The group at Towne Pass. The hike to Towne Peak starts here. This hike will be the 40th anniversary of when TomG along with his dad were rescued from the top of Towne Peak when he was 13 years old. That hike was Tom's first peak and crash site visit. Since then he's gone on the climb over 400 peaks and hunt down and visited over 250 crash sites.

Robin, Sooz, Chip, Laura, Cori, TomG, Kathy, Joe(me) and TomB ready for the hike to Towne Peak.

The hike starts off with a 800 foot climb on a lava covered slope to reach the ridge that we will follow to the peak.

Getting close to the ridge.

On the ridge. From here we can get our first look at the SA-16A Albatross.

TomG pointing to the Albatross across Dolomite Canyon.

Zoomed in on the Albatross. The plane crashed on 1/24/52 after one of the engines failed. All five of the crew members were able to bail out safely.

TomG telling the story from 40 years ago how his brother and friend decided to head straight for the plane by crossing Dolomite Canyon. They headed off with no water while Tom and his dad continued along the rdige to the peak then to the plane. When they reached the plane, they found them sitting under the wing, tried and dehydrated. After returning to the peak, Tom's dad became ill and couldn't continue on. Tom stayed with his dad while his brother and friend went for help.

The group making their way up the ridge. I was moving slow, so I hiked ahead while they took a short break, I knew they would catch up to me.

We followed the old Death Valley boundary line to the peak. In 1994 Death Valley was designated a National Park and grew by 1,200,000 acres. This old bounary line is now well within the park.