Ponder,

Interesting point. Still curious to nail down which cabin they were headed to. Sorry Ponder I see you passed on information from someone who lived in Sheep Ck Cabin. Would love to hear that persons experiences.

I was certainly surprised when I read the first description about the tattoo THUG LIFE across the abdomen. Anyone know any of the other affiliations or connotations of the last three tattoos? "THUG LIFE" is somewhat self-explanatory. But the KING and the circle between right thumb and index finger--is that a gang thing? I am just going to make a guess that at the least this individual has been in the penal system at one point, most likely for a drug charge. (total stab in the dark and rumor on my part, yes).

"Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes. Hofflander has a mustache, a goatee and four scars in his left ear from previous piercings. He has had back surgery and cranial surgery, with resulting scars on his groin, along his backbone and on his forehead at the hairline. Hofflander has the following tattoos: the head of Jesus and word "SAVES" on the right side of his chest, a buffalo skull on the left side of his chest, the cartoon character Wyle E Coyote on his right bicep, an eagle on his left bicep, the words "THUG LIFE" across his abdomen, the word "KING" across his shoulder blades, and a small circle between his right thumb and index finger."

1) lost little or no weight? that would be difficult to maintain unless solid collusion on item #5
2) normal stools? dog food as opposed to natural found stuff? (berries, animal hair, plant matter, etc?)
3) see above speculation, re: thug life
4) ...? people referred to but not interviewed by LEO?
5) Family or relational conflict? business dealings? sordid personal situation?
6) drinking? drug use?

all that said, from the surface these things don't pop up really. I would imagine the hardest thing would be to deal with involved parties maintaining their stories and keeping their mouths shut. you read about a cases a lot where, someone somewhere lets something slip or mentions to a friend, be in a week or 50 years after the fact, about something this did, and that tiny bit of information comes back to get'm.

this is a morbid thought but as an avid outdoors person and climber, I have been cognizant of the fact that a simple push in a lot of locations means an exceedingly high probability of death.