22 On a dark, cold night in January 1952, a distress call went out over Death Valley. “Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. This is Air Force 001 bailing out north of Barstow, California,” the official crash report would later read. Soon after, the crew of six jumped out of the CIA's 16-ton, dual-engine, SA-16 Albatross plane into total darkness. The plane - under power of only a single engine and its backdoor hanging open - continued on course for several minutes before scraping a couple of summits. Then, against all odds, landed on its own - with surprisingly little damage - on…
11 CommentsTag: Towne Pass
2 For anyone familiar with recent Death Valley weather history, the impact of hurricane Hillary in 2023 will be a memorable event. After 2.2 inches of rain fell in a single day - more than the average annual total of 2.15 inches - nearly every road in the park was closed. Only a few opened within days, and a few more within weeks. Months later, many major thoroughfares were still closed. Today, more 15 months later, nearly all of the roads have been reopened, with the exception of the one we wanted to use to reach our next destination. Exiting…
6 Comments