OMG ... I found a pick with HIKERS in Glamis :
http://www.uleth.ca/vft/SW_USA/photo-dune.html
Full Version: Hikers Found!
Looks like the south west corner of the Buttercup Valley. That thing in the front left looks like part of the old road the movie studios put in for filming in the area....in fact I wouldn't be surprised if that photo was taken during filming of a movie.
is that why there is all that asphault by comp hill?
Looks like a bunch of people taking an ICDB break to me. There's an old campfire right in the foreground. Doesn't seem like they hiked into the closure, that's for sure. 
I took this pic.. it was an amazing afternoon..
| QUOTE (jhitesma @ Jul 23 2004, 11:36 PM) |
| Looks like the south west corner of the Buttercup Valley. That thing in the front left looks like part of the old road the movie studios put in for filming in the area....in fact I wouldn't be surprised if that photo was taken during filming of a movie. |
It looks more like the area right off the highway. It's more towards the east of buttercup. Right before you hit the entrance. That road goes all the way up the side of that hill. If you go straight over you'll end up on top of Comp.
Lots of people park and just walk to the top of that ridge. You can go during summer and see them but I wouldn't consider them hikers.
They're tourists just walking up a tiny dune.
| QUOTE (Chummin @ Jul 24 2004, 08:11 AM) |
| I took this pic.. it was an amazing afternoon.. |
sometimes, I wonder about you Chum ...
| QUOTE (Rubberneck @ Jul 24 2004, 11:18 AM) | ||
It looks more like the area right off the highway. It's more towards the east of buttercup. Right before you hit the entrance. That road goes all the way up the side of that hill. If you go straight over you'll end up on top of Comp. Lots of people park and just walk to the top of that ridge. You can go during summer and see them but I wouldn't consider them hikers. They're tourists just walking up a tiny dune. |
I think you're right (for once, guess it's true that even the blind squirrel find the eventual nut) Rubberneck. Now that I take a second look it does look a LOT like that "road" right by the entrance to Buttercup.
Wife, from what I've been told by oldtimers yes those random chunks of pavement in the valley at Buttercup are left over from old movie crews who put in temporary roads so they could get big rigs back to the valley to haul in their sets.
Dwayne Williams (DJW on the boards) says he finally found his old photos of the Return Of the Jedi sets - he told me about coming over a dune one day and suddenly seeing Jaba's ship in the middle of the sand
One of these days we'll get his photos scanned in. Until then Desert USA has some pretty good ones:
The full article is here http://www.desertusa.com/sandhills/du_sh_star.html
From what I've been told this particular set was on the far east side of Buttercup valley right up against the dunes.
| QUOTE (jhitesma @ Jul 25 2004, 01:38 PM) | ||||
I think you're right (for once, guess it's true that even the blind squirrel find the eventual nut) Rubberneck. Now that I take a second look it does look a LOT like that "road" right by the entrance to Buttercup. |
Rubberneck is right, that's right as you come off Grey's Well Road to Buttecup. Look on the left side of the pic, you can see the shadows of the powerlines on the ground.
| QUOTE (jhitesma @ Jul 25 2004, 01:38 PM) |
The full article is here http://www.desertusa.com/sandhills/du_sh_star.html From what I've been told this particular set was on the far east side of Buttercup valley right up against the dunes. |
I went out there when they where filming. Well, I tried to. They had security guards out on the front side entrance of the sand highway back to Buttercup and a few others around the dunes that can be seen in the background shots during filming. They only filmed on the weekdays so you could go right over to the set on the weekends. As you can see by the other pictures, you couldn't get on the set.
| QUOTE |
| from what I've been told by oldtimers yes those random chunks of pavement in the valley at Buttercup are left over from old movie crews who put in temporary roads so they could get big rigs back to the valley to haul in their sets. |
Well, I prefer to be called a "long timer" rather than an "old timer".
Probably the 'next to most unusual' set I've seen out there is when they filmed "Haumps". It was a comedy about a calvary troop that used camels. Like "StarGate", the set was at the North East corner of Buttercup Valley. They had stables for the camels.
I can't remember the name of a different movie, but they used a helicopter to cover the tracks of the attacking arabs that had to run down Comp Hill for several takes.
I was working at the airport when some of these movies were shot. When they shot the pilot for the TV series "The Bionic Man", They needed to land, and take off, a DC3 in Buttercup. A DC3 is a pretty good size airplane. I de-fueled the DC3 at the Yuma Airport so they would have a lighter load for the landing & take offs. The stunt went OK with a few takes. They barely had enough fuel to get back to the airport.
| QUOTE (jhitesma @ Jul 23 2004, 08:36 PM) |
| Looks like the south west corner of the Buttercup Valley. That thing in the front left looks like part of the old road the movie studios put in for filming in the area....in fact I wouldn't be surprised if that photo was taken during filming of a movie. |
Your right it is right by the camping area, there is this little hill that is just like olds but its super super small, its more of a little hill that kids like to ride on, ya know when ya get off the highway and ya can turn left or right well if ya turn right its like right after ya turn, i hate it, i would come over that dune right there and go over it with my paddles, oh i remember know
its right by the store at buttercup, ya know where the trailer is and those poeple sell a bunch of clothes and stuff,
| QUOTE (LoBuck @ Jul 29 2004, 02:56 PM) |
| I was working at the airport when some of these movies were shot. When they shot the pilot for the TV series "The Bionic Man", They needed to land, and take off, a DC3 in Buttercup. A DC3 is a pretty good size airplane. I de-fueled the DC3 at the Yuma Airport so they would have a lighter load for the landing & take offs. The stunt went OK with a few takes. They barely had enough fuel to get back to the airport. |
Ok, I'm curious...where the heck did they land a DC-3 at Buttercup! The only even remotely possible place I can think of is the eastern edge of the valley since it's got the least vegetation....but even there there are a lot of bushes....
The area in front of comp is the only area I can think of without much veg....but it dosn't look nearly big enough for a DC-3 to get off the ground in....espically with the hills on most sides it would have to immediately climb over.
Very cool, but I'm lost as to where they could pull it off!
Maybe along the mexican road (border) on the west side?? I know there's powerlines close but I think there's enough room for a plane to land. It's definitely long enough.
Other than that I think it would be nuts to try and land anywhere unless they smoothed a path out on the flats somewhere.
Other than that I think it would be nuts to try and land anywhere unless they smoothed a path out on the flats somewhere.
No, it was in Buttercup Valley, right down the center, East - West. Even though a DC3 is a big plane it did have good short take off and landing capabilty. The military used it a primary troop transport in WWII in the South Pacific on those short rough strips.
The one that landed and took off at Buttercup had next to no fuel and as little as possible inside.
As for the bushes, keep in mind that the leading edge of a DC3 is around 10 ft off the ground. I had to use a 6' ladder to get on the back side of the wing.
The one that landed and took off at Buttercup had next to no fuel and as little as possible inside.
As for the bushes, keep in mind that the leading edge of a DC3 is around 10 ft off the ground. I had to use a 6' ladder to get on the back side of the wing.
| QUOTE (Rubberneck @ Jul 29 2004, 06:23 PM) |
| Other than that I think it would be nuts to try and land anywhere unless they smoothed a path out on the flats somewhere. |
30 years ago that valley floor was not all whooped out like it is now either. Not smooth by any means though.
I'm still guessing they had to pull a few bushes to get enough clerance....they're not very tall but you gotta sneak the gear though somewhere and there aren't any straight lines though them that I've found yet
Then again I've heard of movie crews going to dune areas and spending weeks pulling out every trace of any kind of vegitation to get the shot they want. (as if we're the ones who are bad for the plant life!) So pulling up a few bushes to make it easier to land and take off a DC-3 may not have been a big deal for them.
My one roommate in college worked at our schools airport as a general "dirty job" guy. He was technically assistant to the head maintance guy but in practice he just got the jobs that no one else wanted. The job that convined him to quit was polishing the schools pride and joy....and DC-3
He had to do it by hand too Took him almost two weeks. After the first day he was ready to quit but needed the money. By the end of the first week he knew he was quitting but he had done so much on that plane that he was determined to finish before he left. The day he finished polishing he gave his two weeks notice and was never happier...but wow was he proud of how that plane looked! He actually drove us all out to the airport just to show off his hard work
Then again I've heard of movie crews going to dune areas and spending weeks pulling out every trace of any kind of vegitation to get the shot they want. (as if we're the ones who are bad for the plant life!) So pulling up a few bushes to make it easier to land and take off a DC-3 may not have been a big deal for them.
My one roommate in college worked at our schools airport as a general "dirty job" guy. He was technically assistant to the head maintance guy but in practice he just got the jobs that no one else wanted. The job that convined him to quit was polishing the schools pride and joy....and DC-3
He had to do it by hand too
Took him almost two weeks. After the first day he was ready to quit but needed the money. By the end of the first week he knew he was quitting but he had done so much on that plane that he was determined to finish before he left. The day he finished polishing he gave his two weeks notice and was never happier...but wow was he proud of how that plane looked! He actually drove us all out to the airport just to show off his hard work
Jason, they did pull some bushes and did some grading. I wasn't going to mention that. Again this was 30 ears ago and it wasn't as big of a deal as it is now. For a few years after that, people used that "strip" to pull parachutes behind Jeeps & buggies. These were the round parachutes not the paragliders.
It was right after I moved to Yuma, but the "strip" was pretty much left over from "The Flight of the Phoenix" which was filmed there in 1965. Paul Mantz was killed during the filming. Crashed there in Buttercup Valley.
Paul Mantz Bio
It was right after I moved to Yuma, but the "strip" was pretty much left over from "The Flight of the Phoenix" which was filmed there in 1965. Paul Mantz was killed during the filming. Crashed there in Buttercup Valley.
Paul Mantz Bio
Detailing airplanes was a side job I did on the weekends. Hard work, but good money. I charged $100 for a single engine Cessna or Piper type. A Cessna or Beech twin would pull $175. Not bad for 4 to 6 hours work in 1974.
Wasn't this thread about hiking?
Wasn't this thread about hiking?
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