Message posted by lone wolf on February 02, 2004 at 21:25:23 PST:
Rumor has it the camo dudes were doing about 95mph on the ET highway on the afternoon of January 18th, 2004, between the road to Bald Mountain and Mail Box Road in a vehicle without a license plate. The dudes collect license plate numbers for their files, so you were tailed just to get your plate. They probably got the plate from the other vehicle so they didn't need to tail them. I had the dudes watch me all night as I car-camped just so they could catch my plate on the way out. The biggest problem with the orange post markers is at corners. The rule is you should see two posts at all times as you hike, but if possible, I like to see three in the event I'm near a corner. [If you don't see 3 posts, then the border could take a turn. This is true on top of Hawkeye Hill.] The hike up Hawkeye Hill is a case where you really can't see the markers since you are walking up the spine of the hill. While on Hawkeye Hill, you can see markers that no longer indicate the border, i.e. they are the old markers before the land grab and are inside the real border. Clearly the powers that be don't want the border marked very well, though they reserve the right to enforce it with deadly force. Having driven near some of the more obscure border points and checking out the terrain, I have to hand it to Chuck Clark for taking a GPS reading at every orange marker. Some of those markers look like a Tikaboo climb, but after knocking yourself out all you got for your efforts was a waypoint. The camo dudes like to shadow you along these hikes, which raises your paranoia level to overload. Note that the dude can use the camera on Bald Mountain for most of their observation, so they don't have to be seen to see you. But you can hear car doors slamming, engines starting, etc. as they move about. The vehicles don't appear to have any antennas other than what is required for the Groom Lake trunking radio system, so I suspect a camo dude at the base watches you via Bald Mountain and then verbally relays information to the dudes in the truck.
In Reply to: Trip Report posted by BASSic on February 02, 2004 at 20:57:23 PST:
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