Photos Here!

At the same time I saw the F4 from the sky, One of the pilots pointed out a crashed HRS-3 in a canyon on another park of the base. During the same flight I saw these two aircraft I also saw debris from a CH-46.

Jarrid and I began his hunt, our best description was that it was crashed near "Case Springs" on Camp Pendleton. The First attempt to find it meat with disappointment. We started out with Jarrid's wife's car. On the map the road looked well traveled and might be paved. We took off in the car for the base. Once on base all we had with us was the GPS and the approximate location. We seemed to have missed the road as the waypoint got farther from us. The road we were looking for was NOT on the map.

We gave up and stopped at the closest barracks to ask if anyone knew the best way. The first group of Marines had no clue where "Case Springs" was. The second group started laughing and said "You won't get there in that!" pointing to the Volvo we were driving. One of the young marines disappeared into his room and was able to produce a base map. He pointed as the springs, they where right, we were not getting there in the Volvo. We abandoned try one.

Try Two:

Again it was Saturday and we had nothing to do. The sun was out, we had just ate and we where looking for something to do. I said, Jarrid, Lets try to find the helo again, this time I will bring my laptop with the moving map we can drive right to it. We swung by my house, I gathered up my gear and we where off.

Once on base I set up the equipment and started getting the moving map ready. I was using a new mapping software I had not used before. We found our turn off. It was marked "No POV's" ( Privately Owned Vehicles) We stopped and tried to figure out what to do. We decided the back way would be less suspicions. We drove to the north corner of the base and started the back way in. Within the first mile we were wishing we had a 4X4. We joked to each other about Jarrid's wife's reaction if we would have taken her car. We hit a very steep slope. We almost didn't make it up, we were less than a mile from the spring. Tires spinning and we were barely holding our ground. We backed down the hill a little way and tried a different line up the hill. We made it, in a cloud of dust and smoke. My software froze again as we got to the top of the hill. We stopped and I got the software going again. We where here, case springs. It even had water in it. I looked at the map and vegetation. I figured we should hike to the top of the ridge line and look down the canyons for the airframe.

We got to the top of the ridgeline just then there was a "slamming of brakes" sound. We spun around to see a gray F150 4X4 stop at Jarrid's truck. We stood there for a minute to see if he would leave. He pulled ahead looking for us along the bank of the spring. When he didn't see anyone he returned to our truck. We decided we better head back. It was the game warden and wanted to know what we where doing. We told him our story of looking for this helicopter. He claimed to hunt this valley every year for the last few years and "doesn't remember anything like that" My next thought was that he doesn't believe us. Jarrid, thinking quickly, started in on the F4 story. The warden knew of that site, then I started on the CH-46 story. He said that we should have called before going out here and told us we would have to leave. He instructed us to "follow him out." On the way out we drove past a heard of Buffalo, I counted 12 of them. Sure wish we had the camera. Can't tell you how many times I have said that this year.

Well on the way off the base we decided to stop at my old squadron and see if any of the pilots knew of a better location. We spoke to about 10 different pilots, only 3 knew what we where talking about. We asked them to point out on the map where they thought is was. We got two different canyons where it could be.

Try Three:

The data we got from the pilots was very accurate.  Jarrid and I headed out on a Saturday afternoon about 12:00.  We gained access to the base and quickly headed over to the Game Wardens office.  We spoke to a Corporal there who was not too sure about letting us back to the area to search.  He sounded even less convinced about the fact there was a helo crash back there.  I broke out the F-4 story (always seems to "seal the deal") and just like that he gave us permission.  He just asked we check in again on the way out.  Jarrid and I hurried to the truck before he could change his mind.  I headed down the road as Jarrid set up the GPS gear.  This time we where prepared.  I brought water, my new Toyota Tacoma 4X4, and the GPS gear.  We were going to find this no matter what. 

We drove up the narrow road, crossing the tank training area.  The Warded did mention something about training in the area.  The "Tank Crossing" lights where flashing and we made a mental note to keep a lookout for moving equipment while off the beaten trail.  After about 20 minutes and 2000 feet of elevation gain, we where in the right area.  We began looking for a firebreak that would take us in the general direction we needed to go.  I had looked at the area on teraserver, and there was supposed to be a huge firebreak that ran right through one of the two possible locations we got from the pilots we interviewed months ago.  We found a very small firebreak and decided to follow it for a while to see if it went the right direction.  This small trail led us across a meadow and through a small ravine.  Just as we crested the hill Jarrid and I froze.  On the other side of the hill we popped over we sat face to face with a tank.  I slammed on the brakes as we caught our breath.  We quickly realized that this tank was in disrepair and would not be crushing my new truck to a pulp any time soon.  I could see that call to the insurance lady already......   Yes, a tank..........    Are you still there??.............  That's right a tank..........

Jarrid and I quickly parked the truck at the top of the hill.  (in case another working model came roaring through) and started taking photos.  We had spent a few minutes climbing over the tank and taking photos when I heard a sound.  I looked at Jarrid just as he was looking at me.  It sounded like heavy equipment far off, a faint humming sound.  It started to get louder and louder.  We where scanning the horizon looking for anyone that might come upon us and ruin our day.  Then Jarrid screamed  BEE'S.  I glanced in his direction to see a BLACK cloud of buzzing bees materialize from nowhere.  Jarrid and I commenced to run like girls (Minus the high pitched screaming, of course)  I beat Jarrid to the truck.  Opened the door and climbed in.  Quickly removing the GPS gear and laptop from the passenger seat.  Jarrid had stopped running a few car lengths behind the truck.  He casually opened the door and said "They aren't chasing us"  We decided between the two of us we had enough photos of the tank and continued the search.

After driving up and down a few other firebreaks and examining the area, we chose the first ravine we thought looked promising.  We pulled my truck into the tall grass, gathered the water and the GPS and started hiking.  We quickly had moved out of the meadow we parked in and started descending the canyon.  It was not very steep but the grass was very tall.  We heard the faint "Bee Sound" but continued on anyway.

After about a half a mile we encountered a piece of metal sticking out of the ground.  I asked Jarrid what he thought about it, we decided that it was a rotor blade from a helo.  We crossed the ravine to it and took a few photos.  It was a rotor blade.  Now we started to get excited.  We started again moving in the same direction.  After about 300 yards we reached a very overgrown and faint firebreak.  This one roughly matched the width of the photo on teraserver.  Now we could barely contain ourselves and we hurried along.  Another 100 yards and Jarrid said.  "Hey, what's that?"  It looked promising.  Yep, there it was.  We quickly hurried over to it.  As we took photos I turned to Jarrid and said.  "I am lucky to have a friend like you."  He gave me a strange look.  I continued " Not everyone can find a friend that will spend month researching, and hours hiking all to chasing something not seen in over 7 years."  We both had a good laugh.

See the photos here.