Interesting article on the 59 pemi plane crash

[chuck]

http://dartmed.dartmouth.edu/winter00/html/plane_crash.shtml

 

[Mattl]

Very cool article, thanks! I wonder about this quote from the story: but less than a mile from the point where Dr. Miller's scalpel was found, a Forest Service cabin overlooks the logging trail. Although they had no way of knowing it, the two doctors were a mere eight-tenths of a mile from food and shelter that would have allowed them to survive well beyond Wednesday, when the air search began.
I didn't know that they had a forest service cabin there in the past. Thats interesting, anyone know when it was taken down and exactly what it was for? The other thing is they talk about Northern NH having more roads now, well it does..but the pemi has remained largly unchanged. If anything many of the logging roads have grown up more, except for the few they are maintaining. I wonder why the two didnt just walk south and continue like they had, I know they were very low on energy and it was severly cold. I think they were hoping for a rescue too much. Shows and cant always stay by the wreckage. -Mattl

 

[cbcbd]

I enjoyed reading that a lot. Very interesting, thanks!

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

...I wonder why the two didnt just walk south and continue like they had, I know they were very low on energy and it was severly cold. I think they were hoping for a rescue too much. Shows and cant always stay by the wreckage. -Mattl

Within a mile to the South of were they turned back is Mt. Hancock. They had mountains all around them and they didn't know where they were. In this case, considering age, injury, etc., staying with the plane was probably the best bet.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, "Be Prepared".

 

[RoySwkr]

I didn't know that they had a forest service cabin there in the past. Thats interesting, anyone know when it was taken down and exactly what it was for?
I wonder why the two didnt just walk south and continue like they had, I know they were very low on energy and it was severly cold. I think they were hoping for a rescue too much. Shows and cant always stay by the wreckage.

This cabin http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=19&n=4887958&e=299650&s=50&size=m&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25
was still in use in the '70s by Fish & Game who drove in. I think it was used as sort of a base for patrols in the area. Of course you can't have a drive-in cabin in Wilderness so it's gone now.

I think it was just too cold and the snow too deep to walk out the obvious logging grade to Lincoln.

 

[Jay H]

Very interesting and very unfortunate for the two victims. At least it sounds like we have learned a bit since then and have improved in many ways our SAR capabilities which is a good thing. This read much like watching one of those "seconds from disaster" shows on NatGeo channel. Thanks for the link.

Jay

 

[dms]

I have heard that there is some type of memorial marker at the crash location, but in a couple of trips to explore the general area I have never found anything there. Does anyone know if there really is such a marker? Very interesting story for sure.

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

I have heard that there is some type of memorial marker at the crash location, but in a couple of trips to explore the general area I have never found anything there. Does anyone know if there really is such a marker? Very interesting story for sure.

I don't know about a marker, but I know a short section of the trail in the vicinity of the crash was rerouted since '59.

 

[Mattl]

Isnt the memorial up Jumping Brook? I haven't even seen it for myself. -Mattl

 

[dms]

Isnt the memorial up Jumping Brook? I haven't even seen it for myself. -Mattl

I have read that the crash site is at the place where Jumping Brook enters Schoal Creek, this is where I have searched.

 

[Dalraida]

The plaque is there

I have read that the crash site is at the place where Jumping Brook enters Schoal Creek, this is where I have searched.

That is the correct location of the wreck site except that it was all carried out that summer. The brass plaque is about 12X12 and is on a low rock right on the side of the old RR bed about two thirds of the way up the trail going north from the river crossing. Just below the river crossing is a very nice set of falls and water slides that are pretty fun in the high summer. The old trail (RR grade) can be pretty hard to find from the northern end due to it being located in a really swampy area. The southern end river crossing comes quite a distance from the relocation turn so most people miss it. The foot bridge across Jumping Brook has been gone for quite a few years now. That old section of trail was really nice on a bike due to its nice condition. Pre-mountain bikes, but good old fat tire Schwinn days.

 

[dms]

Dalraida, thanks for the great info!

 

[RoySwkr]

I have read that the crash site is at the place where Jumping Brook enters Schoal Creek, this is where I have searched.

I can't find that junction on a map ??

As D says, the marker used to be right along the trail, but that was when the trail crossed the North Fork twice as shown on the USGS map. The marker was placed right on the trail and not at the crash site. Of course the marker is non-conforming in Wilderness and the FS may have removed it by now.

I don't remember a foot bridge and I was there 30 years ago.

I once rode a 3-speed Huffy with narrow tires to the jct of Thoreau Falls and Wilderness Trails (when that was legal) but didn't venture any farther.

 

[Dalraida]

Jumping Brook Bridge

The wooden footbridge was across Jumping Brook in 1981. I once bushwhacked from the suspension bridge on the north side of the river all the way to the base of Thoreau Falls. There are a lot of old RR tracks still in there. Also, there is a very old RR grade located high on the bank above the north side of the bridge going way up into the Jumping Brook drainage. To find it just head into the woods at the N end of the bridge and bear slightly to the right. In about 100 meters you will see it heading off northeast. There is also a big logging camp that looks like it burned up before they could evacuate it, in that same area. Anyone remember the days of the Special Forces training in the Zealand area in the 60s? They scared the hell out of me when stumbling upon them lurking in the woods. I was on leave just after coming back from a tour overseas and thought I was in the middle of a big flashback. hehehe

 

[RoySwkr]

The wooden footbridge was across Jumping Brook in 1981.

Sorry, I meant the one over North Fork on the USGS map
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=19&n=4891433&e=300558&size=s&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25
may have been gone by the time the map was published

I once bushwhacked from the suspension bridge on the north side of the river all the way to the base of Thoreau Falls.

Which suspension bridge is that, I'm trying to figure out where you mean?

Also, there is a very old RR grade located high on the bank above the north side of the bridge going way up into the Jumping Brook drainage.

A couple years ago I bushwhacked E off Bond and came across it, but as my car was at Zealand and it was angling S it was heading the wrong way for me.

 

[Dalraida]

Suspension Bridge

The suspension bridge I am referring to is the one about five miles in where the Lincoln Woods Trail crosses the Pemi to the south side. The one where the old RR bridge abutments are in the river. The old grade is up on the bank not too far from where the suspension cable anchors are located. It looks like it didn't get as much rail traffic as the main "road", or it may be quite a bit older. Cruising it is easier through the woods beside the grade rather than walking the grade itself due to tree growth. We are talking about the north side of the Pemi.

 

[RoySwkr]

The suspension bridge I am referring to is the one about five miles in where the Lincoln Woods Trail crosses the Pemi to the south side....Cruising it is easier through the woods beside the grade rather than walking the grade itself due to tree growth. We are talking about the north side of the Pemi.

Silly me, of course it's that bridge.

I never walked that track but I've done some closer to Desolation, it's amazing how swampy and grown up the tracks can get compared to the surrounding woods.

But back to the plane crash, I'm still puzzled by the scalpel found a mile S. If the doctors had stayed on your old track on the N side, that might have been why they lost the trail but then the searchers wouldn't have seen the scalpel on the way in. But once they made the North Fork crossing and headed S on the mainline, I'm not sure how they could lose it.

The doctors planned to walk N but decided not to. The trail is much more obscure in that direction and once they started climbing to Thoreau Falls they probably would have decided that was the wrong way and turned back. But if they recognized where they were, Zealand Hut was only a couple miles away and while not operated in winter then there was usually one room left unlocked for visitors. And considering their flight plan, I'd think ground searchers would be more likely to be out on the Zealand side. [How did they get where they were anyway, they must have flown through Zealand Notch!]

 

[Mattl]

Seems off course as well..Did they get lost in the snow while flying and end up there? Makes sense considering that searches had no idea where to look. Im not sure what I would have done in their situations, I think I may have just walked and took my chances. -Mattl