Evan Tanner: Feb 11, 1971 - Sep 8, 2008
“I’ve been sitting around this apartment, bored to tears, waiting on the last of the gear I need for the desert adventure to come in the mail. I’ve really been looking forward to getting out there. It seems some MMA websites have reported on the story, posting up that I might die out in the desert, or that it might be my greatest opponent yet, etc.
Come on guys. My plan is to go out to the desert, do some camping, ride the motorcycle, and shoot some guns. Sounds like a lot of fun to me. A lot of people do it. This isn’t a version of "Into the Wild”. I’m not going out into the desert with a pair of shorts and a bowie knife, to try to live off the land. I’m going fully geared up, and I’m planning on having some fun."
Tanner had recently purchased a dirt bike, and on September 3 he rode into the desert-like region north of Brawley, California to go camping.
According to Tanner’s manager John Hayner, Tanner called that afternoon to say that his bike had run out of gas, and that he would accordingly walk back to civilization.
According to the marine search and rescue team who found his body, he was in the desert camping and while trying to return to his camp after hiking to Clapp Springs, he succumbed to elements after he drank all of his water while hiking to anticipated wet springs, only to find them dry.
He waited until nightfall, after calling friends, to attempt a quest back to his campsite where he still had water and a fully fueled motorcycle. Evan succumbed to the exposure of the elements.
He was found 2 miles from his camp after having hiked 5 miles away. Temperatures that day reached 118 degrees Fahrenheit, and friends became concerned and reported Tanner missing after he failed to contact them. His body was discovered by a Marine helicopter on September 8, and the Imperial County sheriff’s office cited heat exposure as a preliminary cause of death.
Tanner had trekked into the desert on a journey to “cleanse” himself, according to Douglas Vincitorio of Tanner’s management team. “He went out to the desert to do a ‘cleansing’ as he called it. Kind of like ‘Survivor Man.’” These short trips were not new to Tanner, said Vincitorio. It is something that he has done numerous times over the years.
On Aug. 10, Tanner wrote a blog on Spike TV’s website, proclaiming his desire to start an adventure in the desert east of his new home in Oceanside, Calif. An avid outdoorsman and wandering spirit, he wanted to escape civilization for a while.
“I’m not just going out into the desert, I’m going out into the desert to hunt for lost treasure,” he wrote. “I’m going on a pilgrimage of sorts, a journey to solitude, to do some thinking, and to pay my respects to the great mysteries.”
On Aug. 16, Tanner wrote about collecting supplies for his journey, and wrote about the dangers he might face.
“I plan on going so deep into the desert, that any failure of my equipment, could cost me my life,” he said. “I’ve been doing a great deal of research and study. I want to know all I can about where I’m going, and I want to make sure I have the best equipment.”
