Bald Mountain and the X-15

www.corpsfuds.org...

This document is for the Egan microwave site, but it also covers Bald Mountain and Worthington Mountain. The Worthington site is abandoned, while Egan and of course Bald are still operational. [Bald got a recent upgrade.] What is interesting is this microwave network was for the X-15. Now that could be true, or that might have been used as cover for the U-2 or A-12.

Since the USAF had to request the land from the BLM, it follows that the NTTR border did not cover Bald Mountain in 1961.

If you want to nitpick, only the paperwork for the Worthington site is done correctly. The Egan site parcels are off. If you dig through the document, there is a note that they have to be moved by 2 miles. You can view the parcels on Google Earth using this website:
www.earthpoint.us...

The Bald Mountain parcels are off a bit as well. For example, T4S R55E 35 is just north of the restricted border. T5S R55E 2 is inside the present restricted border, but neither is the top of Bald Mountain.

The abandoned Worthington site is at 37°56'58.57"N 115°38'56.47"W
The Egan site is at 38°40'34.04"N 115° 2'6.63"W
Bald Moutain in Lincoln County is located at 37°26'58.03"N 115°44'0.89"W

Bald Mountain 101

These sites were part of the X-15 High Range that stretched from California to Utah. There is a photo of Microwave Relay Unit Number Four (MRU-4) on Bald Mountain in the 1963 edition of the AFFTC Facilities Handbook (FTC-T1H-63-2003). This image may also be seen on the Dreamland Resort web page in the Bald Mountain section.

Based on the photo, MRU-4 was not located at the top of Bald Mountain.

reply to post by Shadowhawk


I found the photo. I was also instructed how to lose some belly fat!

I see a two potential locations for the old X15 microwave site. This is marked as radio site on the USGS topo map
37°32'35.34"N 115°46'20.97"W

This spot could be ranching related or a cement pad for where the gear was located.
37°33'24.68"N 115°45'6.26"W

Regarding the photo of the tower that can't be "seen", I suspect it is at
37°33'8.76"N 115°44'35.10"W

If you go to
N37.62406 W115.76771
and view in the direction of 150 degrees magnetic, you can see a tower if you use binoculars. The tower and whatever is on it is so thin that it doesn't show up if photographed with a 400mm lens from the location I indicated.

Incidentally, all the google earth imagery in this area is from 6/2011.

Driving around this area will get you camo attention. They don't want to get too close, so they try to spot you from the ET highway or main roads.

A useful Google Earth overlay is
www.lazygranch.com...

The green areas are in the viewshed of Bald Mountain. If you are in the non-green areas near the border, the dudes can't use the Baldocam on you and have to drive to snoop on you. Note there is one remote camera in the northern restricted zone, but I haven't determine it's viewshed.