Secret Squirrel's interest in Area 51 had
proven to be short lived, so for this trip my
new traveling companion was my girlfriend
Angie.
The plane touched down at McCarren Airport
in Las Vegas. From there we went to pick up
the Ford Explorer I had reserved with Airport
Rent-A-Car. By 9:45pm we were heading up the
I-15, half an hour later we had turned onto
the 93 and were on our way. Rather than
staying at the Al'e'inn, we had chosen to
sacrifice nostalgia for comfort and stay at
the Meadow Lane Inn in Alamo.
I must admit, as much fun as the Al'e'inn
is it's no substitution for a real motel. I
was surprised to see that behind the front
desk there were many black and white photos
of celebrities (none of whom I can remember
off hand) who had stayed there in the past. I
have to assume they were on their way to Las
Vegas, because I can't think of any other
reason they'd be this far out in the
boonies.
The man at the front desk appeared very
tired, but that didn't stop him from having a
very lengthy discussion with Angie about
computers (to the point of bringing out newly
purhased hardware for her inspection).
Myself, knowing nothing about computers, was
bored senseless, and anxious to get out to
The Mailbox for some serious sky
watching.
After what I figured to be a half hour the
conversation broke, and we finally headed out
to The Mailbox for an uneventful night
of starring into the heavens.
Because my first trip had taken place in
December, Tikaboo Peak was all but
inaccessable (which is the case every winter
due to snowfall). So, on this return trip
climbing that damn mountain was on the top of
my priority list. I wanted to see that damn
secret base with my own damn eyes, and damn
it, thats what I was going to do! (dragging
Angie along for the ride of course.)
The dirt road to Tikaboo Peak was much
better than I had expected. In hindsight, my
car could have handled it, but I still felt
more secure with the benifits of four wheel
drive on my side. I carefully watched the
odometer and checked to see that the
landmarks matched the locations given in the
Area 51 Viewers guide. After all, the
last thing I wanted was to get lost on some
god-foresaken country backroad.
If I had been more experienced with four
wheel drive I could have gotten us a half
mile closer to the trail head, but I felt
that being 22 miles from civilization was no
place
to start experimenting. We grabbed our packs
from the back seat and did a final check
before setting off. 5 bottles of water, a
telescope, a pair of binoculars, granola
bars, sunscreen, a camera, a video camera, a
utility knife, compass, the Viewers Guide,
and a jacket for each of us. Everything was
there.
Perhaps my definition of the word "trail"
differs from others, but what I found was by
no means deserving of the term "trail",
"path", or any other word that would denote a
structured coarse of travel. However the
way to the top was marked (poorly) by
rock carnes. The mountian side was
predominately covered in loose rock, juniper,
and small cacti. It was not an easy hike, nor
had I expected it to be.
After about 30 minutes, Angie had started
to feel ill, so we stopped to rest. We stayed
there for probably another 30 minutes
deciding wether or not to turn back. Angie
was insistant that she not ruin this for me
and eventually she assured me she was feeling
better. Just as we were getting set to
continue I heard a voice coming up the trail
behind us. What were the odds? Someone was
actually on this trail with us!
We decided to stay put to see who it was.
As it turned out it was a tour guide named
Jeff, and a young guy who's name escapes me
that spoke with southern accent. I had read
of a "Jeff" on Glenn Campbells
www.ufomind.com who gave tours of Tikaboo
Peak, it didn't take a rocket scientist to
put 2 and 2 together. According to Campbell,
Jeff was refered to by Rachel residents as
"Lt.Col. Bullshit." This name apprently was
given to him because he had a habit of
wearing an airforce uniform around town and
often talked of being stationed at Area 51. I
decided that it would be best not to bring
this up.
Credibility aside, he seemed to be a nice
guy, and we travelled a good portion of the
hike with him. He served as tour guide to all
three of us, pointing out among other things,
that next to a radar station on Bager
Mountian (just north of Tikaboo) the military
had installed a surveilance device to monitor
the trail, and in Jeff's words "get anything
sensitive off the runway" if anybody was
heading up the peak.
As soon as he pointed this out I raised my
binoculars, sure enough, there was something
up there that looked an aweful lot like those
devices at the Area 51 border. I shot some
video of it, but taking a picture seemed
useless because the only camera I had was a
disposable one without a zoom.
Jeff passed along more information as we
continued to hike, some of which I found a
little hard to swallow. Among the more
interesting facts (using the term VERY
loosely) were the following" 90% of the
projects at Area 51 had been moved to
Arizona and Utah, Bob Lazar worked at Area 51
but not S-4, test flights are only conducted
two nights a month at Area 51, and the
military and installed surveilence cameras
all over Tikaboo Valley. Eventually Jeff and
the southern guy went on ahead of us.
It ended up taking over 2 1/2 hours to
reach the summit, but we did make it. As I
cleared the summit the desert panorama came
into full view, it was nothing short of
breath-taking. It's beauty however was wasted
on me, for my eyes were locked on the
horizon. There, through 26 miles of desert
haze, was Area 51. To my naked eye all that
was visable was the big hanger (Hanger 18 as
some call it) and portions of the runway.
Through my binoculars more structures came
into view, exact shapes were hard to
determine, but most appeared to be
hangers.
Jeff and the southern guy were just
packing up when we got there. I thanked Jeff
for letting us tag along earlier. Before
departing he made sure to point out some of
the Cammo-Dudes white Cherokee's hidden along
side Groom Lake Road, which was very easy to
spot from here. With that they were off. I
was surprised to find a bench up there, along
with a perminant tripod, who's origin I could
only guess at. I eagerly set up my telescope
and in looking through it the structures
became more defined, although trying to
determine their purpose from here would be
impossible. I noticed that the Badger
Mountian surveilence device was not visable
from here, so I assumed that it could not see
us.
I filmed the 360° view then set up the
video camera on the tripod and zoomed in on
the base. The tape came out fairly decent, so
I guess the trip was worth it. I wished I had
an excuse to stay up there longer, but other
than viewing the base and reflecting on
life's little mysteries far from the
distractions of the rest of the
world, there wasn't much else to do.So
reluctantly, we packed up and headed
back.
Eventually I would report the Badger
Mountian surveilence device on
alt.conspiracy.area51, but since it didn't
involve aliens or genetic engineering it
generated only minor interest. Some of the
more serious researchers, including Glenn
Campbell, appeared somewhat interested. Most
of them however remained skeptical, and with
good reason, after all, I had no proof.
I
decided that in the future I would hike up
Badger mountian to answer the question once
and or all, and in March 1999 I did. Upon
closer inspection it turned out that the
device in all likelyhood wasn't a camera
(what it is I have no idea). I was
disappointed to say the least, but I am a big
enough man to admit when I am wrong. As soon
as I learned that the device wasn't a camera
I promptly released a statement on the Area
51 newsgroup to that affect, along with an
apology for starting the "Tikaboo under
surveilence" rumor.
