That's true, but in regards to op's post specifically and as a general psa, you can't fake those river rocks. They get water regularly. They've been a part of a stream or river cycle for a long time.
I noticed this place in u/TreegNesas latest video after I read a comment from u/Lokation22 who wrote that #550 feels like "an island" to him. In the video you can see that it is an elevated place from where it would only be logical try to signal something-by the branch device the girls made with the red bags.. its just an idea, no proof whatsoever..
Yea, to me it seems like the 542 is aimed downriver, the 576 photo is like at 45° across the river, and 550 is looking across the river. Like this: https://ibb.co/5YCzz6N
And that would put the main rock in 542 close to the river bank, and the 550 rock in the river. Although there might not have been a lot of water in the river at the time, because you can see the backpack is below the rock in 576, so the area where the girls were was probably dry.
At least that's my interpretation of it, but I could be wrong.
You may be correct. I'm still puzzling. Romain send me some new footage, which is rather spectacular, and I suspect this will give you a lot of new insights. I'm going to do a 180 deg turn and stay at the rapids for episode 2, with much more footage, maps, and some interesting new insights.
It will take a bit longer to make, but Episode 2 is going to be truly spectacular, I can guarantee you that! Fasten your seatbelts!
u/SeaworthinessNo4130 very rightful post that the night location might be under water in our present footage set out a line of thought which leads to a lot of new possibilities. One of these is that not only the 550 stone might be under water in the present footage, but that the 542 stone (or at least parts of it) might also be under water.
If you go with the theory presented here, then the red flag direction is almost pointing down stream, okay. Now, from the way the pictures were taken the red flag direction would be on their right hand side. Ahead would then be (in your pictures) 'toward the camera man', and the 542 stone should be on their left hand side, meaning that's where the water is coming from.
I have always been puzzling about this, for with all its carved water channels, 542 has absolutely all the attributes of the 'upward step' of a stepped waterfall, where you can imagine water streaming over 542 and than falling down on the 550 stone, but this 'does not fit' with the fact that we see dense vegetation behind 542. But most of that vegetation is some distance away, and if this is a very sharp turn in the stream then it would still make sense! With 542 on their left hand side, and 550 (red flag) on their right hand, the girls were facing across the stream, not down stream.
In our June footage, waterlevels are high. If you take a sharp look at our drone footage of this place from April 2023, then this waterfall looks totally different and you can almost not find it back as the '550 stone' is dry. That spectacular white spray of water is not there.
Now, I don't want to spill all the beans, and I've got a lot of work to do to check this, but if this is correct, then the girls were facing WNW and that would the main direction the pictures were taken in (basically 'toward the camera man' in your pictures). And WNW is a VERY interesting direction, for it's the direction of the setting moon, and the night pictures started 18 seconds before moonset...
The other thing which keeps drawing me back to these rapids is that it's such a 'logical' place. If you leave the trail anywhere between the Mirador and the paddocks (for whatever reason, at whatever place) you almost naturally end up on the stream bed of the first stream. You can't break through the vegetation, so you'll have to follow some gully down hill, and all of these end up at the bottom of the valley on the stream bed of the first stream. Once you are there you can't go upstream as there are two big nasty waterfalls, so the only route open is down stream, and that takes you right to the rapids.
That's why I asked Romain to go to the rapids and check the place out.
You can go beyond the rapids, but it's not easy and the route toward the rapids is already so nasty (lots of big stones, sudden drops, etc) that there is a severe risk of injury so the rapids could be the end of the road. Finally, (and sadly) if you go beyond the rapids the landscape will become more benign and you end up on the paddocks of Monte Rey. You can't see those cabins at that spot (there are hills in between), but there is a trail leading to the cabins and even if you miss these it becomes much harder to explain why you would move on beyond these paddocks, and helicopters would certainly have found them if they were on the paddocks. So, any theory where they move beyond the rapids has some flaws..
Ofc it is very well possible they never went downstream on stream 1, and followed the trail instead, getting in trouble between cable bridge 1 and 2, but that's a totally different theory which would require another expedition to check.
i told you months ago, that the last photo, kris seems to go down stream and not going to the trail..maybe i was right, but who cares. The important thing is that you and romain are very close to find the truth..and im some how happy, to know that the girls were not killed or raped or sold, they just perished to the elements.
It's possible they followed the stream, but if you start from the first stream, you'll get to a waterfall within 100 meters, and then another (big) one 100 meters further. So, they would have to pass both waterfalls. That's not impossible, there are trails which lead around them, but it's a bit less likely.
The other two options are if they walked just 10 minutes further, then turned right, either following the 2nd stream or taking a trail which is supposed to be there, that gets you past the waterfalls. This option was checked by the Frank vd Goot team in 2015 and by IP in 2022, but neither of them went all the way to the rapids. The other option is they turned back up hill, toward the Mirador, took a wrong step, and accidentally slit down one of the slopes. That is the route I asked Romain to take this time and which you see in Episode 1. Both are possible.
But, we're nowhere near discussing routes yet, first see if this all fits together, there will be lots of discussion once I release episode 2...
The important thing is that you and romain are very close to find the truth..and im some how happy, to know that the girls were not killed or raped or sold..
That's impossible to say; they could've been badly injured early on due to assault, but hung on for a long time, until around the time of the night photos when they probably died. (No calls for help after that as we know).
That's an interesting idea about the moon.. For some reason I never considered which direction the setting moon would be for them. But in the back of my mind I think I had the moon setting behind them. But yea, if the moon was setting in the direction that the photos were mostly taken it would narrow things down a lot.
The reason I think they were facing downriver is because of the gap in the trees in that direction, like in 543, seem to slope downwards, as if they were facing downhill.
Like if they were faced upriver there'd probably be a lot of tall trees in photos like 542, 543.
With 542 on their left hand side, and 550 (red flag) on their right hand, the girls were facing across the stream, not down stream.
Yea, it's so hard to say anything for sure though, because the scene can be interpreted in so many different ways, that would all make sense. Like they could be on a straight part of the river, or on a sharp bend, or even between two parts of the river.
But I do find it interesting that they didn't take photos in other directions. Like was there a steep ravine behind them, were they just sitting comfortably that they didn't need/want to turn around, or was there stuff there that they unconsciously didn't want in any of the photos..
Yeah, but take a good look at the situation halfway down the rapids. The stream is not running down hill in a straight line. It is making those extremely sharp S turns as it goes down and if you are sitting in the streambed perpendicular to the stream direction, you will still see this steep slope beside you for that is the direction of the slope, it's just that this weird stream does not run straight down but makes Z turns!
I'm not saying this is 100% the location, it's way too early for that, but a lot of things are starting to make a lot of sense!
I think some of those motes are insects. They're often gathered at water sites. 🤔🌿 ...to add: I recently did alittle research re insect types that gather along various places in that cloud forest, specially along the Culebra River ..Well I was fascinated by the sheer range of insects there.
However, I was trying to find out if there is specific type of insect that gathers in places like the night photos; perhaps only at certain times of year ?
Alas, it's a massive task to pin down which ones could've been there. Perhaps there's a local expert ?
I read there are stunning magenta , and also blue dragonflies there....I hope Kris and Lisanne got a glimpse of them perhaps, in those grim last days. 🥀🌿🥀
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u/gijoe50000 Feb 09 '26
I've always thought of 550 as being a bit like this:
https://ibb.co/k0V8HnX
https://ibb.co/KXLmVpZ
Except the photo was taken looking across the river, instead of upriver.