A now deleted post in the HN thread (for the Utah BLM posting) indicated it was placed by a local outdoor group in memory of someone who died. They were purportedly freaked out it had been found & were trying to get the BLM post deleted - not understanding it had gone viral.

ref: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25202573

I checked the poster's rep and he seemed like an ordinary HN geek. I'm this side of even odds, that he was being straight up with us.

edit: I see now that he seems to disavow the whole thing, toward the bottom of the thread.