Mysterious death of couple, their dog, and their baby near Yosemite could be due toxic algae

[gut]

Outside chance theory:

Carbon dioxide, rather than carbon monoxide?

In Mammoth Lakes, which isn't too far from Hite Cove as the crow flies, there are areas where large amounts of CO2 come out of the ground, due to volcanic activity.

This can kill a human being (and animals) quickly. A 58-year-old man died there from massiv carbon dioxide exposure in 1998.

Here's a 2006 LA Times article about it: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...ks8-story.html

Indeed, when I visited Horseshoe Lake (in Mammoth) some years ago, I saw a sign warning about the carbon dioxide risk.

Maybe there's some sort of geological activity there which they previous didn't know about, and it belched out a bunch of CO2, killing them?

Not likely, but perhaps possible.

The first thing that really struck me about this story was the question of "Who the fuck takes a baby for a hike in 107 degree weather?" Thats borderline child abuse.

But speaking of the weather, I'm guessing that will likely be the biggest underlying condition with the deaths. Probably was the algae, but if it was November and 58 degrees they probably make it out. When you are bordering on heat stroke, I would imagine that the effects of any poison you ingest would be amplified.