
The Hunt for the Death Valley Germans - swatkat
http://www.otherhand.org/home-page/search-and-rescue/the-hunt-for-the-death-valley-germans/
======
confluence
This is probably one of the greatest pieces of long form journalism I have
ever read, and I've read a lot.

You'd be doing yourselves a disservice by not setting aside some time and
reading this all the way through.

~~~
steffenfrost
Past midnight, couldn't stop reading.

Can't imagine the sheer horror of their predicament in that terrain, during
the summer heat.

The author deducing how the Germans ended up in that canyon was a stroke of
investigative genius.

------
blueintegral
This guy also wrote about his hunt for the crash site of a predecessor of the
SR-71. I enjoyed reading it: [http://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-
other-strange...](http://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-
strange-places/bluefire-main/bluefire/the-hunt-for-928/)

~~~
triplesec
Mentioned at the very end of the story. Hours of endless fun. He also has a
sidebarlink, but from personal experience many people may not click: he goes
places and tells lot of stories, should you wish to try them.
[http://www.otherhand.org/home-page/miscellaneous-
adventures/](http://www.otherhand.org/home-page/miscellaneous-adventures/)

Also here's the report from another group that went hiking there successfully
in early 2010. I do hope that the 'animal bone' the teenager is holding is
indeed from a burro.
[http://www.panamintcity.com/backpacking/anvilspringcanyon.ht...](http://www.panamintcity.com/backpacking/anvilspringcanyon.html)

~~~
mapmap
Good find! Was there any followup on that bone? That trip was March 18 2010
and it wasn't until the last week of November 2010 that the officials
allegedly helicoptered their 4-5 man team in for an overnight to recover the
remaining bones.

Further studying the trip log, the bone discovery appears to be early in their
hike while they were still in Lost Spring Canyon. This is a considerable ways
east of the Germans' area.

~~~
mapmap
Following up: I confirmed from the source that NPS looked at his picture and
it was an animal bone.

------
sizzzzlerz
What is amazing is the scope of the search that took place, both when the
Germen's car was found and, several years later, when the human bones were
located. It is gratifying to know there are people in the S&R teams who will
devote their time trying to find (or, very often, recover) people who have
gotten into trouble.

~~~
colmvp
Also credit goes to the human penchant for curiosity, an observation I'm
suggesting because of recently watching the TNG episode, "Clues."

------
ams6110
It's hard for me to second guess but I think if it had been me, as soon as the
car got stuck I would be backtracking the way I came in. If a car made it in,
it's clearly going to be pretty easily walkable, and you're heading back
towards more main roads where a passing car is more likely.

I can't imagine taking off into the brush with no water or gear. Especially
with kids.

~~~
brianshaler
The author did an excellent job of getting into their heads in the situation
and rationalizing their decisions. They underestimated road conditions; "their
pamphlet offered an (erroneous) alternative, apparently shorter route back
down to the valley in the form of a road down Anvil Canyon;" they made an
easy-to-make wrong turn; and they were operating under an assumption that help
was a few miles south instead of dozens of miles back.

 _" Given the information available to them, where could they best find it? It
is likely they had gone the entire day without seeing another human, so their
entry route offered little hope of others. In examining their maps, Ballarat
was many miles away, and with unknown services. Furnace Creek, with everything
they needed, was far to the north, out of their reach. Even the paved Badwater
Road on the valley’s east side had only intermittent traffic and was in a zone
of lethal heat. But there was another possibility... [only about 8 or 9 miles
to the south of them]"_

------
julianpye
Those who argue about the level of danger of that terrain should note one
really important aspect: young children overheat really quickly in thelse
environments. In these scenarios even if given water reserves, adults will
outlive children (initially). There are plenty of tales in Death Valley about
this. So with kids the risk is an entire level higher.

~~~
sliverstorm
Do you know why? Is this a surface area vs volume case, except in reverse e.g.
the environment is pumping heat into small creatures faster than big
creatures?

~~~
jsprogrammer
A child will have significantly less water mass.

------
jmspring
I've heard about this incident first hand from old timers out in DV, having
gone for years myself.

The warning at the start of the piece, maybe merited, feels a bit over the
top.

The story itself is quite intriguing.

~~~
jmspring
Reading through the story, I had heard most of it while in the desert a few
years ago. The writer's style generally rubs me the wrong way on multiple
fronts.

It's an interesting story and case, but I can't get over the "style" of the
presentation.

~~~
meddlepal
I was not a huge fan of the style either, but it does a fairly good job of
keeping the reader interested. That said, the amount of digs he takes at
various local and federal agencies is really unnecessary.

~~~
sverige
I dunno, I think he earned the right to criticize them. It was fairly mild,
considering the effort he put into it compared to them. And he was
complimentary to them overall. He didn't even launch into what would probably
be an epic rant if he were to provide all the details, but rather stopped
himself.

Apparently he has gotten the "style" feedback enough that he felt it necessary
to put a full disclaimer at the head of the article.

~~~
syllogism
I think the effort he put in is pretty hard to justify objectively. He can do
what he likes with his time, but it doesn't mean the various agencies deserve
criticism for doing less.

~~~
dredmorbius
It wasn't doing less. It was not sharing helpful information with someone
who'd earned rights to it through assistance, and dismissing very well-founded
advice and input.

That said, it's _very_ harsh territory, and local government has very few
resources.

~~~
whyenot
He comes across as very earnest; that might be misread by some people as
obsessive. He also did do some very questionable things like remove the day
planner and other items. It could be that law enforcement didn't really want
to work with him any more than they had to. It's hard to know, we don't get to
see that side.

I really enjoyed his account. I've spent a lot of time doing field work in the
Mojave (I am a plant taxonomist), and it's such a neat place to explore -- at
least in spring time, before it gets too hot.

~~~
dredmorbius
Uncovering human remains after 8 years in the desert of foreign nationals,
hours from the nearest signs of civilisation, at risk of one's own life, and
wanting to demonstrate to others that the claim is substantiated: removing an
item that provides solid proof strikes me as grounded.

The author clearly deliberated over, and fairly considered the merits, of
removing other items.

Consider too: finding something _once_ in the desert does _not_ mean you're
likely to find it again. Animals, weather, rains (rare, but often
overwhelming), or other humans could further disturb the scene, or you could
simply lose track of where the item had been (even with GPS) or be distracted
by false hits (the reflective surfaces which turned out to be rocks).

Particularly _after_ discovery of the remains had been reported and multiple
parties were aware, with information being leaked out.

I find nothing malicious, and nothing reproachable, in his account. Though
note that this is _his_ account, there may be another side.

~~~
whyenot
The items have been there for the past eight years. They will last another few
days until authorities can come back and work the area. He had a camera to
document the find, and survey flags to mark the items. There was no reason to
take these things, especially as a enthusiast with no permission from the NPS
to do what he was doing and no official involvement in any kind of search.
Even if he was in the right, it likely did piss off NPS staff and law
enforcement.

As far as "risk of one's life," that seems a little over the top to me. Yes,
it's the desert, and yes, it's remote, but people do go hiking and backpacking
in Anvil Canyon, there is a cabin with water 4 miles away, and he had a SPOT
(at least his partner did) to signal for help in case he got in trouble. The
most dangerous thing he did was probably the speeding on the rush back to
Furnace Creek. Single vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death in
Death Valley.

~~~
robohamburger
I think this is one of those cases where initiative and begging for
forgiveness paid off.

It did seem like he was doing it to satisfy his own curiosity more than
anything though. Be interesting to know what the family thought of his write
up if anything.

~~~
whyenot
Yes, and it really is an excellent write-up. It captures the flavor of the
Mojave, even if there are some things he could have done differently.

------
london888
I wonder if the German government recognised his efforts in some way. That
would have been a nice gesture. Even if just a photo or handshake from the
Ambassador or the Consul in LA.

------
pmcollins
Here's a map someone made to go along with the story:

[https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?dg=feature&msa=0&ie=UTF...](https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?dg=feature&msa=0&ie=UTF&mid=1RQa5pgo6pybGmqfRTX3moi-6f4Q)

~~~
kjp1
I got kind of obsessed reading this story and needed to follow it on Google
Earth too, my map has a few extra places marked, such as the landing sites,
China Lake sites, and final resting place.

[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FdGZI6DDRPe3Y9-dtpLGGtDr2p...](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FdGZI6DDRPe3Y9-dtpLGGtDr2pQ&usp=sharing)

~~~
mapmap
Thank you, I couldn't locate the tower without this.

------
lttlrck
Extremely well written, a sad story full of important lessons. I will
certainly remember it if I ever find myself wandering onto unknown terrain.

~~~
joncp
I dunno, he meanders through the story in a very long-winded way, including
bunches of stuff that doesn't actually move the narrative forward. A good
editor could have helped him cut maybe a third out of that without losing
anything of significance. Then again, it's a blog so no big deal.

~~~
lttlrck
Naturally it could be better but I was riveted. My patience has suffered far
more at the hands of more established authors like Tom Clancy and more
recently Neal Stephenson with stuff that I really don't need to know.

------
cpt1138
What fascinated me about this article is how much info they were able to
gather. The context of my fascination is the idea that currently the powers
that be are asking to track more and more and more in the hopes of pre-crime
detection. The ability to collect so much information in such a hostile place
seems like if you are motivated, it was already all there in 1996, no more is
needed.

------
valarauca1
I came across this blog a while ago when doing a deep dive into EM-Drives.
Turns out the author did his master's thesis under one of the original
pioneers of that field (well the field is still really new).

Awesome to learn something new about and old source :)

------
RichardCA
"There are some who will say that any backcountry travel in Death Valley using
a normal street vehicle in Summer is inherently foolish. This is certainly a
debatable topic."

No, it's not.

~~~
jmspring
The last wild flower bloom(not this year, 5 or so years back), a buddy and I
only had a 2wd Tacoma at our disposal. The back roads we were used to (out to
Butte Valley, for instance), which aren't all that bad were a challenge and we
opted to play safe.

Any time of year, parts of DV back country are not to be taken lightly. You
may not see anyone for days if something goes wrong.

~~~
douche
Tacomas are tough little trucks though... I've seen them go into and out of
places they really have no business being.

~~~
jmspring
They are, but tires play a big part in being able to handle terrain as well.
And typical tires on a 2wd Tacoma aren't usually that rugged.

------
goombastic
What is a wordfence? Anyone else blocked from reading this "article?"

~~~
vmarsy
Here is an archive.org mirror from June :

[https://web.archive.org/web/20160619164015/http://www.otherh...](https://web.archive.org/web/20160619164015/http://www.otherhand.org/home-
page/search-and-rescue/the-hunt-for-the-death-valley-germans/)

It looks like a (2012) tag should be added to that submission, the 2012
wayback snapshot looks exactly the same as today.

