The Search Continues in Red Rock Canyon

These are some photos I took while we were searching a hot target area just north of Turtlehead Peak in the upper portion of Brownstone Canyon from the 3800 to 6000 foot level at the base of La Madre Peak. The Red Rock Search and Rescue team consisted of 30 members this past Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012.

Red Rock Search and Rescue
Target Search Area behind Turtlehead Peak
Feb 11, 2012

Dana, our RRSAR Team Leader
at the Command Post in the early morning.

Gearing up. Three mile hike into the search
area.

Dana planning our search grid and watching the group fan out. 

Break time in a Brownstone Canyon wash. Regrouping before another change
in the grid search pattern.

One of our team found this camo covered tent in a wash on the 

east side of Brownstone Canyon. I just happened to be down slope 50 yards

when he called out that he found it. This is Federal BLM land within the RRCA. 

 One of the two law enforcement officers with us helped me and another team member 

check out the tent after a cautious approach. The tent was empty except for a stash of food.

100 yards down slope on the opposite side of the wash we found another stash which

contained a stove, lantern, and other gear hidden under some brush. No sign of people.

The Tallest peak is the north facing flank of
Turtlehead Mountain. Our next target
search area this coming week.

Doing a little rock scrambling checking
tanks, pools, and caves.

 We all had binoculars and were constantly scanning for wildlife activity or scavengers. Scared a few
jack rabbits in the process.

 At the upper most search boundary at the base of La Madre Peak a group of us stopped to have
lunch and a little well deserved minutes of rest. Getting to this point took about 4 hours and climbing ridges and washes on a constant 5.8% grade. JD, blue t-shirt in right photo even made coffee for us.
Temp started out in the 40s at sunrise and warmed to mid 60s by day's end. The 10-15 mph breeze was a welcomed by all. I had a 4 liter CamelBak that was dry when we got back to the command post.

Here we are making our 3-4 mile trek back to the command post where four 4WD vehicles were waiting to take us out of the area. 

Every where you turned you saw wonderful views. We found several cliff overhangs
with ancient Indian pictographs.

The RRSAR commander has suspended large scale ground searches in the canyons now that all of the canyons have all have been thoroughly searched. The search area now is targeted on the north facing flanks of Turtlehead Mountain where the last cell tower ping from Ron's phone was received. There about dozens of rock faces, splits, boulder fields, and ledges to cover by the C3-C4 climbers. To do it justice they need a crew of about 50 expert climbers to cover this nearly vertical terrain. There is one section of terrain about 1 mile from the Turtlehead Mountain summit at 315 degrees NNW that I want to search. It hasn't been targeted. I really think Ron will be eventually found within a 1 mile radius of Turtlehead Mountain.