Those of you who attended High Sierra Fly in 2013 or 2014 are familiar with the "Three Shotgun Shells" small dry lakebed where the event was held those years. I'm based at Minden (KMEV), very near there, and today, as part of a flightseeing/foliage tour flight, I took my girlfriend in there and we landed. While walking my LZ (the standard one we used during HSF back then), we found a lot of broken glass and nails that to me, appear to have been placed there intentionally to cause a hazard to landing aircraft.



Lynn and I removed about eight handfuls of nails and glass and piled them against a mound, where no one would land.

That's too bad someone would do that.

Lovely folks out there "protecting" the lake bed from these aircraft that do some much damage...

Many times those spiral shank nails are used in pallets. I wonder if they are just old ash piles from people burning pallets and the ash has washed/blown away? Maybe that is just hopefully thinking.

There is so much of that junk on gravel bars in the NW.

Glad you moved it and didn't run any over!

- Adam

In the past I have picked up almost a whole Home Depot bucket of nails off that lakebed. I’m guessing they are from pallets ( as already mentioned ) any water heaters out there this trip ? People seem to really like dumping stuff and burning pallets out there .

It’s most likely this guy on YouTube - a year or two ago I noticed he was using 3SGS as his “uncle's ranch” for blowing things up.

https://youtube.com/@EdwinSarkissian?si=thfplJnyGsbp1oph

I haven’t paid attention since noticing that, but if you go through his videos you’ll probably find 3SGS telltale topography.

Thanks Adam. Your possible explanation makes sense. That is a relief. Still a hazard, but better some yahoos drinking Coronas and burning pallets than intentional sabotage.

Pierre

The more YouTube likes a place the less likely I'll visit.

MW

Both are bad in their own way. Intentional sabotage is much worse in it's own. I worry about how much accessible the backcountry has become, to people who don't care very much about leaving no trace. The amount of careless people who see it as a playground. I get why someone would think it is a good place to mess around with guns and explosives. It means they have made an effort to not bother people. But the remoteness and peace is exactly why you would want to go there, and I think we should keep it that way. Someone probably think I am an idiot for using a plane getting there, and that we should only walk or something. This gatekeeping business is hard ( <- To not be misunderstood on the internet: I am saying this because I am fully aware of the problem with me "judging" some people, while doing something that is easily judged by yet other).

We're getting ideologi here, possibly philosophy, and it's so subjective that I accept that there is many different opinions on this. In another thread, someone said that the backcountry strips in Idao might not be the place to do a bunch of touch and goes or repeatedly practice for the next STOL comp. I would tend to agree.

We should keep discussing this, and still keep it civil. Glad it is unlikely that the nails was placed there by someone who had the intention to harm people flying in.