In case you all haven’t noticed, I am choosing to let the plot line (or what passes for one) simmer before I weigh in… As futile as it would be to ram heads (see below) I am continuing to post, just not as often…
The “map?” You mean the drawing that is representative of some vague geographic features, now being mistaken for a detailed and trustworthy topographic treatment of the area?
Doc, please… that was decades ago, old man. Although as memory issues start to creep in, it’s often the case that the oldest memories burn brightest while you try to remember what you had for breakfast an hour ago… And while Mark and Leola are keeping their own counsel (snickering??) is looks like JJ is reading the Sunday sports page.
It’s Doc blowing his nose! What?!
The Daily Trail 
JJ is the worst guide in the Sonora desert. Any Tenderfoot Boy Scout knows the sound of a sidewinder rattlesnake when they hear it.
Any “surviving” Boy Scout, that is!
You know, even going back to the episode on the cabin’s porch where Doc relates his story to Mark and Cherry, one has to wonder how dense Doc and his friends where, that they naively left the “cave” without taking their own share of the told that the stranger promised them right then and there.
As for the location, what happened to the steep drainage and twisted rocks and pillars that Doc said were passed along the way? Seems like those landmarks should have been front and center in this search. Instead, they haven’t even been mentioned.
Agree with you about the map – granted it was just a detail in a comic strip, but it looked like it was drawn by a grade school student.