Hunting a Bird in Death Valley (Halloween 2014)

Happy Halloween!

Since it is October 31st I planned something a little mysterious for you:

Since taking an HD video was why I did this hike again, I did not make as much an emphasis with taking pictures since I had already done that years ago. However, you can find some of the pictures I took this time around at the following link:

The Death Valley Hike Pictures (Flickr)

A)Motivation

I’ve think I have told the story of a few people that have commented to me or told me via e-mail that they think the hikes I do are okay, but they really just care about the movie locations I have shown. I don’t usually respond to something like that because my response would be something like, “Of course you don’t like the hikes I show because you can’t do them.” 

This is one of those hikes that I did that if you can’t find something interesting in it then I guess I just have to give up this blog for good. I mean, if you don’t like this one then I have two words for you, and they are not "Happy Birthday"! In my continuing quest for death deviance, I put my body and soul in an extreme harsh environment and there is indifference? What’s wrong with you people?!

B)Style

If you have been around this blog long enough or looked at some of my earlier blog entries you probably recognized this one. I finally got to do this one again after years of wanting to do it one more time to get a better video of it. On my original Youtube channel I did an experimental three part video of this hike. It was first set of videos I really put a lot of effort into. I had some good ideas with it, and I guess it was okay for the early days of Youtube, but it had two issues with it that made it lack the style Youtube was and is known for. One would be that the quality was not all that great since the camcorder used tape to record. 

The other bigger issue was that it was just too long. Trimming and editing videos down has been a very important thing I have learned over the past few years. There are many videos I have done that are hard for me to watch now because I know I should have edited them down a lot more. In this video, I cut out a lot, but even so it is still quite long. 

The last half of the video was done in one take. That was something I had planned to do knowing it would be slightly shaky after a four hour hike to the spot and moving around on a dangerous incline. Yeah, I actually did fall down at one point, but I recovered pretty well. As I fell, I remembered to just protect the camcorder and kept going. Of course, all those years learning how to control my fall in martial arts training helped. 

Btw, the video was shot at 1080p at 60 fps. Please watch it at the best quality settings your system can handle. 

C)The Hike 

Since I had done this one before about eight years ago I kind of knew what to expect; I’ll link the blog entries for that hike that has my original thoughts from the first time below. My brother and I spent the night in Lone Pine. I wanted to spend the night in Trona (or Ridgecrest) since the drive to the trailhead would have been a lot more direct, but I found out the road from Trona to where we would start the hike was closed. So, our friends met us at Lone Pine early in the morning, and we drove to Towne Pass where the hike began. 

The video petty much shows you how it went. It took about 8 hours to get to the site and back. You can add on an extra thirty minutes for me since I was doing video and pictures there and back again. 

The ups and downs of the hike are still annoying. That 1,000 ft. of elevation gain coming back from the plane is rough, and I had forgotten about the difficulty of some of the terrain there. Since you know you have to do it to get out of there (no cell phone reception), we just kept plugging away until we reached Towne Summit again. It was still difficult from there, but at that point you know you can finish the hike. The final part coming down that wall you initially climb is probably the roughest part. It’s a lot hotter there, and the sagebrush/cactus plants attack your legs if you are not careful.

This time around I was not as dehydrated as the first time. There was some cloud cover at times to block the sun, but it was still a warm Death Valley day with the temperature being about 90 degrees. In any case, I was glad when it was over. 

D)The Albatross 

The actual goal of the hike and what makes it unique and mysterious is the plane crash itself. I covered that before, and you can read about it in the links I provided below. I think the general story is well known: this SA-16 aircraft attempted to fly from Idaho to San Diego, it was a C.I.A. aircraft, one of the engines malfunctioned, and the plane crashed where it is today, but somehow the crew all survived. 

In the book Grumman Albatross: a history of the Legendary Seaplane by Wayne Mutza there is a short section about this flight and crash. He seems to be skeptical of the idea that the pilot and crew jumped out of the plane and then the plane flew for around twenty miles to land mostly intact on the slope near Towne Summit. I can understand that skepticism, but I am almost equally skeptical of anyone being on that plane and not dying on impact. It’s almost a miracle in any case.

So, the sequence of events of what happened to that aircraft and crew as they flew over Death Valley is one of those mysteries I’m not sure we will ever know for sure. It sure would be fun to hear from one of those crew members if any are still alive. If anyone has anymore info out this or comes across unclassified information I am all ears, but it is not something I intend to pursue on my own. 

I hate to report that someone about a year ago did some graffiti by carving their intials/name and the date they were there into the side of the aircraft. WHY? I could probably shame them by mentioning who it was since I have pictures of the registry names in the survival cache left there, but I’ll stay away from that.

E)Closing Thoughts 

I was a little snotty/sarcastic above in my opening remarks, but I should make it clear that I don’t recommend people doing this hike. Unless you are well prepared and experienced in hiking scrambles in extreme environments do not even think about doing this one. They call this area Death Valley for a reason.

I’ll never do this hike again. If someone wants to fly me in and out on a helicopter then I might be willing, but I am done with this one. With that said, it is hikes like this that make this blog worthwhile. 

I do have alternative video footage I shot. I have a few ideas somewhere down the road I could put together for a more narrative approach. If I ever came across more information on this flight…It would be fun to actually fly around in a real SA-16...but I’m not in the mood to spend more of my time and money on this sort of thing. A lot of it depends on the interest I get on this one.

The original hike blogs:

Death Valley, Towne Peak, and the Mystery of the SA-16 Albatross

The CIA's Death Valley Albatross

The main historical account about the crash can be found HERE.

The following music was taken from Incompetech.com for the video: Hitman, Opressive Gloom, Tenebrous Brothers Carnival - Prelude.

The CIA's Death Valley Albatross (Part 3)

Final Examinations

Some more of the tail:

These types of pictures I like since they show the steep angle and miles beyond:
You can see Telescope Peak in the background on this one. Unfortunatley, it was a little too hazy on this day.
The tip and beyond:
There was an interesting story on this next picture. It looked like some sort of cloth or fabric when you look at it. However, it was obviously metallic when you touch it. I was told that this was actually rubber de-icing boots from the wings that over the years of being there had turned into steel!

This gives you a good idea of what it is like when you approach the aircraft. I will always be amazed it actually stuck there and did not tumble down below. It is sturdy there, and it remains one of the most interesting monuments of Death Valley.
After we got all these pictures and videos we headed back to the car. At this point it was mid-morning, and I knew the trip back would be more difficult. It felt like I encountered more scree on the way back. Then, we finally reached Towne Peak again!

Then we climbed over the smaller peaks until we saw the car. Yet, like one of the first pictures I showed. We still had a long way down. I think I reached the car at some time after 2pm. It was about a 9 hour hike.

When I got back to the car I started drinking. I went through about ten different types of drinks (water, Gatorade, Diet Coke, etc.) that day and still had not quenched my thirst.

That evening I left out some ice to melt into ice water; I just could not get enough. I went to sleep pretty dehydrated. I felt great though about the journey. I felt better the next day, but when I got home I went through two large glasses of water and it did not even phase me! lol! I could have kept drinking.

This ends my epic adventure to this aircraft. I spent a lot of time on this and showed a bunch of pictures since it was such a unique thing.

(Edit: I did this hike again in 2014. I took a video of it which can be found here: Hunting a Bird in Death Valley)

The CIA's Death Valley Albatross (Part 2)

Exploring the Aircraft

As I tried to explain in the last entry, after the hike to get here, walking down the sandy scree, and then trying to walk around the aircraft at steep angle, it was not easy moving around. I was very slow walking around. Especially when I was underneath it. An interesting shot:

If you look closely you might see some of the debris below. It was way down there. No, I would not suggest trying to reach the plane from this way. That is seriously dangerous. One of the detached wings:

This was underneath it. Very cramped.

Here is part of the inside of the craft. You can see the chair in there.

The tail of the aircraft:

1001.

Stay tuned for my next entry that finishes up the pictures.

(Edit: I did this hike again in 2014. I took a video of it which can be found here: Hunting a Bird in Death Valley)

The CIA's Death Valley Albatross (Part 1)

The Descent

(GPS: N36 24.610 W117 19.430)

This is actually a continuation of the recent entries, but I got tired of writing the same titles for another three parts. So I decided to give this a different title for the last three parts of this series.

Before I continue, let me give a link to read the historical account of why this plane is here. It is good reading and gives a better explanation than I can on the crash. Please click this highlighted paragraph for the ALBATROSS ARTICLE.

If you read the article, you will notice in the second to last paragraph it mentions it is very dangerous to do the hike, and not suggested. Apparently, you can see the aircraft from some part of the highway. I would only suggest this hike to a person who is in shape, can deal with warm Death Valley weather, and, very important, can deal with scrambling on scree. I don't enjoy walking on scree.

After having the minor victory of getting to Towne Peak in good time we descended to our final destination.

It took us another hour and fifteen minutes to get to the aircraft. We reached the plane at around 8:45am. The final 150 feet to get to the plane is rather rough. It's a scree slope and you do have to be careful going down or you might really go down. My brother said he had a close call in an area where he lost his trekking pole.
The aircraft is rather intact considering the circumstances. It was a miracle that the craft is still here and not completely destroyed. One of the engines of the twin engine aircraft is what caused the problems and resulted in the crash. Here is one of the engines slightly attached, but mostly on the ground. You might be able to see some of the propeller.
Moving around this area above the aircraft was very difficult.
I was tired. I felt good, but there wasn't any rest here for me. I started shooting pictures and using my camcorder right away. The following area was difficult to descend through so I had to go slowly.

Keep in mind I did all of this twice. Once for the camera and once for the camcorder.

The underside! Notice the little "hill" I have to go over to get to it.

In the next entry I will show some of the inside of the aircraft and the tail.

(Edit: I did this hike again in 2014. I took a video of it which can be found here: Hunting a Bird in Death Valley)