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The Bear 3 recovery team getting organized.

We caravaned up the Elliot Highway to mile post 28 where there is a large truck parking area on the west side of the Elliot Highway, just opposite a parking area for the Wickersham Dome trails leading into the White Mountain recreational area. At 10 AM Chuck Johnson led us off. Jerry Curry followed me, Myles Thomas followed him, and Gary Chamberlain and Gary Kendall brought up the rear. I was riding a Polaris 600 twin - a 750 pound stallion that I sort of learned how to control by the time the day ended. (Neal's Journal)

Break-Time - recovery team arrives at Lee's Cabin, a favorite and much used recreational cabin located in the White Mountain Area.

The Wickersham trail leading off the Elliot Highway was rocky and irregular, with a few greasy mud locations the first five miles. It was a challenge for me to keep control of the ATV I was riding. For the most part the 12 miles of White Mountain Recreation area trails we rode were along a ridge line. They were wetter and muddier than anyone, other than me, expected them to be. I had no clue as to what to expect, and as a result I had a magnificent, and at times terrifying day. Lee's Cabin, 7 or so miles in from the Elliot Highway was a picturesque modern cabin with an outhouse. (Neal's Journal)

BEAR 3 payload located in perfect condition.

After dismounting the ATV's, we hiked about 3/4 of a mile through dense woods with ground that sank several inches beneath each step, and 400 feet lower in elevation from where we parked the ATV's. All three Garmin GPS's we carried indicated we were close, and then Jerry Curry spotted the parachute up in a tree, not too far away. Bear 3 looked great! The parachute hung about 8 feet above the ground and one transmitter/gps capsule hung about 6 feet above the ground. The other 3 payloads, the other transmitter/gps, the camera package and the volcanic sampler package lay on the ground. Even after 7 days, the 144.390 APRS beacon was still transmitting. Myles told us he flew over it the night before our trip and it was still chirping. We took pictures, then dismantled the Bear 3 flight string, and put the pieces into plastic bags for recovery and return (Neal's Journal)

The BEAR 3 pieces as they landed on the ground. From left to right, you can see capsule 1 (APRS beacon) still in the tree, next on the line is capsule 2 (redundant beacon) then capsule 3 (camera payload) and last is the volcanic particulate sampler

Ug....Bogged down again. Think about this for a moment. You are on a 750 pound, four wheel drive ATV with an automatic transmission and a powerful engine. In front of you is a mud bog with a series of parallel trails running through it in the general direction you want to go. Water in the trail disguises just how deep those ruts go. What do you do? You follow the leader and hope he gets it right. Most times he does, rarely he does not, but when not, the winches get manned pretty quickly. (Neal's Journal)

...He seemed able to get through muddy areas where others could not, and was always coming back to connect up his winch to other stuck ATV's to help them out. Except once. He rolled into a mud bog that simply seemed bottomless and a steep cliff on the other side. He came to such a jarring halt I thought he might pitch over the handlebars, but he did not... (Neal's Journal)

Back on the trail.

We made excellent fast progress coming back from the Bear 3 landing zone to the Elliot Highway arriving there just a little before 6 PM. There were several cliff hanger moments as one or another of us got stuck once again on the way back, but the espirt de corp was high, and everyone rallied to get whoever was stuck moving again quickly. As everyone loaded their heavily mud splattered ATV's back onto their trailers, it was still a magnificent Alaskan day. It was sunny. It was plus 72 degree Fahrenheit. A gentle breeze was blowing past us as we talked about that cold beer waiting for us back home. (Neal's Journal)