Crash Victims Info

I am Hiking Mt. Whitney and I was wondering how to find the Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 crash site?

I am taking the Mt. Whitney Main trail. I have the crash sites GPS location I was just wondering if it was possible to reach the site from the trail.

Public Comments

1. You'd be going up the wrong canyon. The Whitney Trail goes up the Lone Pine Creek canyon, and the crash site is up the North Fork Lone Pine Creek. The cliff that Flight 708 crashed into is the wall above Upper Boy Scout Lake (west of it), which is a few miles up a rough trail from Whitney Portal. You can make a loop trip where after you climb Mt Whitney, you can descend via the Mountaineer's Route (the gully on the north side of the summit), go down to Iceberg Lake and beyond, continuing towards a small lake that overlooks Clyde Meadow. Then to your left (north) is Upper Boy Scout Lake. The crash happened in the winter, and the plane has since been recovered, so it's uncertain what you will find left of it today. This route down from the summit to the crash site can sometimes be very rough and may involve some rock scrambling. Don't expect that there will always be a trail along the way. Oh yeah, there's one more thing, finding your way down the Ebersbacher Ledges as you reach near the bottom of North Fork Lone Pine Creek can really be a bear when it's dark. Spend the night above it rather than trying to go down there when it's dark--it could kill you. Don't push your luck. See photo in the 2nd link. Addendum: All the reports say that the plane hit the cliff at 11,770' elevation. Upper Boy Scout Lake is at about 11,300' elevation. The wreckage slid about 400' down from the impact, coming to a rest at approximately the same level as the lake. When you read the reports, it's easy to assume that the plane hit the massive Mt Whitney East Buttress, it sounds romantic, but when a plane is going westward up the Lone Pine Creek canyon (while lost), it's going to hit the wall above Upper Boy Scout Lake first. Iceberg Lake is at 12,600' elevation, so we know that the wreckage site isn't around there. The reported coordinates are 36°35'45''N 118°15'52''W, but that seems to put the wreckage site in front of Mt Russell, not Mt. Whitney, at an elevation above 12,000' and more than a mile away from Upper Boy Scout Lake. This was in 1969, maybe that's why planes crashed in those days? Special thanks to Tahoe for warning you about North Fork Lone Pine Creek "trail" conditions. Also, thanks for this question, I enjoyed researching this one. It's been a long time since I've been in North Fork Lone Pine Creek, I think I'd like to go back there again. Addendum: I've found a picture of the probable location of the crash site, the wall above Upper Boy Scout Lake. See 3rd link.
2. I have never seen any wreakage but I have never hiked off the North Fork trail either. I haven't been able to confirm the exact location, but the cliffs below Iceburg Lake (12,600) and above Upper Boyscout Lake are on the east face of Mt. Whitney and are the right elevation (11,700). This is the official report, but there is no exact location: http://amelia.db.erau.edu/reports/ntsb/aar/AAR70-05.pdf I would suggest a day hike from the Whitney Portal, up the main trail to the North Fork / Mountaineer's Route trail. This trail is steep and VERY hard to follow - I had to follow someone who knew the trail several times before I could find the way - there are many incorrect trails that lead you astray from the correct way up the canyon. You may be able to follow some experienced climbers headed up to Iceburg Lake. It usually takes 2 - 3 hours to get to Upper Boyscout Lake and it would probably take another hour to hike around the lake up to the base of the cliffs (which go straight up to Iceburg Lake) and maybe an hour back to the bottom. I don't think that you need a permit to hike the Mountaineer's Route as long as your are not spending the night. Good Luck
3. All hikes in the Whitney Zone (including the Mountaineer's Route) require a permit, whether you are day-hiking or spending the night.