I think they're watching it on FOX, I just turned it on.
It should be pretty evident if he was wearing the pants when they were lost.
Perhaps he took extra clothing with him (they were on a trip) and starting leaving pieces behind so that either a)he could find his way back to the car or b)if the car is found he's left a trail behind him. Or he wore one pair of pants, they got wet, and then he switched to another pair he'd kept dry.
As a fellow thirty something nerd with a family I'm pulling for this guy. By all accounts he's a smart fellow so I'm going to remain cautiously optimistic as long as possible.
I would hang onto hope until he is found....one way or the other.
However, finding his pants is not necessarily a good sign.
Some folks, when suffering from hypothermia, and all that comes from being lost, commonly begin to strip off their clothing. They become delirious and their body is shutting down, but they feel warm.
Panic also causes people to do strange things, such as a SCUBA diver that gets hung up in kelp and instead of thinking and cutting his way out, he rips off his mask, gets hung up even worse and dies with lots of air in his tank.
I do want you to be right. I hope he had extra pants and is found very soon.
We are all pulling for the guy.
Hopefully, the searchers will find him soon.