easily.

Can you say Darwinism?

Or Darwin Award. Not that I'm some kind of genius or something, but those guys were really really dumb about how they went about it. Hello? Phoenix does have a fall just like the rest of the country. Hello?

HJ

Either they fell out on the trail or they caught a ride into Las Vegas and are presently stinking drunk and gambling away their retirement accounts. Either way they are dead. If the buzzards don't get them their wives will.

Many people have died looking for that mine in the last 150+ years. I just don't understand why so many of them go looking for it in summer. With the known history of the place, you would think they would be more careful, and make better plans. Renting a sat phone and taking lots of water would be the minimum.

Sue

Or maybe getting rescued before would cause you to think the second time. "Communications? Nah. I won't need that."
"Food? Water? Excess baggage."
"A sharp guy like me can just figure it out as I go..."

Famous last words.

HJ

I'm real big on giving people the benefit of the doubt, as I'm sure you all realize from some of my other posts.

But I have no sympathy for this guy. He needed rescue before, and he even had someone urging him to take at least a minimum of supplies. If he didn't learn anything from that, then so be it.

This is Evolution in Action.

I'm usually a little reticient to criticize people when things go wrong in the outdoors. I wasn't there, and who knows what the situation was on the ground. What a particular individual did may have seemed reasonable at the time based on what he knew. However, in this case, this guy seems like the dumbest, most clueless guy I've ever heard of.

You've heard of the Donner party? This was the Dumber party.

HJ

I hope this was a typo, and she meant they'd die in the "heat". Dieing in a port-a-potty on a search and rescue mission would suck.

I have been in this part of Southern Arizona. This not a place to be when things go wrong. While the heat does not approach the levels of the desert outside of Phoenix (lower elevation), it is still blistering. The good thing is (I guess) the possiblity they were taken out by "interlopers" is very slim due to the proximity of Fort Huachuca. These guys remind me of the dopes in northern Maine that have gotten lost and rescused eight times in the Allagash. The same thing has happened in Alaska numerous times. Some people never learn until their light slowly dims out of existence. I hope these guys in Arizona are not extinguished; but the odds are slim. Heat, rattlesnakes, and very rugged terrain (caves) do not add up to a good outcome.