In standard Mark Trail fashion, details and explanations get tossed aside as we jump directly into the epilog of this “adventure.”  A shame that it turned out to be frustrating in several ways:

For starters, our mystery camper is not Tadd (or Tad?) Crass, but some fanboy, whose name we never learned.

Second, we get no information on how or why this person wound up here. How was it possible for him to get lost in the first place?  Even an ambulance was able to find the location without the apparent convenience of a road or address!

Was he really just under some mental duress? We never learned what is wrong with this fellow.

Next, we never learn why he was hiding in the shrubs. Was he being pursued? If he was lost, why wasn’t he at least in the open shouting for help or setting out signs for planes that pass overhead? Why not just hiking along a path until he finds something or someone?

Next, what did the horsehead mask have to do with him or the camping trip, other than act as a reference to Tadd Crass’s old TV show? From a plot standpoint, I reckon it was there to help Rusty make a connection and give him something decent to do for a change.

Finally, what was the point of this adventure? It wasn’t just to make that X-Files reference in panel 4, was it? That fellow could have had a very interesting backstory to tell us, leading up to this moment. What was the actual reason for the Tadd Crass details?

This could have just been a search for a lost camper. So having the Tadd Crass tie-in could add more interest if that part of the story was allowed to play out. Perhaps this “ending” is another red herring and the story will continue with Mark (once again) visiting somebody in the hospital to hear their story.