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 Desert diary: Jerry Freeman chronicles his
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Main Story Diary entries Archives 'New Lost 49ers' complete successful trek across West Modern 49ers struggle over historic Nevada trail
Route map Archive photos |
Wednesday night, April 23, 1997 When it was pitch black, I began to move. I didn't wait for the moon, darkness was my friend. Immediately and without warning, a forest of light poles near the valley floor turned blood-red before bursting into brilliant incandescence. I would adhere to a geometric axiom: The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The "line" would lead to a castle-shaped edifice near the northern end of the valley. So much for axioms. What should have been a 45-minute stroll became a five-hour ordeal of heart-stopping suspense. I felt like a bad actor in a prison-break movie. Armed guards were everywhere. Checking gates, circling structures, winding their way along the dirt roads that weaved in and out of my hiding places. I held my breath as powerful lights lit up the surrounding brush, raced for better cover when they faded. Did they suspect my presence? Had McCall picked up that phone? Near the middle of the valley, I was curiously drawn to one particular building, which seemed to attract an inordinate number of visits from security. It was nondescript really, constructed of block and surrounded with chain link. A single window, too high to peer into, emitted a radiant pulsing glow. Slipping past the gray-stuccoed "castle," I zeroed in on a narrow saddle, cradling the only paved road through the pass. Scrambling toward the top, I began to feel uneasy. Something was not right. I lay motionless, straining to hear over the night wind, its strength intensifying the higher I climbed. I moved with care, stopping every few minutes to look and listen. Reaching the summit, I found myself at the edge of a clearing. Most of it was blanketed in shadow, the surrounding cliffs shielding the moon's glow. I raised my field glasses, light enhancement more important to me now than magnification. There, not 30 feet away, was a security vehicle, its lights out, its engine running. The wind has masked its sound as I approached. I staggered backward, nearly smashing the binoculars as I sought cover. Dropping below his level of sight, I circled behind him. A few minutes later, his headlights flooded the clearing and he was gone. Dragging myself out of the dirt, I sighed with relief to finally be alone. Checking my position, I was less than a half-mile from water. A straight short down this canyon and I was home free. It narrowed as I descended, forcing me to stay uncomfortably close to the paved road. Just when I thought the worst was behind me, I came upon an elaborate barricade barring vehicle entrance to the northern end of this weird complex. It was lit up like a Christmas tree and surrounded by a cacophonous din that grew louder the closer I came. Studying it with the binoculars, I realized I could easily walk around the barricade and that the noise was coming from its power source: a generator! A ponderous, gasoline driven behemoth on wheels. Working clockwise, enormous strobe lights alternately turned points of the compass into day before switching instantly to another location. Who were they expecting? I proceeded cautiously around the left side, timing the light sequences in order to circumvent them. Moving only when the strobes were pointed away, lying flat beneath scant cover when they explosively illuminated my position. When finally clear, I yielded to the temptation to read the posted entrance sign: "NO TRESPASSING, VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED. CAMERA EXCLUSION AREA, BADGED PERSONNEL ONLY. NO FIREARMS, CAMERAS, PHONES OR BINOCULARS. BY ORDER OF THE L.A.N.L.L. CORPORATION." A week later, safely ensconced in my study, I would learn what the L.A.N.L.L. Corporation stood for: Los Alamos National Laboratories Limited. They're the people who gave us the mother of all government secrets: the Manhattan Project, which resulted in the development of the atomic bomb. I shuddered to think what these guys were working on now.
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