In The Valley Of Shadow And Death - The Story of the Death Valley Germans

death valley located on the periphery of the mojave desert and sitting 300 feet below sea level it's one of the earth's harshest landscapes four north-south-facing mountain ranges from the edge of the valley to the pacific ocean create a severe rain shadow and as such the valley averages a mere two inches of rain a year the landscape is barren covered in rocky slopes of sandstone granite and basalt flows from ancient volcanoes wind strewn sand dunes and salt pans make up the valley floor which was at one time a lake the bare rocky ground contributes the overbearing heat through a process called solar heating wherein the solar energy irradiates from the rocks and sand and further heats the valley due to low elevation of the valley this heat then gets trapped because of this temperatures here average over 90 degrees throughout the year and average over a hundred for five months a year recorded extremes are as high as 134 and as low as 15. it's a land as beautiful as it is deadly [Music] during a routine surveillance mission national park ranger dave brenner spotted something odd a minivan parked in the anvil canyon arroyo brenner landed and investigated the van it was stuck in the sand and its tires were flat from the rugged terrain of the arroyo brenner wrote down the license plate and reported it to dvnp headquarters from there california highway patrol determined the van was a rental and the dollar rent-a-car had reported it stolen a month before the vehicle had been rented by a german family egbert rimkus his girlfriend cornelia meyer and their respective children george weber and max meyer search and rescue surveyed the area but only found some wrappers in the dirt around the van an empty beer bottle two miles down the arroyo after four days they called the search off nothing else had been found and it was clear the family would not be found alive for the next 13 years the case would be a mystery and would be the subject of internet sleuths and conspiracies the family arrived in the u.s on the 8th of july first landing in seattle before catching an immediate flight to los angeles once there they rented the aforementioned van and vacation around the san clemente area for a while on the 12th egbert requested a wire transfer of 1500 from his bank in dresden after spending some time on the coast they headed up to las vegas where again on the 21st egbert faxed his ex-wife requesting a wire transfer which she declined the next morning they checked out of the hotel and would proceed to death valley in stowe they had beer bourbon juice some water sleeping tent bag and their luggage upon arrival of the death valley they stopped at the furnace creek visitor center and bought a copy of death valley national monument text in german photos recovered from the camera suggest they camped the first night in hanoipa canyon located towards the northern end of the valley temperatures towards the top of the canyon would have been somewhat cooler with highs around 105 and a nighttime low around 80. come morning they headed down the west side road an unpaved road straddling the western side of badwater basin [Music] some speculate they had plans of taking a quick tour through death valley before heading to yosemite and back to l.a something that would be hard if at all possible to pull off their van was due back the 26th and their flight back home the 27th this would be a minimum 15 to 16 hour drive not including sightseeing stops or traffic as they came to the end of west side road they took a turn on warm springs road which led up onto the panament range on the west side of the valley [Music] in years past the panama range was home to mining operations that fizzled out in the early decades of the 20th century these old camps have been left to wither in the desert but the few still standing as tourist traps the family stopped at one such camp warm springs and signed their names in the log book underneath they left a note saying we are going over the pass the pass in question was most likely mangle pass ironically named after one of the earlier explorers of the region german american prospector carl mingle located on the southwest side of the panama range it's the only way out other than from whence they came coming out on top of the canyon they found themselves in butte valley they then headed to the geologist's cabin an old prospector's cabin left for public use these days in this cabin is food water and shelter however the family only stopped here for a visit stole the flag and possibly took some water then proceeding to mango pass where they would have realized that the van was unable to overcome the rocky terrain so they went back but instead of returning to the cabin or trying to go down warm springs road they went east down hanvil canyon the canyon had not been an official road for years this point and had degraded into nothing more than a sandy royal as they headed down the arroyo the rough ground tore apart the tires based on the tire tracks found they drove at least 200 feet or so like this before pulling off to the side and getting stuck in the sand one can only assume that any unease the family had felt in the previous miles of traverse in the desert has turned into dread they were stranded miles away from anybody in the vast expanses of the desert candy wrappers and fecal matter found her in the van by search and rescue point to them camping out there for a night the map the family had been using to navigate listed a military base the china lake naval base about 10 miles south of their location certainly they would have assumed that this was their best opportunity for help so they started hiking down anvil canyon after a couple miles they turned south heading over a ridge between needle and sugarloaf peak after crossing said ridge they would have come out to a large alluvial fan sandwiched between more ridges they had no shade no food and possibly no water crossing these ridges and valleys in 105 degree weather would have been absolute hell and the likelihood of them making it was slim their remains were found next to a bluff on the other side of the basin it is unknown if they made it any farther if they were to make it to the top of the next ridge they would have seen nothing for miles the military base was actually a weapons testing range it was nothing but sand and scrub for miles mentioned earlier what happened to the germans was a bit of a mystery until 2009 when volunteers tom mahood and les walker retraced their steps and found their remains into that little hill they also found cornelius passport and bank id a journal and wine bottle the children's remains were never officially found though small bones in the area were found and the soul of what appeared to be a child's shoe the tale of the death valley germans is one of ignorance a sobering reminder of what happens when man underestimates nature [Music] you

Channel: memoirs

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Id: sZBKSQSg0DM

Length: 9min 9sec (549 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 15 2022