the first theory was possible toxicity, it didn’t pan out, another person noticed he consumed similar forage as prisoners in a concentration camp during WWII who developed paralysis the plant has animo acids that most people can tolerate, but then you are stressed and starved they can cause paralysis, so there is some chance he was paralyzed by the time he knew he needed to hike out. all of it is speculation though, as others have pointed out a lot of people tired to get him to turn around and he may have been trying to end his life.

stuff you learn in boy scouts when your 12. yeah… probably the best lesson I learned in boy scouts is that if you don’t want to die on a camping trip, you have enough supplies for twice the time, enough clothes for twice the time, a map, a compass, a good understanding of where every road out is, and a plan to bail out of your camp site for every hour of the day, and when medical problem 1 happens, you bail, and you bail fast, no one needs to die on a camping trip. I camped through a blizzard, I dug shelters in snow, I did a lot of crazy stuff, but I was never dangerously hungry, thirsty, injured, or in shock, and the tired old guys who only half wanted to do camp outs were the best, because they knew exactly how far was too far every time.

the national guard removed it in a training exercise, it was deemed a danger to public health as some 20+ people needed to be rescued from the site, and 2-4 people died trying to reach it. it was in a difficult area to hike to, that required crossing a river, so a lot of people who wanted to visit it didn’t have the skills to reach it and return safely.

when the doctor tells him he’s pickling his liver, then abruptly refuses to appear on camera again, that should have been a pretty serious giveaway.