Exploring the Largest Restricted Military Zone in the US | New Mexico's WSMR

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>> So, I'm coming to you today from the

beautiful state of New Mexico. I'm

coming right off the heels of filming

that video in the Sandia Mountains near

Albuquerque. Now, New Mexico is a state

that's kind of synonymous with

clandestine military activity going all

the way back to the testing of the first

atomic bomb to the alleged cover-up

around the Roswell crash, secret

underground bases in mountains, you name

it, New Mexico has it. So, naturally I

want to scope out a few remote military

facilities out here in the desert while

I'm here. So, I'm pretty familiar with

the Nevada test site and the Nevada test

and training range. Obviously, that's a

massive restricted land area, but New

Mexico actually is home to a much larger

test range and that is specifically the

White Sands Missile Range. It is not

only the largest military test range by

land area, but also in terms of

restricted airspace as well. So, today

I'm going to be heading to the northern

portion of the White Sands Missile Range

to see what kind of remote difficult to

spot facilities we might be able to find

out there in that portion of the desert.

So, sit back, buckle up, and enjoy the

ride. Just before I headed south out of

Albuquerque on I-25, I decided to swing

into this thrift store on a whim and I

happened to see on the rack there this

awesome Sandia Labs hat. Check it out.

This is definitely a pretty unique

score, something you don't find every

day, something cool to add to the

collection for sure.

As we continue south, the highway passes

through the small, unassuming town of

Socorro.

One which is steeped in UFO lore, not

just because it's close proximity to a

secretive test range, but because it was

the site of the famous Lonnie Zamora UFO

encounter.

On April 24th, 1964, Socorro police

officer Lonnie Zamora claimed to

encounter two people standing beside a

shiny object, which later rose into the

air.

Of course, as is the case with Area 51,

UFO sightings near military test ranges

have long been a somewhat common

occurrence. And some have posited that

what he may have witnessed was a

possible lunar lander test by the nearby

White Sands Missile Range. But the case

was heavily investigated by various UFO

groups, and even the US Air Force's

Project Blue Book, which listed the case

as unknown.

The question of what exactly Mr. Zamora

saw that day may never be definitively

answered, but the encounter has firmly

cemented itself in the local lore of the

area.

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>> As we're leaving the outskirts of

civilization behind us now, we'll take

this smaller highway branching to the

east, followed by a military road that

again heads south off into the desert

towards some distant mountaintops that

are adorned by shiny white radar domes

in the distance.

Before we head out there to do some

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This road leads to the main access gate

for the northern range here at White

Sands in an area called the Stallion

Army Airfield. This airfield, sitting on

the northern perimeter, serves as an

operational and logistical hub for RDT&E

operations here at the northern range.

This area is also historically

significant because the terrain around

the current airfield was used as an

observation point for the Trinity test,

the first nuclear weapon detonation,

which took place on July 16th, 1945.

The Trinity site, I recently found out,

is actually open for tourist visits,

though access is restricted to only 1

day per year in October.

According to the website, there is

photography allowed at ground zero, but

any photography of other parts of the

test range is strictly prohibited. This

is definitely on my list to do one day,

and if any of you out there have taken

the Trinity site tour, do share your

thoughts on it down in the comments. Let

me know what you thought.

>> As WSMR further expanded testing

operations of things such as early

guided missiles and successor programs

of the V2 rockets captured and brought

here as part of Operation Paperclip, the

Stallion Army Airfield became formalized

in 1953 to house various instrumentation

support and range recovery operations.

After annoying a few cows, I'll be

heading along this fence line here. Most

of this area is public BLM grazing land.

Over on that hill, we can see the

facility on the hilltop that was visible

from further down the road. I'm guessing

that dome up there is used for tracking

of flights and test articles here in the

northern portion of the test range.

Gaining a bit of elevation and using

some magnification on the nearby

hilltops, we can see various small

outposts and parabolic antennas

surrounding the valley

along with the larger radar dome that we

saw from below.

>> Zooming in on the airfield itself

reveals some well-staffed facilities, of

course with the usual unmarked white

pickups commonly found at these sorts of

remote desert test sites.

It seems that someone may have noticed

the guy perched on the hilltop with a

tripod and is probably wondering what

the hell I'm up to.

Along another road branching off from

the main airfield, I can see a cluster

of unusual-looking dome-like structures.

This is the facility known simply as the

experimental test site or ETS, and it's

managed by MIT's Lincoln Laboratory on

behalf of the US Air Force.

This area is also home to the Air

Force's ground-based electro-optical

deep space surveillance or GEODSS

system.

A small team at the ETS uses the

facility's sensors, these domes that we

can see here, to support R&D into

technologies that can improve an

electro-optical system's ability to

perform space surveillance.

Let's hit the trail again and continue

our desert journey to see what else we

can find out here.

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>> So, I'm going to make my way along the

perimeter here heading eastward to do

some exploring. Most of this area is

empty space,

but

on my map I can see this spot where it

looks like an unnamed dirt road might

intersect with the perimeter.

Indeed, it was in this spot that the

monotony of the barbed wire fence was

broken by a small chain-link gate.

I decided to pull over and take a look

around here.

It's possible that there was some hidden

facilities out here in this part of the

test range accessed [music] by this

remote gate.

On the gate itself sits nothing more

than a few warning signs, barely legible

from years of baking out in the sun.

But on the mountain range in the

distance, you can see the faint outline

of something else.

On top of one of these peaks sits a

facility.

At this great distance and without the

aid of any magnification, visible only

as a faint outline and a glint of

sunlight off of a metallic surface.

In fact, nestled on top of this mountain

peak sits one of the WSMR's most

interesting facilities. Rising 8,000 ft

above sea level, this towering mountain,

known as North Oscura Peak, hosts a

high-altitude hub for the Directed

Energy Weapons Program.

Nestled inside of this massive, highly

restricted White Sands Missile Range,

this summit didn't start out testing

lasers. Back in the 1950s, it was built

as an Army missile tracking station to

monitor rockets soaring over the proving

ground.

The facility was designed like a bunker

with 4-ft thick walls, 1,200 tons of

concrete drilled straight into the

bedrock to survive accidental rocket

strikes.

The modern era of this clandestine site

began in the late '90s when the Air

Force Research Laboratories Directed

Energy Directorate, headquartered at

Kirtland, took over the facility,

renovating and transforming the site to

create a world-class laser testing

facility.

Having worked on projects such as the

Airborne Laser Program, this facility

fires directed energy weapons at a

variety of targets,

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>> including another mountaintop called

Salinas Peak about 35 miles away, as

well as moving targets like missiles

fired from the WSMR range, and even a

small Cessna converted into a

purpose-built target plane to simulate

real-world engagements.

So, as I was checking my mapping app, I

found this area that's kind of

interesting to explore and potentially

spend the night. So, most of the WSMR

perimeter is a pretty straight line, but

there is this one square of public land

that looks like it's kind of inset into

the perimeter. So, theoretically, we

should be able to access this area. And

what's also interesting is zooming in on

the app, I can see what looks like some

kind of a structure in the mountaintops

here. So, I'm going to see if I can get

up there and see what we find.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to

cut over to that yellow square, and my

map shows that I'm actually inside

military property right now. I certainly

hope that's not the case. I didn't cross

any warning signs or anything, so I

think I'm still good.

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>> Arriving at the patch of public land

reveals what looks like evidence of some

mining activity. Number of structures

built into the hill, and of course, this

large concrete structure we have here.

>> Working my way to the top of the old

ruins, I was greeted by a fantastic view

of the desert below and the sweeping

test range that lay out in front of me.

I'm keeping a close eye on my map here

cuz I'm getting pretty close to the

military perimeter.

There may actually be some active mining

claims up in these hills.

I've seen a few signs posted around.

>> Yeah, we got quite a bit of old

equipment back here.

Definitely doesn't look to be currently

in use.

Web City.

I see something kind of interesting back

here behind these bushes. It looks like

a little uh

tunnel. Almost like a little uh like

Fallout vault.

Oh, yeah.

Definitely somebody's mining camp.

Not sure if they left it here for

decades or if this is still something

that's in use, but

pretty well stocked.

So, I followed this little trail to the

end. There's a bunch of warning signs

and keep out signs, but I'm basically

right on top of the military boundary.

Can hear a few fighter jets overhead

every now and then.

Not really much marking the perimeter

here.

Little further down the fence line, we

have a little bit more official-looking

boundary with some government property

signs.

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>> As the sun went down, I decided to set

up camp on top of the mine. So, I

settled in and got ready for my night

under the stars.

The strobe lights of several aircraft

could be seen transiting the test range,

as well as the twinkling lights of the

bustling remote facilities that lay

sprawling across the valley below.

>> At around 10:30 p.m. or so, I noticed

some odd flashes on the horizon. Excited

at first that I might be witnessing some

sort of directed energy weapons test,

the rational side of my brain said this

was most likely a distant monsoon storm.

The next morning, I woke up bright and

early and decided to make my way out

along the eastern perimeter of the WSMR

this time. I stopped by another gate.

This one is the eastern gate into the

range and is the main entrance to the

Oscura Peak facility.

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>> Well, this about wraps up today's

episode.

Let me know what you think about the

White Sands Missile Range and if you

live nearby or visited, let me know in

the comments if you've had any

interesting sightings of any military

equipment, UFOs, anything like that out

here at the WSMR. As always, I

appreciate you sticking around to the

end of the video. I'll see you on the

next episode. Uncanny Expeditions

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