Post by diane9247 on Jan 19, 2021 7:32:35 GMT
Deserts are fun to peruse, because unusual things are easy to see. I stumbled upon a military-green tank in the California desert, in the foothills of the Cosos Range. Note the big green bulldozer to the east in the larger circle. There are assorted other objects, rusted metal storage buildings (?) and a truck. There are two revetment structures in the area. It does not look like this site has been used for a long time. Directly south is another site with scattered equipment and a lot of shipping containers bent in half by, perhaps, heavy artillery. The Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake is located 30 miles SSE.
The USGS was very helpful in my search for a name for this place. They provided a handy document called "Map showing areas of visible land disturbances caused by two military training operations in the Mojave Desert, California," (shown in a dark rectangle), published in 1986. The point was to show the long-lasting affects of traffic to the fragile desert landscape. This location wasn't included in the rectangle marked by the USGS, perhaps it wasn't even used by the Navy at the time. The Navy and other training areas are shown in light shading. (Regarding the use of "Warfare" vs. "Weapons": The second name is used now and there is a Google link using "Warfare," but it leads to the Naval Air Weapons Station. The USGS map used Warfare in 1986.)
I hope someone will be able to ID the tank.
Tank in California desert.kmz (976 B)
The USGS was very helpful in my search for a name for this place. They provided a handy document called "Map showing areas of visible land disturbances caused by two military training operations in the Mojave Desert, California," (shown in a dark rectangle), published in 1986. The point was to show the long-lasting affects of traffic to the fragile desert landscape. This location wasn't included in the rectangle marked by the USGS, perhaps it wasn't even used by the Navy at the time. The Navy and other training areas are shown in light shading. (Regarding the use of "Warfare" vs. "Weapons": The second name is used now and there is a Google link using "Warfare," but it leads to the Naval Air Weapons Station. The USGS map used Warfare in 1986.)
I hope someone will be able to ID the tank.
Tank in California desert.kmz (976 B)
In that same area, why would there be dozens of little boats lined up in rows? I found a large cache of old tanks (look smaller than the one I found) a few miles west, near a square cleared in the desert. There is just an amazing volume of equipment and junk scattered everywhere around. 