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We had a pretty large group today. It was Saturday and the official climax of the Faul Haul was going to be the big feast tonight. Spiedies Night and the Hallowpalooza! So we all wanted to be back in time for the festivities.
We decided on Hunter Mountain. The views are fantastic and we would be visiting 3 cabins along the way. The 'Boxcar Cabin', Jim Macey’s Nelson Range Cabin and an old cabin up on top of the mountain. We would see a view of the Panamint Valley such as we have never seen before
and as a little side trip a few of us would stop and check out an old jet aircraft crash site along the way. It was just another beautiful day as they all had been. The temps were in the high 70s and clear. The fires down south had shared a little of thier smoke with us but not
enough to bother us really.
The road up Hunter Mountain begins on the road to Saline Valley off 190 near Darwin. This road is kinda half paved and half dirt. And it was full of washboard so Doug and I brought up the rear of the pack moving much slower than the rest. My truck doesn't like washboard very much. The washboard went on for miles and miles
untill we finally got to Hunter mountain. Along the way we passed some real idiots who were traveling in a group of three trucks at a high rate of speed and they almost crashed into me. I saw them coming and held back the pack untill they were safely past us. When we came to the final destination of the cabin we had a late lunch and then down we went.
On the way down, Dezdan, Woodser, Doug and I stopped to check out an old A-7 Navy Corsair plane crash site. We spent the remaining daylight hours at the site picking through what little remained and figuring out what
each was. The crash happened a long time ago and from what we know, the pilot died in the crash. From what I understand there are quite a few of
these crash sites in and around the Panamint Valley area. Thanks to Dezdan for the heads up on the site. Once we had our fill of the crash site we headed down the mountain in the dark to rejoin the rest of the group at
the Faul Hall Hallowpalooza Spiedies Fest where David Bricker almost burned the place down again. We had a bunch of great food, drank some good beer and fun was had by all.
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| Commonly known as the Box Car Cabin, this was really a portable military hut towed out here and dropped. | These two room huts were used by the military as portable offices or temporary housing. | This one has a nice wood burner. | And the crapper out back is very nice. |
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| Kinda takes me back to the 60's for some reason... | A traffic jam all the way out here! | Another Casa amidst the Joshua Trees. Lots of Joshua Trees and they are prettier than the ones in JTNP! | A short minor... |
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| I tend to wonder if the guy in the middle aint dead... | Checking out the inside of the Nelson Range cabin. | Well stocked but a little on the blurry side. | The view of the Joshua Tree laiden valley from this cabin is spectacular. |
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| We're trying to keep the road smooth. | View of Panamint Valley. You can see where PSR is in this photo. | Woodser in front of a catlemens cabin high in the mountains. | Inside of the cabin. Sorry about the blurr. |
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| Another inside shot. | The boarded window. | The pastureland out back. Fall colors are taking hold. The place is highly forested. | On the way back a few of us stop to investigate a plane crash site. |
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| Numbers on parts of the aircraft verified that it was an A7-E Corsair II. | According to sources the pilot did not survive the crash. | The aircraft parts are strewn all over this hillside. | We were able to determine it's direction when it impacted. |
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| Obviously a piece of the landing gear. | The only part of the cockpit that we found. | Outer part of the left wing and control surface. | Part of the aft fuselage and rudder. |
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| More landing gear and wing parts. | Part of the engine area. | Dan examines something near the nose gear and catapult link. | Back at PSR the Hallowpalooza gets started with Fired Spiedies! |