Hike to the B-24 Crash Site on Humphreys

It was 28 September 2013, fall had arrived, and we were beginning to feel a distinct morning chill in the Verde Valley. A visit to the B-24 crash site on the western slope of Mount Humphreys was on our to-do list and now, while the weather was still moderate in the high country, was the time for it. None of us wanted to hike in snow or be exposed to the coming winter winds that could be expected on the relatively bare slope of Mount Humphreys at the tree line.

Seven of us left from Cottonwood at 0700, picked up two additional hikers from Sedona at the Hwy 179/I-17 interchange and drove directly to Snowbowl, where we parked in the lower lot. Humphreys Trail begins there and we would follow it for 2.9 miles (my GPS) before turning off to follow one of many very indistinct trails for another half-mile across the rock fields to the crash site. The following photograph was taken from the trailhead.

Left to right: Jerry Helfrich, Lila Wright, the author, Frank Lombardo, George 

Everman, Bill Woolard, Kwi Johnson and Connie Woolard 

– photograph by Name Withheld

The trail runs across an open meadow for a little over a quarter of a mile, passing under the Snowbowl ski lift (photograph below) to enter an aspen forest.

The start of Humphreys Trail, looking from the trailhead to the aspen forest

After entering the forest, the trail soon starts to ascend, at first rather gently, but then becoming steeper and rockier. About a mile from the trailhead, at a sharp turn to the left it enters the Kachina wilderness Area. This is the second of seven switchbacks encountered on the Humphreys Trail between the trailhead and the turnoff to the crash site. The turnoff is actually located exactly at the seventh of these. But that was still 1.9 miles away.

By the time we entered the Kachina wilderness, the aspens had largely given way to conifers, which predominated for the remainder of the hike. Previously we had found a wide variety of mushrooms along this trail; none were visible now. Flowers were also sparse, with only a single scraggly example (right) along the trail.

We had been moderately concerned about ice and snow and we did find some shaded stretches of trail where footing was pretty precarious. But we managed to avoid any major falls and eventually found ourselves approaching the turnoff to the crash site. It turned out to be relatively easy to spot, located precisely at a sharp bend to the right. One just steps across the log located to the left of the trail onto a much fainter trail, starting between two close set trees, leading north along the mountain slope. Note the arrow pointing out the trail in the below photograph.

Turnoff to the B-24 Crash Site marked by an arrow

This relatively short trail (I should say trails because there are a variety of them all leading to the same site) is rough in places, leading through short stretches of wooded area, interspersed by rough climbs over rock fields. We had turned off Humphreys Trail at an elevation of 11,041 feet according to my GPS and climbed about another 250 feet to the crash site itself. Almost all of the climbing seemed to be as we crossed the rock fields. We stopped for lunch just after turning off the trail. In the upper right quadrant of the below photograph, a lone hiker can be seen walking on Humphreys Trail. The bright red object seen bottom right is a hikers backpack.

Skyliner hikers eating lunch (bottom) and lone hiker walking on Humphreys 

Trail (upper right quadrant)

It took us some time to make our way over the rock fields, as we traveled slowly and carefully; we also stopped frequently to rest. As a matter of fact, we probably spent more time eating lunch, resting and just admiring the unobstructed views from high on the slope of Mount Humpreys during the short trip from Humphreys Trail to the crash site than we did hiking and climbing.

After a final sharp climb over the rocky slope we came to the edge of the crash debris field. The first major bit of wreckage we saw was a bucket seat we think was designed to protect a machine gunner from bullets and shrapnel. Lila and Kwi are shown below posing in the seat.

Lila in machine gunner's seat

Kwi in machine gunner's seat

The plane that crashed here at 0330 on 15 September 1944 was a B-24J Liberator. It was flying on a training mission from Bakersfield, CA to Albuquerque, NM with a crew of eight. The plane's specifications and serial number are listed below:

Designation: B-24J

Serial Number: 50890

Wingspan: 110 feet

Height: 18 feet

Length: 67 feet, 7 5/8 inches

Weight (empty): 36,500 lbs

Weight (fully loaded): 65,000 lbs

Engines: Four, 1200 hp, Pratt and Whitney, R-1830-65

Performance: Max Speed: 290 mph, Service Ceiling: 28,000 feet, Range: 3,000 miles

Armament: Ten 50 caliber machine guns

Crew: 10.

Debris from the crash is scattered over an area of several acres, some in wooded areas and some on the rock field. As a result any waypoint for the crash site is somewhat arbitrary. I used one from a previous visitor to the site and one found on Google Earth. Either of the two would have taken me to the crash site, just different spots in the debris field.

Continuing across the rock field from where we found the machine gunner's seat, we came upon widely-scattered bits of the plane, still lying where they were flung by the impact.

Aileron or piece of a wing flap

Large section of a wing

Widely scattered wreckage – showing only a small section of the debris field

Standing upright like an ever-alert sentinel, was a part of the landing gear (left).

We gathered back at the spot we had first entered the debris field and paused for a moment of silence in honor of our eight fallen comrades who gave their lives at this spot in defense of our country. They included a pilot instructor along with four student pilots, two engineers and a radioman Their names were Warren Crowther, Ray Shipley, Clyce McClevey, Charles McDonald, Patrick Pertuset, James Hartzog, John Franke and Hugh Brown.¹

After a last look across the crash site we headed back down the trail.

A final look across the crash site before heading back

When we reached Humphreys Trail we were relieved to see that most of the ice we had encountered on the way up had now melted. The worst patches were now either completely melted away or had at least been reduced to a soft slush (right).

When we reached the tree line at the edge of the aspen forest, just a short distance from the end of our hike, we encountered a group of young men from Scottsdale, AZ who were returning from a trip to Humphreys Peak. I walked ahead with one of the group as we crossed the meadow to the trailhead and we discussed their trip to the peak. He told me that at one point in the hike they thought one of their group wouldn't be able to complete the hike on his own, so they stopped to discuss their options. How would they transport him back? They finally decided that they would cut a sturdy pole and tie him to it, hand and foot, like a bagged deer. The rest of the group would then take turns on the ends of the pole to carry him out. Fortunately, by the time they had perfected their plan, he was found to have made a miraculous recovery and managed to complete the hike on his own. They would never know for sure whether his rapid recovery was due to the thought of being carted out like a bagged deer. Of course, considering that the elevation difference between Scottsdale and Humphreys Peak is over 10,000 feet, he probably just had a touch of altitude sickness and needed a few minutes to recover.

My GPS track shows that we hiked for 4 hours and 14 minutes and stopped along the way for 3 hours and 37 minutes, for a total time of 7 hours and 51 minutes. The total round trip hike distance was recorded as 6.9 miles with an elevation gain of 2012 feet and a highest elevation of 11,299 feet. Our GPS track is shown on the included map (below).

1Arizona Daily Sun, 4 September 2004