Just got back from a trip to Socorro, New Mexico, and the Trinity Site open house.

(Map of Trinity)

It's only open twice a year on the first Saturdays in April and October. If you plan to go, the White Sands Missile Range has an informative site for visitors.

EDIT: current WSMR site: https://www.wsmr.army.mil/Trinity/Pages/Home.aspx

There are two ways to get onto WSMR, one is to come in from the north off highways 380 and 525 through Stallion Gate, coming from Carrizozo on the east, or San Antonio/Socorro from the west.

You can also go to Alamogordo, and join a caravan that comes in from the east. After being there, we discourage that approach. We got there early, and the traffic and the lines for the McDonald House (more later) were almost non-existent until the Alamogordo Caravan got there. The lines were huge then.

We got up early to get to the gate before opening, which turned out to be a great move. We already had eaten breakfast, but breakfast burritos and later lunch was available at the site.

Take cash for the food and T-shirts. There is no cell service, thus no credit/debit cards accepted.

Driving time from Socorro was less than an hour total. However, we got to the gate about 7:40am for the 8:00am opening, and the line was already forming.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/chs_girls_soccer/8069205562/][/url]
line at Stallion Gate by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

We spent the time in line, trying to figure out all the antennas, telescopes, etc. were for at Stallion AAF.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/chs_girls_soccer/8069207427/][/url]
Stallion AAF telescopes by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Once the gate opened at 8:00, there was a line behind us at least twice as long as the one in front. But security cleared us through quickly, and we were inside by 8:09. Everyone in the car needed to show an ID, no guns or alcohol could be in the vehicle. We were compliant with the request that we not take photos until we got to the Site. We didn't see much that looked Top Secret, anyway. Arriving at the site

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/chs_girls_soccer/8069211177/][/url]
Trinity by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

You then walk maybe 200 yards to ground zero. Golf carts were available to ferry the handicapped.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/chs_girls_soccer/8069209472/][/url]
200 yard walk to ground zero by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

More in later posts...



[This message has been edited by CanyonAg77 (edited 10/9/2012 11:51a).]

They really don't want you to pick up the tiny fragments of Trinitite that remain after the 1952 cleanup of the site. And that's a casing of a Mark I bomb, essentially the same type that was dropped on Nagasaki, and the same type of internals (The Gadget) that was exploded at Trinity.


Don't pick up the Trinitite by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

We think we found some Trinitite, and resisted the urge to pocket it.


Trinitite (small green rock in center) by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Obligatory photo of the marker


Ground Zero marker by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Remains of one of the concrete foundations of the 100-foot tower.


remains of tower foundation by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Long view of the marker and Oscura Mountains, looking generally SE.


marker, Oscuras, Fat Man Replica by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

We think the green bubbly rocks are Trinitite


More Trinitite by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

The remains of "Jumbo"


Jumbo by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

At the Trinity parking lot, you can catch a bus for the 2-3 mile ride to the McDonald Ranch House.


McDonald Ranch House by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

This is where the core of the bomb was assembled before being taken to Trinity and being inserted into the conventional explosives.


East (front) door by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Here's a marker in front of the house. Note the hoist in the photo, and the old Plymouth car. The plutonium core was transported the 220 miles from Los Alamos to Trinity in the back seat of the car. High security, safe transport, I'm sure.


marker showing hoist for core by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Hoist is still there, and they rebuilt the ramp where they rolled the core into the house.


hoist still there by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Looking east from the front door, past the hoist and to the Oscuras. The windmill tank in the foreground was used as a swimming pool by the Army and the scientists.


from front door, looking through hoist to the East by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Hi-tech area


high-tech area by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

"Clean" assembly room by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Old windmill head has fallen


Windmill head by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Engine driven pumpjack (engine gone) used to pump water when wind fails.


Engine-driven pumpjack by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

All in all, an interesting trip. Not much to see, really, but it is fascinating to stand at the place the world changed 67 years ago.

Bonus Material: Very Large Array radio telescope on the plains about 50 miles west of Socorro, NM. Enjoyed the tour, they are doing fascinating science. The amount of data collected and analyzed there each day is mind-boggling. Something around 10 terabytes a minute. (I don't remember the exact amount, and I think my guess is low)

Google Maps


VLA Antenna by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr


VLA antenna closeup by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr


Transporter for antenna by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr


VLA Antenna by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr


North arm, antennas at widest by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Each antenna is 25 meters in diameter, weighs about 230 tons. Each leg of the array is 13 miles long.

[This message has been edited by CanyonAg77 (edited 10/9/2012 11:27a).]

Bonus material II - Kelly Mine near Magdalena, NM.

Google Maps

Was once a bustling Zinc mine, with a town of 3000 people. When the mine closed, most of the houses were moved to nearby Magdelena. A very few ruins remain, including the head house over the 1000 foot deep shaft and 30 miles of tunnels.

The mine area is also the site of a WWII crash of a B-17 on a training mission.

B-17 Article 1

B-17 Article 2


View from Kelly mine by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr


wildflower at Kelly mine by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr


Kelly Mine, Magdelena NM by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr


ruin, Kelly was once a town of 3,000 by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr


ruin 2 by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Bonus material III - White Oaks, NM.

White Oaks is a ghost town in Lincoln County, New Mexico. Cemetery holds the graves of the first governor of New Mexico, and also a member of a posse killed while after Billy the Kid (probably not killed by the Kid) It was a gold boom town and for a while, the second largest town in NM. Gold ran out, the railroad bypassed it...and it's a shadow of its former self. North of Carrizozo.

Google Maps

Four room school, built 1895, still in great shape. Has a museum open each Saturday.


White Oaks, NM 1895 School by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Not the Munster's House, but The Hoyle Mansion


Hoyle Mansion, White Oaks NM by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting pics and writeup. Looks like a cool trip.

What you thought was Trinitrite is indeed that.

Wow.....great stuff!! Thanks for sharing (did you go through Lincoln?)

Great! Thanks!

Went through Lincoln and toured a couple of museums. Nice little stop as well. Didn't really bother taking photos there.

Seems like nobody has the straight story on Billy the Kid. Some of the museum exhibits gave different versions of the same event. I got the impression that the Lincoln County War was more of a merchant's war than a range war. It was as if Wal-Mart and K-mart had armed bands protecting their turf.

Though if you've never been, there are several well-preserved 1880s buildings.

Did not tour Fort Stanton, Fort Craig or Bosque Del Apache Wildlife refuge. On the list for next trip.

Also forgot to mention that we had lunch after Trinity in the legendary Owl Bar in San Antonio, New Mexico. The green chile cheeseburger lives up to the hype.

[This message has been edited by CanyonAg77 (edited 10/9/2012 7:16p).]

Sounds like an awesome trip Canyon! I go thru Lincoln every year on my NM mule deer hunt (about 12 miles west of there).......been to all the museums there! I really like that area......

Thanks. I've been to northern New Mexico quite a bit, really haven't spent tons in Southern NM, though I've been to White Sands, Cloudcroft and Carlsbad Caverns in the past.

Another interesting thing in that area is the Valley of Fires, an incredibly young (from a geologic point of view) lava flow. It's in the valley just west of Carrizozo. Is just a thousand years old, so the eruption was likely witnessed by native Americans. The satellite image is incredible.

Google Maps

Looks like you had an excellent and educational trip. Thanks for the pics and narrative.

I haven't been to the Trinity site, but would like to someday. I have been to the VLA, and it is pretty amazing what they have been able to do with what little budget there is for that. It's difficult to really get a sense of the scale of those dishes without actually having been there.

You mentioned going to Bosque del Apache NWR someday. If you do, I might suggest going during late Fall, like November, through Winter. During that time there are literally thousands of geese, ducks, and cranes, among other wildlife, that winter there. It's an amazing spectacle. Been there a couple of times now.

And I agree, the Chile Cheeseburgers are awesome!

Thanks, Canyon. Enjoyed the pics. Lived in southern NM way back in the day - Roswell and Las Cruces.

Met my wife in Las Cruces - we were both math interns at WSMR. WSMR has a pretty neat history of its own. She was from Alamogordo - that's where we got married. 42 years go.

I have not been to the Trinity Site, but my wife and in-laws went there several times when they were living in Alamogordo.

Been to Lincoln several times as well and also spent time in Cloudcroft and Ruidoso.

The highway from Alamogordo to Roswell has some nice scenery in the mountains along the Hondo river. Sam Donaldson owned a ranch near Hondo back in the day - maybe he still does.

Thanks for the memories!

White Sands probably has more fascinating history, that most will never hear of, than any place other than Area 51. It started as a WWII bombing and gunnery range, then Trinity, then the V-2 and "our" Nazis beginning our rocket program, all the way to the present.

Some of my favorite "what in the heck" WSMR areas from Google Maps:

Johnny Horton would know this one

Thought this was an airstrip but I don't think it is

Rocket Sled track?

Space shuttle runway? Must be 5-6 miles long

When my wife and I were math interns at WSMR in the late 60's we worked in an outfit called the Mathematics and Analysis Division.

We were in a building that housed several large IBM mainframes and an anaglog computer.

The IBMs used punch cards. The analogs were "programmed" by moving cables around on large circuit boards.

Our Director, Dr Guenther Hintze, was one of the German rocket scientists that were brought to WSMR/Ft Bliss after the war.

This link shows a picture of 104 of them - Hintze is in this pic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Project_Paperclip_Team_at_Fort_Bliss_crop.jpg

WSMR was fascinating place to work.

[This message has been edited by NormanAg (edited 10/11/2012 6:02p).]

Dr Wernher Von Braun built on the pioneering - but largely ignored in the US - research of Dr Robert H Goddard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard

Dr Goddard launched his primitive rockets near Roswell, NM.

There is a small, but worth the trip, museum featuring Dr Goddard's work in Roswell, NM.

One of the two High Schools in Roswell is named after him.

And as a side benefit - during your trip to Roswell you can also take in all the "Roswell Alien" hoopla.

I went to Roswell High my Frosh and Soph years in 62-63 when my dad was stationed at Walker AFB.

The ONLY time the "alien" story was mentioned back then was the annual front page story in the Roswell Daily Record recounting their original reporting on the event.

Now the "Roswell Alien" hoopla is a major tourist attraction and is known worldwide.

Go figure.





[This message has been edited by NormanAg (edited 10/11/2012 7:39p).]

Are there any radiation concerns at the Trinity site? Time limits or anything like that?

Radiation at Ground Zero: Just how radioactive is the site

quote:

---

Radiation levels in the fenced, ground zero area are low. On an average the levels are only 10 times greater than the region´s natural background radiation. A one-hour visit to the inner fenced area will result in a whole body exposure of one-half to one millirem.

To put this in perspective, a U.S. adult receives an average of 360 millirems every year from natural and medical sources. For instance, the American Nuclear Society estimates we receive between 26 and 96 millirems every year from the sun - depending on what elevation we live. We receive about 40 millirems every year from our food. Living in a brick, stone, adobe or concrete house adds seven millirems of exposure every year compared to living in a frame house. Finally, flying coast to coast in a jet airliner gives an exposure of about two millirems on each trip.

---

Update:

Been reading some histories. I believe this hill behind Stallion Army Air Field is Compania Hill (or Campana) where many VIPs watched the Trinity Test.


Stallion AAF telescopes by CHS Girls Soccer, on Flickr

Bump for 2014 open house

Canyon - Thanks for the great pics !

quote:

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Open House is April 5, 2014



Due to current fiscal contraints [sic] within the Department of Defense, WSMR must reduce the frequency of the Trinity Site Open House from twice to once a year. The site will now only be open annually on the first Saturday of April.

---

Wow, thanks for posting those pictures!

Was at the National Nuclear Museum this week. They have some small samples of Trinitite for sale at the Museum now. Something like $40 a gram, but pretty cool if you're a buff like I am.

I have been to trinity site w/ the kids when we were Home-Schooling them. They would not let me keep a speck of trinitite I picked up. Sigh.......

VLA is mighty close to my stomping grounds.

US Hwy 60 is a really neat road to study history about.

My buddy who has the Little Boy Plugs and donated Oppenheimer's car to the museum there has some Trinitrite with the telemetry wiring melted into it.

Canyon,

You have any idea what this might be?

Near Trinity Site

Wow. Haven't a clue. While I'm interested in this history, I don't have any inside knowledge. The area started life as the Alamogordo bombing range and evolved into the White Sands Missile Range. So it's been around since early WWII, and who knows what all has happened out there.

Maybe someone with military experience can answer, but one thought is they are some sort of firing pits? By that, I mean maybe a place where someone stands and shoots off an anti-tank or anti-aircraft missile?

Except for the west 10,000 meter bunker, and the McDonald Ranch house, almost all of the bunkers and the base camp for the Trinity site are gone. However, Google tells me that the base camp for Trinity was approximately 16 kilometers SW of ground zero. The site you linked seems to be closer in than that as the crow flies, but it could have been 16 km by road.

That being said, I can't guess what those structures could have been used for at base camp. They don't appear to be buildings, or kitchens or showers or anything else.

For CanyonAg. Enjoyed your trip report very much. I went through all the bonus write ups and pictures as well. Sorry to have missed your original 2012 publish date but luckily found it today. Any more trip reports will be greatly welcomed. What a history lesson. I've been to Socorro and seen the VLA off of Hwy 60. Have not been to Trinity site yet.

For NormanAg. My Dad's older brother owned a machine shop in Artesia, NM and he did machining work for Dr. Robert Goddard. I think he machined some of the early rocket nozzles for Goddard's rockets launched in NM.

Very interesting! I always enjoyed visiting the Goddard museum.

There was a Nuke discussion on politics that brought me back to this post. One of my links in the OP was dead, and in looking to update it, found that the White Sands Missile Range has totally revamped the Trinity page. Looks like a good job, and lots of good info.

Sorry I forgot to ttt this for the April Open House, make your plans now for the first weekend in October.

WSMR new Trinity page:

http://www.wsmr.army.mil/PAO/Trinity/Pages/Home.aspx