Message posted by Andre' M. Dall'au on May 01, 2000 at 13:07:23 EST:
The Tikaboo expediton 2000 started with a interesting tour of the base gates and the foot of Bald mountain. The Cammos were double staffed at the Groom Lake Road gate. When Joerg, Chris, Michael, me and a few others walked up the SW hill to see the main gatehouse on Groom Lake Road, not only were the Cammos Pickup only a few dozen feet away, we could overhear their radio traffic as another, more aggressive cammo in a Jeep radioed in our liscense tags as he checked out our SUV's we left down on the road. The two Cammo dudes in the Pickup were horsing around in the truck, and warmly waved to Michael (Connie's son) and me as I departed. You gotta know that they are just real people doing a job that is thankless and mostly dull. Norio Hayakawa and Chuck Clark supplied information and color commentary at all the stops and during meals at the Inn. The next day trip to Tikaboo was slowed with two flat tires and two damaged vehicles. The warning that the trail to Tikaboo is undeveloped and hazardous is true. The last short trail between the lower base and upper base was the damaging part, with an excessive grade and loose dirt. However, David did a nice job in getting his Suburban away from the Chevy eating tree. The hike was a bitch, with a steep grade on loose shale to start, followed by a lateral traverse on the false peak to a saddle that lead to the verticle ascent to Tikaboo. The last part was rocky and steep, but when we made the summit and nestled amoung the rocks in our individual campsites, it was real comfortable. The view was excellent, backlit in the afternoon, and a little hazy in the morning, but great nevertheless. The night brought sporatic activity and if you were lucky enough to be awake on the summit, you could have seen was looked to be a very large aircraft on the runway, unexplainable by even Chuck Clark, accompanied by ground controller radio traffic. The first hand events should be told by those who viewed the comings and goings during the night, so I'll leave it to the lucky few to add to the story. The night was cool, OK cold, and somewhat windy, but beautiful. The next morning was greeted by several sonic booms that got our accompaning dogs barking and almost running off the cliff-face. The Cammos had to have known we were there, as a nearby mountaintop had a camera surveilling Tikaboo, but no visits were made that we were aware of. The hike down was wary, as we were still amazed that we all made it up the mountain in one piece. The group was a cohesive, fun bunch that seemed to really enjoy the experience. It wasn't easy or without mishap, but will we do it again? Well, we are talking about it already for next year. To all that were there, congratulations for a successful and arduous trek, and for those not present in the flesh, we missed you.
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