Not long after we bought the ranch in 2003, we noticed helicopters every couple of months, flying low over the ranch. After flying around the ranch a few times, they would fly up to Bald Ridge, hover for a few minutes to three hours, then fly away. We've hiked to Bald Ridge and Papa has ridden on a horse up to Bald Ridge. On our few visits, we've noticed a giant tractor tire, that could only have been left there by a chopper, ie. to be used as a landing target.
Once a couple of years ago, when hiking under Bald Ridge, near Nueva Dam, we saw a cave and went to explore. It was a shallow cave, that had been inhabited during a rain shower, as someone had carefully placed rocks around the entrance and built shallow ditches to direct the water away. Inside the cave were several cans of food and a five gallon container of water. With the terrain on the ranch as rough as it is, and the cave not close to a road, clearly there was something going on! The choppers are military and we believe soldiers are dropped off as part of a survival military drill. Just yesterday, I was out hiking and heard a chopper. It was flying low and away from the ranch.
