In January, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Tom Knudson of the Sacramento Bee contacted Riverside Sheriff’s Office looking to speak with someone about the Death Valley Germans case as he was writing a story on the hazards of backcountry travel.  RSO contacted me, and I put Knudson in touch with Tom Mahood.

After some back and forth emails, Tom K. flew down to Ontario and met Tom M., Pete Carlson, and myself for a hike in Joshua Tree.  (This was one of the many, many, hikes in JT searching for the remains of Bill Ewasko, but that’s a story for another post.)  We three locals met up at the usual spot – Carrows in Banning – and carpooled to the Quail Springs Trailhead where we met Tom K.

 

We hiked into Johnny Lang Canyon, up to Lang Mine, then searched the steep, rugged, area to the southwest of the mine down into the canyon bottom.  Tom M., apparently not sensing that it would be bad luck killing a well-known journalist, gave Tom K. a search assignment like any of the rest of us and, for a while anyway, we thought we might have lost him.  Tom K. proved harder to kill than we had imagined, however, and he sat us all down at a rest point on the hike out and interviewed us for his article.

Tom K. proved to be a very cool guy.  He has an interesting variety of personal interests and is knowledgable in many areas, being an avid outdoorsman himself.  We were a little worried at first as he carried little water on the hike.  Lots of camera gear, multiple cameras and lenses in fact, but not a lot of water.  I had been hoping he might use one of my photos, but he took lots himself, taking so many of Tom M., in fact, that I thought Tom M. was going to swat the camera away at one point.

Tom K’s piece was featured, above-the-fold, in the Sac Bee on January 30th.  It included a photo of Tom M. and I from behind, staring south across Lang Canyon into the rugged terrain in JT National Park.  My ass made famous!  Tom K was kind enough to provide me a copy of the (in)famous photo.

Note:   As of February, 2013, Tom K’s article is featured as part of a video display on backcountry safety at the Furnace Creek Visitor’s Center in DVNP.