2000
TRIP REPORTS
April Red Flag
Left out of the Southern California craze, with a
potential, new member. This new member, (who's report is pending),
has had a desire to scury off to the desolation of the desert, for
many years. Timing is everything, and this was the week.
Red Flag was in it's first week. Arrived in Tikaboo Valley as the sun
was rising. It is always a beautiful sight. Made our way to the secret
Groom Lake Audubon Society* camping location. Began setting up camp,
and make our first meal.
At approx. 9am, (give or take a 1/2 hour), saw the most remarkable
thing. Especially to the trained observer of this area.
A light single-engine Cessna was making it's way southeast, through
Sand Spring Valley, following hwy375, at about 3000' above ground
level(AGL). This would put the Cessna at about 8000' mean sea level
elevation(MSL). The path of the aircraft kept it at approx. 15 miles
from the "Box" of restricted airspace. I tuned a scanner to
Nellis Control at 124.45, and could here the controller giving vectors
to this "Intruder", obviously keeping him 'on track'.
This whole episode was a bit surreal, when you consider that it was the
middle of the week, in an active MOA(Military Operation Area), during
RED FLAG. Whoever this guy was, he had guts. I'm a pilot now, and I
know that it is not such a safe thing to do, as to fly a private, slow
moving, piston aircraft, into this particular MOA, ESPECIALLY during
Red Flag!!
For what it's worth, the guy wasn't doing anything wrong. And, he must
have had a pretty good view of Groom.
Minutes after the aircraft was out of sight, F-16's poured into the
valley. Some as low as 1000', heading off to Queens Summit Pass.
Finished breakfast, and scooted off to talk to the folks at the
Research Center. Exchanged a little intelligence and went to re-con the
first day of play.
Railroad Valley was active as usual, however, possibly due to it being
the first week of Red Flag, there was a limited number of aircraft,
this day. Maybe we were just in the wrong place. It does happen.
One note, though, was a number of low level-high speed fly-by's, by
the F-16's that were there. It made for big smiles, from both myself
and our, (yet-to-be-named) new member. I believe "giddy"
would sum it up.
Day 2.......Decided to hunt down Andies Mine, and see what we could
see in the "Gap". If you ever head off to "hunt down
UFO's and Aliens" in the Groom Lake area, don't forget the
"Gap". This is the low area between the Groom Range and
Andie's Mine (See the Viewer Guide). I have seen everything from
Chinook helicopters to B-2 bombers, fly down though the
"Gap" while transiting Tikaboo and Sand Springs. It is
quite a sight to stand on the hilltops and watch an aircraft pass at
eye level, or below, at full throttle.
As we departed the "Gap", two Chinooks were making there way
in. Moments later, 4 F-16's halled out at just over 500' passing
directly overhead, and creating quite a noise. ...I believe the
Wingman of the last group waved.
Who Is The BOTHEN SPY
Sun. June 25, 2000
Met Don from the research center in Alamo at
9:00 AM and asked if I could roll with him cause I didn't trust my car
to make it to Tikaboo. I have heard the stories about Mark Farmer
renting sports cars and driving to Tikaboo even on the high clearance
last leg portion of the
journey. I decided to play it safe though, resisting what little urge
I had to compete with the legendary Agent X.
I hopped in his truck, which sports an Area-51
research center emblem on the door and we were off. We went down
highway 93 a few miles passing Pahranagat lake (which one day if I'm
lucky I may learn how to pronounce, despite Don's best tutoring
efforts) which can be a surprise for a first time visitor, considering
how out of place it looks with grassland and it's many different
varieties of animals. Much different from 375 , if a first time
visitor is surprised there it is more than likely a surprise of a
different kind...The cattle! If they don't hit one then that would be
about the time they start thinking about the great idea the guys in
the movie Top secret had.
Just passed a nice shaded area that even
offers a park bench we arrived at our turning off point. It would seem
to most people that to drive past the gate and on to the dirt road
would be trespassing onto the wild life refuge land, but the road is
actually on B.L.M. land. We then proceeded further leaving "out
in the middle of nowhere" and upgraded to "no mans
land" (classification chart available by demand). On the way Don
happily told me many stories.
After over 20 miles of off road driving we
finally reached our destination and we began the 2 and a half hour
accent towards our final goal. On the way up we saw a helicopter
hovering over the 2 devices on Badger for about 10 minutes, what was
funny about this was that it was a civilian helicopter; but it
probably had military personnel aboard. Don snapped away with his
camera.
It was a perfect day to view the base, nice and sunny with no cloud
cover; as we neared the top I began to get excited as portions of the
base began to show itself. This was going to be my first live viewing
of the base. I have been to the area many times, but never to Tikaboo.
I wished I made it to Freedom Ridge and White Sides before the
Government withdrew the land.
Then at around 1pm we made our final accent
and reached the top. I caught my breath and opened my pack to take a
look threw my spy scope. The only facilities I was able to spot were
Hanger 18, the 4 large Hangers at the north end of the base (Peter
Merlin's map, Hangers 4-7, the former home of the 4477th test and
evaluation squadron, the Red Hats), and the rumored engineering
complex (building 299, Merlin's map) according to a leaked security
manual this building contains an intelligence vault inside.
I was kind of disappointed with the view of
the base, but for 26 miles I think my expectations were too high. The
overall view was spectacular though, I could see all of Tikaboo valley
and Groom Lake road. I could see the Medlin ranch and even part of
highway 375. Don pointed out bombing range 61 to me and told me that's
what Jim Wilson really drove to the border of when he thought he was
on Groom Lake road. We scanned the valley for Cammo dudes to spy on,
but none were in sight. I did hear plenty of activity on Cammo dude
frequencies, encrypted of course.
After our initial inspection I busted out my ceremonial M.R.E. and
began to prepare it. When I found out the Interceptors ate M.R.E.'S on
their trips I began to eat them too so I could be cool like them. I
thought maybe if the Army made a commercial with the Interceptors
reminiscent of the Michael Jordan Gatoraid commercial , advertising
M.R.E's it may boost sales.
As we talked over the next few hours Don
shared some interesting stories with me. He even told me there were a
few Stealth Bombers stationed at Groom; but as much as we wanted to
see activity from the base, we never saw any.
Around 4PM we started back down . I was still
happy to see the base for the first time and was happy that I finally
hooked up with somebody as crazy as I was to go with. I learned 2
important things on my trip that day
1.You can never bring
enough water on the hike with you.
2.If you plan a trip
to Tikaboo, go on a weekday so at least you'll see a Janet.
The Bothan Spy
The LEARNING CHANNEL & TIKABOO
June 28th, '00
Don Emory, of the Area51 Research Center (Rachel Office), asked if I
would help escort a film crew up to Tikaboo Peak. It seems TLC needed
some fresh perspectives on the GROOM LAKE / AREA 51 / ALIEN ABDUCTION
angle, for a new story.
Met with a British production crew of 4, at the Del Pueblo Restaurant,
(in Alamo) on the morning of the 28th, June. Was a nice meet-n-greet,
had breakfast, and took off at 7:30am.
Don, myself, and 2 guests, plus the film crew, hit the foot trail by
9am.
This was going to be a broad daylight, one day climb and back. No
over-nighter on this one, (no matter how hard I pleaded the film crew
to reconsider. (Schedules were tight). With Film and Audio equipment
broke down into manageable segments, we all set out for a 2 hour climb.
The trail is well marked in places, provided by small shots of paint,
as well as good rock pile stacks, along the trail. Some places are
unmarked, however, and a compass and map are still a MUST!!
Hit the top of TIKABOO at 11:30am. The afternoon sun was amazingly
cool. (103 in Vegas) Also, there was very little haze, to our
surprise. The BASE was in plain, unobscured, sight. And of course, the
entire 360° view was magnificent.
The Camara Man put a special lens on the camera, that was rented in
Los Angeles, for this shot. With the lens in place, the BIG HANGER
took up 50% of the view, through the monitor.
It was then decided that the director wanted to do some interviews. I
had been baulking at the thought, for a good part of the day, but
after realizing that these guys weren't that bad, and I understood the
story they were trying to tell, I agreed. You'll have to wait till
Feb. '01, to find out what I say. It was not what they expected. I'm a
bit hard on the TRUE BELIEVER.
So, that's it. Came down in half the time. Drove home. Short and
sweet. Wish I could have stayed longer.
NOTE: There are now 2(TWO) devices on Badger Mountain, opposite
Tikaboo. There has, also, been added a good size solar panel. It still
looks like Microwave / Communication type gear. No camera's could be
seen. A climb to them is in order, though.
C3
WOW!!! WHAT WAS THAT?
August '00
Sometimes, you just gotta get away:
I had a need to get away, for a short spell. As usual, when given an
opportunity, like any good GLAS member, I headed out to Area 51.
With the unbearable heat and a desire to cloak my visit as much as
possible, I headed out in the late afternoon, with the intention of
arriving on scene in the dark of night.
I was in luck. NO MOON. I made my way to a new camp site area near The
GAP. I drove the last couple of miles with no lights, using a night
scope. I wasn't going to "camp' so I was able to set up the
scanners and vision equipment, rather quickly.
Kind of a quiet night, till about 1:00am.
Heard a couple of aircraft overhead. (It seemed late for an "Air
Warrior" Ex. They usually go at 9-9:30pm...I figure I missed it.)
As I kept watch through my scope, I picked up a weird static on the
scanners. This was new. Within a few moments, I spotted something
moving in the direction of Groom, somewhat near Bald Mountain. No
noise...except for the jets off in the distance to the east. Just as I
was trying to get a fix on the moving object, an amazing thing took
place. It freaked me out.
Something flew right by me, FAST & LOW. I could make out the noise
of a jet engine(s?), but it was much more quiet. What I heard most was
the turbulence rushing by. It was very cool. I never saw a thing. It
must have been coming at me the whole time, and very low. I never saw
it because I was fixated on the other "object", and looking
through my night scope. Plus, with my scanner buzzing, I'm sure it
masked some of the sound. But...needless to say, after that plane went
by, I could hear it then, but only softly. Very strange!
I've been buzzed while on Sand Spring Dry lake bed, but this was
completely different. It actually wasn't as violent as a high speed
pass normally is. It was smooth.
I let the adrenaline settle and spent the rest of the night scanning
and watching. Moonless nights in the area are of God. Unless you do
it, you will never know. Picked up the usual chatter of a/c and
others. (I'm not always sure what "other" is). Fell asleep
in the back of the truck, after JANET #1 showed up. Woke about 7:30am.
Breakfast at the INN. Headed for home about 11am. 12 hours in area.
Got to Vegas and crashed.
FlyBoy
The Great GATHERING (Red Flag & BBQ)
Oct. '00
No one can plan, and then expect everything to go AS PLANNED, all the
time. On the other hand, there are times when even your highest hopes
(if they're small enough), can be surpassed.
So was the case with the AREA 51/ RED FLAG FAN APPRECIATION DAY
BBQ/TAILGATE PARTY & BS SESSION.
30-40, like-minded, bird watchers and desert lovers all convened on
poor Don Emory @ the Area 51 Research Center on Oct 28th, for a little
fun and frivolity. (Is that a word?) But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Plans began in April, to just get a few people together for the next
Red Flag, and "cook some 'dogs." A bunch of us all came to
camp and watch the sky, anyways, so why not? By August, word had
circulated to enough folks to warrant a full "Get Together."
On August 28th, a bulk e/mail went out to the mailing list, and
"hoped for the best."
It quickly became apparent that we hit a nerve, by the response. Not
that we had 100's of replies, but the numbers were surprising. Don
Emory at the A51RC went into "Phase II" planning mode. They
bought a big smoker BBQ, and ordered porta-potties. Yours truly organized
a GLAS sponsored "base camp" for those that wanted
to be together for some "bird watching" and BSing. (The plan
was to use the dry lake bed in Sand Spring Valley, north of Rachel.)
Well, with C2 and Tracker, and gear for a full scale assault on the
Nevada desert, we headed out at midnight, for an early morning arrival
on Thur. the 26th. We could get in a couple of days of watching and
end with the Sat. BBQ.
It was quickly realized that the rain was going to be a problem. Can
you believe this...RAIN!! It's the freekin desert, during Red Flag,
and it's raining. We can't see aircraft with clouds all over the
place. And we sure can't camp on the lake bed. We MUST improvise &
adapt.
First we went out to Queens Summit. We were hungry from the all night
drive, and it was 7am, so let's eat. Set up a quick kitchen and made
breakfast. It was decided while eating, that we should recon a place
up in The GAP, for the Base Camp. Even if it rains all weekend, there
can be some pretty low flying in there, and we might be able to catch
it. We had to go somewhere, to accommodate the other arrivals. The GAP
seemed good.
After checking in with Don, we headed for The GAP. It was quite a
drive back into the Groom Range. We found an awesome location and set
up the official GLAS Base Camp. Tracker immediately set out to scope
the area. He came back with the info that we were less than 1/2 mile
from the boundary markers.
As the day progressed, the camp site started getting visitors. The
famous Dave Bethke wondered up the road by afternoon. Snafu and
RedDawg made it. And, Majestic, by the end of day 2, as well. Not
counting Snafu's pet pup, we had 7 with us at base camp. (Bethke did
camp at his own secret place. He just came to visit.)
At this point I would like to tell of all the cool flying we saw and
watching we did, but the clouds persisted, all weekend. The Air Force
was out spending tax dollars, but not at altitude that we could see,
or as often. However, there was one occasion on Friday the 27th, when
a group of Vipers made there presence known to us.
Tracker had climbed up a small hill to get a better look at Tikabbo
Valley, when he spotted some "incoming" F-16's. He called it
out to us, on our comm. gear, just in time for us to witness a couple
of hard turning Vipers make a run into the Gap. They came in low and
fast, and really shook up the area. We could hear the others really
tearing it up, over Tikaboo Valley.
Believe it or not, that is all we got on this Red Flag. Blame it on
the Rain!
C3
