High Sierra Topix

Being struck with nostalgia I was up till 2 last night going thru old slides, pics and papers. Back in the 80s (probably before and probably still) military pilots loved to buzz Whitney and blast down the Kern Trench. Once an obsolete F-86D blasted by Roaring River rangerstation at treetop level (obviously privately owned) That experience really scared the bejesus out of me. I was always worried what would happen if that happened when I was shoeing a horse. At any rate it was a big deal in the park and in 85 we received this memo with a couple pages of attachements (not included): Fyi: There was no Sierra District Arms warehouse!

I would have submitted a requisition.

Perfect !

We think you wrote this Mike.

Old ranger, thanks for posting. The boys flying up there are still having fun. We joke about that a lot during the shoulder seasons. I have experienced my share of fly bys. Sooo true about the horses and pack mules, scary.

Having met some of the pilots over the years and some fairly recently, they seem to have points of interests they like and go check out. One guy really loves flying over by Mallory.

This memo reads suspiciously like Durkee was involved....

Durkee was in the backcountry at the time. You gotta know the District and subdistrict Rangers at the time.

It’s one of the downsides of doing trips in eastern SEKI. Haven’t seen any that low, but had two low enough troop transports last summer I could read the lettering on the sides - looked like they were going to crash into the pinnacles above Paiute creek heh.

If ~Onion Valley or south I probably hear fighters screaming by ~5-10 times a day. :/

I’ve joked how I’d have shoulder mounted missiles if they didn’t count as mechanical objects in the wilderness before.