Central NV Airway Beacon & Aircraft Crash Search, Take II
- Thread starter PHXtaco
- Start date
Saratoga
Adventurer
Excellent photos and story to go with it. Lovely and clear, showing parts of the USA I rarely see. Even more so, as I'm outside the USA.
I take it you slept in the open-air rather than in tent or something. Was that on the ground or elevated in some way? Also, did you work out what was your combined fuel consumption for the weekend trip in your truck
I take it you slept in the open-air rather than in tent or something. Was that on the ground or elevated in some way? Also, did you work out what was your combined fuel consumption for the weekend trip in your truck
PHXtaco
Adventurer
I have a truckbed tent that we normally use, but it was so hot we just slept on an air mattress in the bed of the truck.
I did not figure out combined fuel consumption, but do know it take about a tank and a half to get there and a tank and a half to get back, plus another tank and a half exploring. 4 ½ tanks of an 18 gallon tank. Ouch, that hurts just thinking about it!
I did not figure out combined fuel consumption, but do know it take about a tank and a half to get there and a tank and a half to get back, plus another tank and a half exploring. 4 ½ tanks of an 18 gallon tank. Ouch, that hurts just thinking about it!
Saratoga
Adventurer
so 81 gallons is about 370 litres of fuel. In the UK it's about £1.20 a litre of either petrol (gas) or diesel, so that's about £444 in fuel costs alone. I'm not sure of the fuel costs in your home area though.
By comparison, a weekend away for me with some off-tarmac driving would probably be 2-3 tanks of 80 litres but my truck runs on LPG (which is currently £0.60 a litre) and manages 16mpg. And £1 is about $1.5
So still quite an expensive hobby, but you've a nice truck and, as said, you had a good weekend exploring
By comparison, a weekend away for me with some off-tarmac driving would probably be 2-3 tanks of 80 litres but my truck runs on LPG (which is currently £0.60 a litre) and manages 16mpg. And £1 is about $1.5
So still quite an expensive hobby, but you've a nice truck and, as said, you had a good weekend exploring
NevadaLover
Forking Icehole
Resurrecting an old VERY interesting thread, there are 3 more beacon sites just in the Mckinney pass area of northern Nevada, the one you found at the summit was north of 2 sites by just about a mile or so, They are just sites with cement bases, they are at coords: N40 12.538, W117 48.010 and
N40 12.353, W11748.283 respectively.
There is also a site just northeast of the others that is just out of site of this picture,
It is located at coords: N40 13.709, W117 44.509, and is one of the last standing beacons anywhere! it is different from the others in that it had no generator or housing at the site and was powered by acetylene or propane, not sure which! it also was in a fixed position that did not rotate!
As it stands today!
The base of the tower, notice the tie downs like the others!
The door is also the first part of ladder to the top!
Here is the gas manifold that powered the light!
Another full view with the sun behind the beacon!
View of the beacon itself!
Photo I found on the web of the inside of the beacon!
Tag on the side of the beacon housing!
I believe the only reason this beacon still stands today is the fact that it is around 500 to 750 feet above the valley floor and there is no road to it,
that also means the caretaker was one tough sumbitch who had to lug all the beacon fuel up to the summit by hand or drag it there, it is a decent hike up and that keeps most people away!
There is some great info on the airway beacons at www.atchistory.org including pics of the humboldt radio station and buffalo valley site back in the day, Really cool!!
Thanks to PHXtaco for starting this adventure report and helping spread some very interesting history!!
N40 12.353, W11748.283 respectively.
There is also a site just northeast of the others that is just out of site of this picture,
It is located at coords: N40 13.709, W117 44.509, and is one of the last standing beacons anywhere! it is different from the others in that it had no generator or housing at the site and was powered by acetylene or propane, not sure which! it also was in a fixed position that did not rotate!
As it stands today!
The base of the tower, notice the tie downs like the others!
The door is also the first part of ladder to the top!
Here is the gas manifold that powered the light!
Another full view with the sun behind the beacon!
View of the beacon itself!
Photo I found on the web of the inside of the beacon!
Tag on the side of the beacon housing!
I believe the only reason this beacon still stands today is the fact that it is around 500 to 750 feet above the valley floor and there is no road to it,
that also means the caretaker was one tough sumbitch who had to lug all the beacon fuel up to the summit by hand or drag it there, it is a decent hike up and that keeps most people away!
There is some great info on the airway beacons at www.atchistory.org including pics of the humboldt radio station and buffalo valley site back in the day, Really cool!!
Thanks to PHXtaco for starting this adventure report and helping spread some very interesting history!!
NevadaLover
Forking Icehole
Here's a pic that PHXtaco took of the humboldt radio station,
And here's a pic of the station back in the days of use,
Here's a photo of the buffalo valley site that PHXtaco took,
And here's a pic of the days of use,
According to the website http://www.atchistory.org/, the tower in buffalo valley was still standing in 2007,
I'd like to hope someone took the tower to restore it or save for the future to see but like most everything else of historic value in this country
it was probably scrapped by tweeker scum when metal prices were still high!!
If there is ANYTHING that you really want to go see, you better go soon because it will probably be gone in the not too distant future, stolen for scrap, hauled of by someone who's tired of looking at it or removed by the BLM because it is an attractive nuisance, dangerous, abandoned or any of the myriad excuses they use to denude
Nevada of it's heritage!!! So many interesting old buildings, cars, mines and other leftovers from history have disappeared from the state because of all
previous reasons and others, so get out and enjoy the history because it will probably be gone soon!!
And here's a pic of the station back in the days of use,
Here's a photo of the buffalo valley site that PHXtaco took,
And here's a pic of the days of use,
According to the website http://www.atchistory.org/, the tower in buffalo valley was still standing in 2007,
I'd like to hope someone took the tower to restore it or save for the future to see but like most everything else of historic value in this country
it was probably scrapped by tweeker scum when metal prices were still high!!
If there is ANYTHING that you really want to go see, you better go soon because it will probably be gone in the not too distant future, stolen for scrap, hauled of by someone who's tired of looking at it or removed by the BLM because it is an attractive nuisance, dangerous, abandoned or any of the myriad excuses they use to denude
Nevada of it's heritage!!! So many interesting old buildings, cars, mines and other leftovers from history have disappeared from the state because of all
previous reasons and others, so get out and enjoy the history because it will probably be gone soon!!
NevadaLover
Forking Icehole
AMEN!!!
Boonie Buster
Observer
Cool trip report! Lots of neat info!