There are places in the US that you are much more likely to disappear in without a trace. I’m not talking about the feeding grounds of Brown Bears in Alaska. I’m not talking about on the streets of some gun ridden ghetto in Chicago. I’m not talking about the Bermuda Triangle a few miles off the coast of Florida. I’m talking about 2 national parks that are popular but also dangerously likely to make you the next vanishing victim.

Popular and deadly?

According to David Paulides author of the 411 Disappearances book series, the most popular national park for attendance in the US and that’s Yosemite. Nestled in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Yosemite is a mountain climber’s paradise resplendent with waterfalls, forests, and huge rock formations. It’s also host the greatest number of missing persona of any national park in the US registry. As popular and well visited as Yosemite is it manages to claim dozens of people each year to the category of the unknown.

Able bodied victims

Hiking enthusiasts in good shape, woodsmen, law enforcement, hunters, and fishermen have all fallen prey to the unknown at Yosemite. Even Boy Scouts accustomed to camping and hiking in the wild, taught safety precautions, and closely supervised have disappeared without a trace. Even though well organized and well equipped search and rescue efforts by park rangers, sheriff’s deputies, and professional rescuers have yielded few results. Speculation that a porthole engulfs the victims capturing them into another dimension seems a plausible theory.

Why?

What are commonalities that seem to occur quite frequently in these cases? The victim is only a slight distance from others such as family or parties, this is the separation factor. A woman who strays away to take photographs maybe a hundred yards from family vanishes in moments. Even when the camera is found she is simply gone. A Boy Scout too exhausted to make it to the top of the trail is advised to take a break while the troop hikes to the top and rejoins him on their way back down, is gone forever. A veteran police officer on a weekend vacation goes for a hike and turns up missing, never to be seen again. No evidence of predation by a cougar, bear, or wolves that authorities can find. But, David Paulides does ask why federal agents assigned to investigate and keep records of these disappearances will not share their files with him.

A reoccurring factor

When asked if these disappearance maps overlap the recorded Bigfoot sightings in similar areas, David Paulides, a former law enforcement agent and detective says he is reluctant to try to relate the two as cause and effect as he researches Sasquatch sightings as well but does not feel the majority of sightings involve a threat to humans though others may debate that fact. Another similarity in disappearances besides separation is sudden adverse weather conditions which make rescue efforts difficult if not impossible. Sudden storms, heavy snow, or ice and search efforts are hampered. Strangely, it seems common place soon after a reported missing person that conditions change rapidly.

Never go alone!

Superstition Mountains just east of Phoenix, Arizona is another seeming natural paradise that most guides who take tourists on nature tours say they would never go alone on a hike into this highly unpredictable environment. The desert floor suddenly rises up into a series of mountains that cast weird shadows during the day and make quite an impression on the observer. The local Indian tribes for hundreds of years have made it a point to consider the area to be forbidden. They claim evil spirits lurk in the mountains. Is this why so many campers, prospectors, or hikers have entered never to return?

A dark secret?

To add to the mysterious dimension of the Superstition Mountains are the rumors of the lost Dutchman Mine that it is said some 600 missing persons have resulted during their quest for the lost gold. Did they fall prey to the unknown?

Was Jesse Capen ever found?

The skeleton was found 60 miles east of Phoenix on 4,892-foot Tortilla Mountain. Hikers had found a note in a metal can atop the peak that said: “Jesse Capen was here. Dec. 4, 2009.”

Grave of Jacob Waltz a pioneer who searched for the Lost Dutchman Mine.

One of many never to return from the Superstition Mountains. Remember, that as we tend to consider National Forests, nature preserves, conservation areas, or monuments to be simply nature to be enjoyed, for some it means a death warrant.