Reply #41: That area is huge.

[Xithras]

I'm not surpised that the burning tires weren't spotted...the original search area covered hundreds of square miles and there were only a couple of helicopters searching. They'd missed a turn and weren't on the main road anymore, so searchers weren't even looking in their direction at first.

As for starting a fire with downed wood...that part of Oregon is fairly damp all year, and especially this time of year. They would be extremely lucky to find wood dry enough to burn, and keeping it going for 9 days would have been nearly impossible.

Had I been them, I would have only done two things differently. I would have set out AS A GROUP back in the direction I came, and I would have set the car on fire as I was leaving (the amount of smoke released from an uncontrolled car fire is incredible).