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ANSR-30 Recovery Page 1
Sometimes the recovery effort is an adventure on to itself and ANSR-30 provided
a great adventure. The recovery started at 6:30 AM after a quick stop at
Star Bucks to get fueled up for the trip. Louis, W7LMW, and myself arrived
at the trailhead just before 7:00 AM, unloaded his quads, and started off down
the trail. We were soon joined by Martin, N7HAB, and his two teenage kids.
The hope was to get close to the last known APRS packet and quickly recover the
payloads. It was wishful thinking...
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Elevation profile from
start to finish of recovery.
The payload landed at an altitude 3,611 feet.
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Ground track of the
recovery effort. The letters shown on the map (A - H) correspond to the
pictures. A different path to and from the landing site (the
loop area on the left-hand side of the chart) was taken to find an easier
descent path. The south descent path was suggested by Jack, W7JLC,
with the assistance of Google Earth. Using a radio repeater, we
relayed fix information (latitude and longitude) which he plotted in
real-time. With this information, we went South and then East to get
off the ridge. The south route was slightly easier, but not by much.
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Point A - The start
of the Sycamore Creek river bed. This would not be a good place
to be in a flash flood. The day before, a student fell and earned an
over-night hospital stay with a compound wrist fracture.
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Point B - We were able
to make our way down the trail for 1.8 miles before the quads couldn't make it
any further. This is the start of the Log Corral Wash. The
was very over grown and pitted with large rocks and even running water.
Even in the Arizona desert, there is some water.
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Point C - After an
1 hour, 40 minutes of hiking over 3.2 miles and 900 feet of elevation gain,
we made it to the base of the landing site. Travel was slowed by thick
ground cover. Every plant and tree in Arizona has some sort of sharp,
flesh ripping spike or thorn on it. Even the edges of the leaves are
razor sharp. Here Louis makes his way through
the thicket.
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Point C - Looking up
the canyon we were still 500 feet below the payload. We needed to
climb into this area to listen for the radio beacon.
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