Saturday Nostalgia Run

Years ago one of the more challenging and interesting jogs I did on Kings Mountain were explorations of the El Corte Madera Preserve. I went back for a run down memory lane on Saturday. Very beautiful with deep creek ravines, redwoods, madrone,doug fir and sandstone outcrops. Most of the terrain is quite steep. Part of my jog was on the Resolution Trail, named for the BCPA Flight 304 DC-6 aircraft involved in the crash on this part of the mountain in October 1953. The flight was coming from Australia, trying to find SFO in heavy fog. The CAB accident report concludes that the crew, which had changed out in Honolulu, did not maintain the required 500 feet above the cloud line and mistakenly descended into heavy fog which obscured the terrain. Coincidentally one of the crew who died in the crash was a Knight, one W. Knight age 34 who was the Purser. William Kapell, who some critics considered the most promising American pianist since WWII was also on board. The Vista Point marked on the map was used as the base of operations for fire suppression and recovery of remains. Occasional debris can still be found around the trail and a wing section still lies down the hill. I didn't see anything this time. Suprisingly I didn't crash on my jog and made down the El Corte de Madera Creek trail and back up the Resolution Trail in fairly good order. (My route is marked in red. Check it out if you wish to be impressed.) It was quite chilly, fog blowing, and fog drip flying like rain. Nice. Had it all to myself except for one party of three mountain bikers. Mini adventure on a Saturday morn!