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Last summer I went on a camping trip to Goblin Valley and got some of the best pictures I've ever taken, but also manage to convince my friends to take me on a small side trip to an abandoned missile/sounding rocket base that had been incorrectly labeled as "the new Area 51"* by Popular Mechanics magazine.
We were surprised to find security for the base practically nonexistent, a radioactive waste dump on the premises and several large abandoned buildings.
The base is reasonably large and could provide several hours of exploration at least. There are not a lot of relics or artifacts left but a lot of buildings to snoop around in and plenty of ominous reminders about the work previously done there; such as signs warning of hazardous materials, explosives, where to find the disaster alarm, etc.
Here are some of the highlights I enjoyed:
Someone had written a poem on an old blackboard in one of the buildings. It reads:
"About Green Buildings
I am an abandoned green building
I stand here banging my doors and wait
with a big radioactive pain in my ass
But what do I hear, it's the sound,
the pitter patter of little vandals
coming again to smash my glass
and (unreadable) me
I'm sorry when they leave
for then I'm left alone again
doors banging in the wind
my radioactive appendage
throbbing upon my ass
I do this because someone
had to keep you Americans safe
I don't mind"
We accidentally discovered one of the rooms we were in had decades prior been the security office for the base. There was a circuit panel for the alarm system that listed the names of the rooms in the facility. The large-sized version of this picture isn't very legible but some of the rooms include "Payload area #2", "Velocity package - bay assembly building", "Pyrotechnic bay", and "1st stage bay east".
My full gallery can be found here:
We were surprised to find security for the base practically nonexistent, a radioactive waste dump on the premises and several large abandoned buildings.
The base is reasonably large and could provide several hours of exploration at least. There are not a lot of relics or artifacts left but a lot of buildings to snoop around in and plenty of ominous reminders about the work previously done there; such as signs warning of hazardous materials, explosives, where to find the disaster alarm, etc.
Here are some of the highlights I enjoyed:
Someone had written a poem on an old blackboard in one of the buildings. It reads:
"About Green Buildings
I am an abandoned green building
I stand here banging my doors and wait
with a big radioactive pain in my ass
But what do I hear, it's the sound,
the pitter patter of little vandals
coming again to smash my glass
and (unreadable) me
I'm sorry when they leave
for then I'm left alone again
doors banging in the wind
my radioactive appendage
throbbing upon my ass
I do this because someone
had to keep you Americans safe
I don't mind"
We accidentally discovered one of the rooms we were in had decades prior been the security office for the base. There was a circuit panel for the alarm system that listed the names of the rooms in the facility. The large-sized version of this picture isn't very legible but some of the rooms include "Payload area #2", "Velocity package - bay assembly building", "Pyrotechnic bay", and "1st stage bay east".
My full gallery can be found here:
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