Marc J. Zeitlin wrote:
For those interested, we had an experience this weekend in our COZY
MKIV when the propeller decided to proceed along a different path than
the rest of the airplane.

First, glad to hear you came out of it OK.

Second, after looking at some satellite pictures, I agree that your prop
probably landed 0.7854 km east of the exact middle of nowhere. But it
still might be worth mentioning to one of the rangers at Joshua Tree.
He or she may well confirm that nobody actually goes to that area, but
you never know. That might be the location of the secret air-conditioned
cabin where the rangers go to drink beer when they are tired of dealing
with tourists. Or maybe they know of a group planning to hike through
that area and could ask them to keep an eye out. The hikers may not be
able to schlep the prop back out, but they might be able to provide co-
ordinates and maybe a digital photo of the hub.

Also, on the satellite photos, there appears to be a large strip mine
just southeast of the red square you put on the map, outside the park
boundary. It looks somewhat disused in the photos, and a little
Googling says it was an iron mine run by Kaiser and shut down in the
early 1980s. There is now apparently a privately-run prison there.
It may be too far southeast, but that might be another place to ask
about your prop.

I realize that both of these ideas are long shots, but you never know.
It might help answer the question of why your prop left.

Matt Roberds