Filename: Phoenix3.Rpt
Type : Report
Author : Steve Jones
Date : 08/23/92
Desc. : Official report from the Sacramento UFO SIG on K2

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The Sacramento UFO SIG (Special Interest Group) is a small group of
individuals who have keen interest in expanding their knowledge on this
subject. We have been meeting officially for one year and numerous
members of this group have had significant encounters. Like most of
you, we have a keen interesting in the Who, What and especially the Why
on this subject.

The SIG has made four trips up to K2 during the last 3 weeks, and at
this point, to be frank, we have come up empty handed. This is not
saying that there is nothing up there, but we are not seeing evidence
of anything at this time. Due to the fact that there have been a flurry
of sightings occurring approximately 75 miles to the south of K2 (Pilot
Peak), both ourselves and apparently several MUFON members are of the
opinion that the Greys may have moved their operations to the south.

We have made the following observations.

1. The area, although remote, is somewhat heavily traveled by the
locals. This, we feel, is the reason for the very smooth surface
of the road. Road traffic is light, if not nonexistent, at night
(usually between about 9:00PM and around 4:00AM when the local
loggers start coming through from Quincy to go to work at the
logging sites). There seems to be extensive logging going on
between the mountain and the junction of the Quincy- LaPorte Road
and the road that goes up to Little Grass Valley Lake. It is our
opinion that the reason that the road is paved from the base of
the mountain, up and through the valley below the peak itself and
to the top of the rise that over looks the Feather River canyon,
is the possibility of eliminating washouts, especially along the
face of the hill just below the valley entrance.

2. The valley itself, which contains the Onion Valley creek, is not,
in my opinion, anything unusual for the Sierras. The place is
teeming with life, including bear, deer, owls, squirrels, birds,
frogs and in the evening, loads of bats (which swarm down from the
mountain). Two of the people who went up to the mountain (John
Pickens and Ed Stewart) went up to the lookout and they said that
there was a lot of evidence of extensive rat population up there.
I have personally walked over approximately 75% of that valley
floor and about 25% of the slope to the south (which is just below
the face of the mountain. I have found very little evidence of
anything out of the ordinary, especially cave or cavern openings.
In fact, I found little if any indication that anyone had been
walking up there within recent weeks.

The pond is made from a small man-made dam, which appears to be at
least 20 years old. I can see the distinct possibility that the
forest service made it to create a water source in case of fires.
I did see the area that the report mentions regarding the washed
out part of the dam. The pond is, according to a man that one of
our party interviewed, fish-less. It does, however, have several
resident ducks, which make a considerable amount of noise during
the night. The bats feed extensively on the insects that populate
the pond and they are somewhat aggressive. You can toss a small
stone up in the air and the bats will go after it. John Pickens
showed us that little trick.

3. We were only approached once by a local sheriff, who simply wanted
to know what we were doing sitting by the side of the road late at
night. This was just after he had left the campground which held a
large group of local indians, who were camping there. These
indians were very much aware of our presence and no doubt were
concerned about us. Since the mountains of California are known to
have drug farmers, it is prudent to maintain one's distance.
Mountain folks are a quiet bunch and usually have little to say to
"flat landers." We only saw US Forest Service Ranters driving
their trucks on the road and we were never approached about why we
were in the area.

4. Pilot Peak (K2) is indeed in a fairly remote area, which given the
patterns of life of the area, could be an ideal spot for some
surreptitious activity. Logistical it is in a very good location,
considering the local terrain, it's relationship to areas in
Northern California and Nevada and it's relative ease of access.
If I were going to build a secret base in Northern California,
this area would be ideal. The roads leading to the site from the
south are paved up to within 10 miles of the mountain and the
loggers and the locals, use it extensively from 4:00AM until about
9:00PM. As I have mentioned above from 9:00PM until 4:00AM, the
road is deserted and the place is very quiet.

The area to the west of the mouth of the U-shaped valley just
below the peak goes into a long narrow canyon, which the Phoenix
group describes in their report. I can see that this could be
utilized to gain access below radar.

5. The marshes behind and in front of the pond have tall rice-like
grass and there are areas that appear to have been flattened, but
not in the classic crop-circle sense. The pattern of the flattened
grass is uni-directional and it does appear to have been folded
over and braided, but there is no defined shape to the areas
themselves. There are approximately 10 of these sites either below
the dam or behind it and they all have signs of foot traffic going
into them. The grass in these areas show signs of browning and do
not show any of the signs of burning (either shaded or tip-burning
as mentioned in the crop circle evidence). I walked the entire
area of both marshes and saw no signs of circular burn marks.

6. Regarding the comments that the Phoenix Group has made about the
feelings that their team has regarding being watched, there were
two separate incidents that occurred while we were up there that
gives me pause to reflect.

The first of these events occurred when my son and I originally
went to the mountain three weeks ago. At the time, I didn't see
the significance of it, but I do now. It was dusk and my son and I
had set up my tripod and camera on the dam looking towards the
peak. It was somewhat of a moonlight night and the bats had just
come out. It was approximately 9:30PM on Saturday, the 8th of
August. Suddenly I heard what appeared to be the sounds of bear
cubs. I immediately recognized the sounds, having spend years in
the woods. Instantly, I had the uneasy feeling that mother bear
might be close and I told my son to take the tripod and we should
quietly go back to the car. Since we hadn't intended to stay the
night, we decided to leave the area. The location of these noises
were approximately 150 feet up the side of the mountain to the
South-South West of the southern tip of the dam.

On the evening of Wednesday, the 12th I went up to the mountain by
myself and spent the night parked by the side of the main road
which is slightly above the valley floor and has an excellent view
of the entire valley. The only significant noise that I heard that
night was from a very loud owl, who hooted from the very same area
that the bear noises emminate from.

On Saturday, the 15th, myself and Ed Stewart spent the afternoon
and early evening up at K2. I walked up the side of the hill to
the south, southeast of the pond with Ed and we set up some
listening equipment (sensitive mikes, including one contact mike,
which I set up on some solid granite). Suddenly, Ed said, "What
was that???", motioning over into the same area of the hillside
that I have previously mentioned with the owl and bear sounds. It
gave me a very short term feeling of uneasiness, but it pasted. At
that point I was under the impression that we were sitting over
the area that was supposed to have the base entrance. Later, I
found out that I was wrong.

Last night, on the evening of August 22nd, I spoke to Jack Mathias
on the phone. I essentially told him what I have transcribed here
with the exception of the strange noises and their locations. I
told him that we had been looking for the base entrances and were
having trouble finding them. It was then that he told me that the
main one was to the south- southwest of the southern tip of the
dam, approximately 150-165 feet up the side of the hill and that
apparently I had been looking at the wrong place all along.
Whether the locations of the noises that myself, Ed Stewart and my
son Kris have heard are in fact located nearer to the supposed
entrance is still an open question. If so, the there is the
possibility that someone may have been trying to warn us away, by
playing mind games with us. I didn't think of it at the time, but
this reminds me of the types of things that Whitley Streiber
experienced. HUMMMM!!????

In conclusion, we still have some unanswered questions regarding the
K2 site. We do question some of the allegations of the Phoenix Group,
but haven't closed the book yet. There is still the possibility that
there is something going on up there, but we feel that the burden of
proof is on the Phoenix Group. The data that they have listed in their
report is outlined with some inconsistencies. The grid pattern for
their magnetometer readings is devoid of X,Y co-ordinate markers
corresponding to their readings. The maps of the area that they have
listed in the report doesn't have marked on it the origin (0,0) point
for the X,Y grid. For a scientific report, this is a very sizeable data
error.

We also have some problem with their conclusions regarding the road
and it's usage, the quizzical nature of the rangers, the lack of life
around the area and in particular the LZ sites that they mention. I can
see that the place would make an excellent site for a secret base, but
it's existence is still questionable. We have, as I have mentioned, not
closed the book on this case, and will keep everyone posted.

I would like to take this opportunity to give thanks to the very
helpful efforts and support from Ed Stewart, John Pickens and my son
Kristopher Jones. I have found that when it comes down to making a
commitment to field research, there are often few, if any volunteers. I
greatly appreciate those who participated. Thanks.

Sincerely- Steve Jones, co-moderator of the Sacramento UFO SIG.



Jim Singleton
telnet://ricksbbs.synchro.net:23
http://ricksbbs.synchro.net:8080
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