5 October Ground Search at the Lee Site

Due to the fire closure, I lost about 5 weeks of the summer search season. I plan on making that time up by working out here every weekend until the weather really takes a turn. I’ve made some significant progress since the closure lifted, and I’d like to keep the momentum going.

I’ve continued making progress along the hillside below the upper bench and south of the landing. Yesterday’s objective was to clear the area I marked off with pin flags last time. I made it out to the site in the morning, hiked down to the slope and got to work.

I started at the cliff out over the creek, overlapped with my last search lane and began to clear the slope. Much like last time, I worked parallel to the creek, crawling south to north, clearing a lane, then turning and heading back 1 arm length upslope.

Where my path crossed a drainage chute or debris trap, I would stop and concentrate on those areas, ensuring that all the debris was sorted through, the base of ferns were checked and generally sweeping clean the forest floor. When working uphill on a drainage line, I generally could stand up and work the chute above me. The hill was that kind of steep, and this is the last least steep section as I continue working north along the creek.

It took until late afternoon to complete the section I had marked out. I finished the day by marking out the next lane and scouting some anchor points for next week’s safety line. I’ll be working roped up from here forward, mainly to add to the safety margin of working on that hill. This will also allow me to develop techniques for working while roped, which will be useful on the much more steep Grissom site.