The Boot on the Road: Why Hikers Vanish Every June 10th

The Boot on the Road: Why Hikers Vanish Every June 10th

A lone size-seven hiking boot, lace neatly tied and toe pointing north, was found sitting upright in undisturbed yellow-orange dust on a locked Forest Service road with no footprints or tire marks within six feet - and it appeared during the same week a hiker vanished into the Calloway North Arm. How did that boot arrive where no one could have placed it, and what does it mean for the woman who went missing days earlier?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from Diane Simpson’s meticulous trip planning to the discovery that changed the search, following the timeline from her June 10 trail register entry to the boot photographed on June 14 - and ask whether the canyon’s history of disappearances holds the answer.

Person: Diane Simpson Date: June 10, 2019 Location: Calloway North Arm, west of the Grand Mesa Status: Missing; found sitting in dry wash for thirty-six hours Event: Boot photographed on locked Forest Service road on June 14

- Diane Simpson signed the trail register at 2:17 PM on June 10, 2019, noting “Good conditions. Headed north arm, three nights.” - She habitually called her friend Joyce every Wednesday at 10:15 PM; she missed that call the night of June 12-13. - By 12:43 AM on June 13 Joyce had called the sheriff after Diane failed to answer multiple calls. - On June 14 at 7:41 AM Eugene Hoffman photographed a single hiking boot in the middle of a padlocked road; the boot was size seven, mid-weight trail with a red gusset. - Diane was found sitting in a dry wash one mile west of the main trail, having spent more than thirty-six hours there with no water.

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