Most unusual thing you've seen in the woods

[Dos Perros]

My parents were hunting the area for the first time in two years. They were camped in their van for the weekend hunt. They were hunting separately but after the first day they’d both seem the crash sight at different times. Saturday late afternoon they drove to the nearest town and called the county sheriff to report their discovery of the crash scene.

They were asked to stay where they were camped and a sheriffs party would meet them Sunday morning. It turned out they waited till about 4pm Sunday and then there wasn’t time to head out to the crash sight. My folks had some topo maps and with that everyone headed home.

For the years before the crash I’d hunted the forest near the crash site to the point that I’d given it a name. “The Crossing”. The reason that name was given, there is a stream that was easy to cross in only one place. Above the crossing there was a large rockslide with boulders the size of cars and steep clay walls. Below the crossing there is a steep rocky slope with a ridiculous amount of fallen logs. In short the crash site (The Crossing) is a natural funnel.

The ultralight was probably a result of a fast down draft and a very in experienced pilot. (Taking lessons to be licensed to have a passenger on board.) The field of rocks with a stream could have turned the lift into a quick down draft. The ultralight had a parachute that wasn’t deployed.

The people who knew the victims of the crash included the selling rep. I was in contact with him by phone. He and a number of other volunteers removed and carried out ultra lite parts. The engine, parachute, & Landing gear. (The guy who carried out the engine must have been a beast.

I was in my late 30’s and didn’t like seeing the crash site in the wilderness hunting area. I dragged out the fuselage. It took a few hours and the month was September as I recall. I took it in for aluminum scrap metal.
Now what’s left is covered with 30 years of branches and fir nettles.

Here’s the Only article I‘ve found on line.

Hunters Find Remains At Site Of Crash

The remains of a pair of best friends who disappeared nearly two years ago in an ultralight airplane were found by hunters Sunday in a heavily wooded area north of Old Baldy Mountain. Greg Berglund, 28, and his friend, Mike Flake, 29, disappeared on Nov. 13, 1993, after taking off from the...

www.spokesman.com

So I'm a curious dude. I plotted Oregon City, Mt Hood, and where they crashed "north of Old Baldy Mountain." It looks like they probably took off, went and landed on Mt Hood like they planned, or maybe decided not to for whatever reason, and then flew to north to go look at Mt Rainier. No wonder the initial search never found them. That seems like a lot of distance for an ultralight.

 

[FlyGuy]

I also found a plane crash. This was September of 2017 in WY, unit 11. It didn’t look to us like it had just happened, but it didn’t seem too old either. we guessed it was 2-3 years old. I’d met the local game warden on a scouting trip, so I notified him by inreach. I assumed he already knew all about it but It was easy enough to tell him. He was shocked, he had worked the area for many years and had never heard of any plane wreckage before. That made us think we should have spent more time searching for the bags of money. A few days later he followed up with us after getting with the sheriffs department. Turns out The crash was from the 70’s. No survivors.

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[StevenB]

There was a plastic gas can at the crash site though there were teeth marks that had punctured it. Bears and coyotes like to test chew plastic items discarded or lost.

The crash site

So I'm a curious dude. I plotted Oregon City, Mt Hood, and where they crashed "north of Old Baldy Mountain." It looks like they probably took off, went and landed on Mt Hood like they planned, or maybe decided not to for whatever reason, and then flew to north to go look at Mt Rainier. No wonder the initial search never found them. That seems like a lot of distance for an ultralight.

I’d only heard the flight plan was to stay in Oregon. (Land on a Mt Hood glacier fill tank with gas in jug. )

There are some photographs somewhere in my house showing the nose down ultralight. I also took video that ended up on the news. A helicopter was trying to film the crash but even with the GPS coordinates their efforts were for not.

The coincidence of the same last name as the passenger had the effect of my feeling of my inevitable mortality.
That said I carry a PLB almost anytime I venture out of cell coverage.