There is considerable confusion in various accounts of the rescue about who first found the lion and who led the rescue team to their goal. For the purposes ofthis post, those two questions will be addressed in a separate blog post.
The only written "estimate" of the trail the rescue group used appears in "Frank Gillette's privately published 1984 book "Pleasant Valley." Gillette was not a member of the rescue effort so his narrative is obviously based on second hand information, perhaps long after the incident. His narrative appears below.
Frankly, after reading Gillette's narrative we couldn't make heads or tails out of his route description. We then decided to do whatever it took to determine that route. First, we stopped at the Gila County Sheriff's Office in Payson. The Deputy there had never heard of Leo The Lion and recommended we contact Tonto Rim Search & Rescue. Repeated attempts to contact TRSAR proved fruitless. Then we attempted to contact the Tonto National Forest and no one returned our emails. And then we attempted to contact the Gila County Cattle Growers Association. Once again, no one replied.
So we were stumped, shut out and discouraged. That's when we remembered Hike Arizona Dot Com (HAZ). HAZ is without doubt America's finest hiking website. In fact, it is probably the finest hiking website in the entire world, if not the galaxy. We originally joined HAZ in early 2002 and put up over 450 posts there before physical afflictions ended our day hiking days. So, we reactivated our account and asked for help. Boy-oh-boy did we get help!
HAZ Founder Joe Bartels quickly put together a "most probable" route from Bear Flat to the crash site area. Joe's map helped us put it all together and we now more or less fully understand the Rescue Route. (HAZ links appear at end of post.) We will be forever indebted to Joe and HAZ members: CannondaleKid, toddak, Srenfield and nonot for their kind and thoughtful assistance in this arcane quest. HAZ, Joe and members will be recognized in the Acknowledgement section of the upcoming ebook about the Leo The Lion saga.
Comments are below each photo or graphic.
"For the first couple of miles, they worked their way up the big ridge, heading canyons and taking
advantage of the swales and ridges. But by the time they reached the cross trails, the picture was beginning to change. There was a pretty good trail running east and west from Bear Flat across to Gorden Canyon. It was a plain, well beaten horse trail that was plenty wide for a horse and rider, and the packs on pack mules, if a man happened to be leading a pack train. The trail went east to Gorden Canyon where it joined the trail running north and south from the ranches in Gorden Canyon area to Pleasant Valley. Once they hit the main east-west trail, they turned left toward Hole in the Rock. The trail led straight off of a steep mountain. There were several switchbacks before they hit the bottom. The grade was about forty percent. The team was now beginning to show the rigors of the hard pull they had already made. They were acting docile, like any well-broken team, but Green Valley Sam hadn't forgotten the way they had acted earlier when they were trying to hook them to the sled. Several times he made them stop and breathe for a few minutes when they were strained and breathing heavily from a hard pull. By the way the crow flies, it probably wasn't over six miles from Bear Flat to the plane wreck. But the way they would have to go, it was probably ten or twelve. Slide off the mountain to the bottom of the Canyon at the Hole in the Rock. Let the men and animals take on a good cool drink of spring water, rest a little while and it was time to move out. The trail leading out from the Hole in the Rock was precarious and winding, narrow in places and skirting bluffs with ten to twenty foot drop. If the sled went over the edge and jerked the team over with it, it would be one of the gol darndest mix-ups a man ever laid eyes on. Sam could envision a tanglement of squealing, kicking mules and a snarling lion, all tied together by cage and chain. They were part way up the mountain when the sled became wedged against a rock. The mules made a couple of feeble pulls, and let up as though they were all in.
"Come on you bastards," Sam shouted, swatting them across the rumps with a rope. "You was acting awful damn tough this morning. Where's all that toughness now?"
The men had pried the sled partly loose with a pole. The mules made a half-hearted pull and gave up. The tarp was still around Leo's cage, shielding him from view. Sam raised the tarp. The mules turned their heads and saw the lion! Snorting shrilly they lunged in terror, loosening the sled and plunging wildly up the hill. If Sam hadn't had hold of the neck ropes, they would have no doubt pulled a runaway. So, all the rest of the trip, when the mules began having difficulty pulling the sled through a rough place, all Sam had to do was raise the curtain!
It had been a hard ride, all right, all agreed, but they were nearly home now. They had rimmed out from the Hole in the Rock, crossed Boscoe Flat, and skirted the side of Bull Tank Canyon. One more steep hill to go off and they would be home. They made it without incident down the last hill and through the back gate onto the meadow.
Sam drove the team across the meadow and up to the house and unhooked the tired mules. Word had spread fast in Payson. There was a sizable crowd there, all anxious to see the lion.
Martin Jensen had gone out into the meadow. Walking as fast as he could to match the long strides of Green Valley Sam, he was talking excitedly. "How is he?" he asked anxiously.
"Ornery as a damned lion." Sam said with a dry smile."
Above is the map that HAZ Founder Joe Bartels prepared for us. The yellow line shows Joe's best guesstimate of the route between Bear Flat and the crash site area. Joe was pretty close to reality!
The red line shows the approximate, probably route the pilot traveled on foot to reach Gisela.
The red line shows the approximate, probably route the pilot traveled on foot to reach Gisela.
Above is the actual most probable route between Bear Flat and the probable crash site area.
The far left end of the red line extends into Leo Canyon. The push pin represents where the cowboys would have intersected a main east west trail. The question mark shows the general vicinity of the crash site.
The far left end of the red line extends into Leo Canyon. The push pin represents where the cowboys would have intersected a main east west trail. The question mark shows the general vicinity of the crash site.
Using Frank Gillette's narrative in combination with both the 1937 Diamond Butte and Promontory Butte USGS topo maps were able to pin down two key points from Gillette's narrative Notice how closely Joe Bertels guessimate coincides with Gillette's described points. Our generalized red line map above alters the Bartels Map to account to blend in Gillette's description.
The push pin on the map above shows where the cowboys would have intersected the main east-west trail in that area.
The push pin on the map above shows were the trail would have cross Bull Tank Canyon before beginning the steep climb up onto Mescal Ridge.
Finally above you can see how the trail traversed Mescal Ridge to reach Bear Flats.
Here is the main HAZ website:
Here is the main HAZ website:
https://hikearizona.com/map.php
And, if you're a HAZ member, here's the Forum topic used to obtain help on the project
https://hikearizona.com/dex2/viewtopic.php?p=134317#p134317
Many, many Thanks to Joe, HAZ and members. HAZ ROX!
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