Doug Kerr
Well-known member
At dawn on July 16, 1945, the world's first nuclear explosion took place at Trinity Site, only about 60 miles (as the crow files) from our current home in Alamogordo, New Mexico. It was an event that changed the world.
The site is open to the general public only two days each year, the first Saturdays of April and November. The reason for the restriction is that the site is buried deep in the northern end of the White Sands Missile Range. It is in a stretch of desert traditionally known as Jornado del Muerto (journey of the dead man).
The most practical way to reach the site on one of these two "Open House" days is by joining a caravan of civilian vehicles that forms up at the high school in the charming small town of Tularosa, N.M, about 10 miles north of our home. The caravan is led by a military police escort onto the Range and over (mostly) well-paved roads through the desert to the site, a total distance of 75 miles.
We did just that this past Saturday (2012.10.06).
The visit was actually an event of Carla's chapter of The Red Hat Society, a social order for mature women. But only two of the other members were able to participate.
Here we see the caravan forming up:
Douglas A. Kerr: Trinity Site caravan forming up
There were over 150 vehicles in the caravan.
The device (not yet a "bomb" in that configuration, and in any case, that word was never used—the nickname of this particular device was "The Gadget") was detonated at the top of a 100-foot tall four-legged steel tower.
Here we see The Gadget just before it was hauled up the tower, from a historical U.S. Government photo:
The Gadget ready to go up
U. S. Government photo.
Here we see the tower from a historical U.S. Government photo:
The tower
U. S. Government photo.
Ground zero, the point on the ground directly below the device, is today marked by a simple monument in the form of an obelisk, actually constructed of lava fragments from the nearly Carrizozo Malpais lava field (the result of a lava flow only about 1000 years ago).
Here we see Carla along with her fellow Red Hatters Penny and Monica standing as close to Ground Zero as the monument allowed:
Douglas A. Kerr: New Mexico Roadrunner Red Hatters Penny, Carla, and Monica at Ground Zero
Today, parts of two of the four concrete footings for the tower legs are still with us. We see one here:
Carla C. Kerr: North leg footing of main tower
[continued]
The site is open to the general public only two days each year, the first Saturdays of April and November. The reason for the restriction is that the site is buried deep in the northern end of the White Sands Missile Range. It is in a stretch of desert traditionally known as Jornado del Muerto (journey of the dead man).
The most practical way to reach the site on one of these two "Open House" days is by joining a caravan of civilian vehicles that forms up at the high school in the charming small town of Tularosa, N.M, about 10 miles north of our home. The caravan is led by a military police escort onto the Range and over (mostly) well-paved roads through the desert to the site, a total distance of 75 miles.
We did just that this past Saturday (2012.10.06).
The visit was actually an event of Carla's chapter of The Red Hat Society, a social order for mature women. But only two of the other members were able to participate.
Here we see the caravan forming up:
Douglas A. Kerr: Trinity Site caravan forming up
There were over 150 vehicles in the caravan.
The device (not yet a "bomb" in that configuration, and in any case, that word was never used—the nickname of this particular device was "The Gadget") was detonated at the top of a 100-foot tall four-legged steel tower.
Here we see The Gadget just before it was hauled up the tower, from a historical U.S. Government photo:
The Gadget ready to go up
U. S. Government photo.
Here we see the tower from a historical U.S. Government photo:
The tower
U. S. Government photo.
Ground zero, the point on the ground directly below the device, is today marked by a simple monument in the form of an obelisk, actually constructed of lava fragments from the nearly Carrizozo Malpais lava field (the result of a lava flow only about 1000 years ago).
Here we see Carla along with her fellow Red Hatters Penny and Monica standing as close to Ground Zero as the monument allowed:
Douglas A. Kerr: New Mexico Roadrunner Red Hatters Penny, Carla, and Monica at Ground Zero
Today, parts of two of the four concrete footings for the tower legs are still with us. We see one here:
Carla C. Kerr: North leg footing of main tower
[continued]
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