Road Tour Update - The Itinerary
The countryside of Hockinson is lovely. It will really surprise many Cooperites, I believe, as it did me. It looks today very similarly as it did in 1971. Large dairy farmlands, no major hills, gentle rolling terrain. It looked ideal for an LZ.
We will meet at the Shari's in Orchards, WA at 1 pm. Shari's is a restaurant in the Fred Meyer shopping mall at the southeast corner of 76th and 117th. The latter thoroughfare is also known and posted as State Route 500/503.
Orchards is where the FBI thought DBC jumped in its 1975 revised analysis, putting the new LZ in the Hockinson area, about 3-5 northeast of Orchards.
Orchards was rural agricultural lands in 1971, but now it is a fully integrated part of the Portland-Vancouver metroplex. But Hockinson is just beyond the reach of those urban encroachments. In fact, Hockinson is now the bedroom/playground community for the very wealthy of SW Washington.
To reach Hockinson, first we'll leave Shari's and head north on 500/503 to their junction, then turn east on 500 and continue approximately five miles to 182nd Avenue. There we will turn north and head to Hockinson.
From Hochinson we will motor north, and then west back to SR 503 in Battleground, which is the original jump-off spot, and travel northeast along 503 to Amboy, the initial LZ. There we will leave 503 again and explore the forestlands along Cedar Creek Road where the initial ground search began on November 27th and continued until Sunday, November 29.
Next, we'll travel to Bernice Rhodes' home and antique store at the intersection of Pup Creek Road and Spurriel Road - just north of Cedar Creek Road - to hear her account of the intense house-to-house search for DB Cooper in that neighborhood conducted by the FBI in early December, 1971.
Afterwards, folks will have to make a decision - travel 25 miles northeast along SR 503 to Lake Merwin, the Dam, and the Ariel Tavern, or join me and other hungry Cooperites and head along the southern flank of the Lewis River via Cedar Creek Road to Woodland and arrive at La Casa Tapatia for dinner. Note: LCT is on 503, too!
After din-din, the intrepid can travel east on 503 for 12 miles to the Ariel Tavern and the Merwin Dam complex. That's an easy drive compared to the circuitous route on 503 from Amboy, which will take at least 30-40 minutes of curvy, mountainous driving. The area east of Lake Merwin can be quite rugged.