Hiking Palen Pass: A World War Two Desert Battlefield Training Area

Рет қаралды 22,008

8 ай бұрын

Today we take a hike at the Palen Pass, World War Two era, desert warfare training area located in the harsh and desolate Mojave Desert. This part of the Mojave desert was used by over a million U.S. soldiers during 1942 and 1943 to train for their upcoming deployment to the battlefields of North Africa. During our exploration, we find remnants of the desert warfare training. Not only are there many foxholes and gun emplacement dugouts remaining, but there are also artifacts strewn about the valley between the mountains of Palen Pass left by our soldiers over 80 years ago.
About Aquachigger:
I enjoy metal detecting for historical items like gold coins, relics, silver coins, and other buried treasures. I also metal detect for gold and silver nuggets and even meteorites. I like to make videos that promote my choice of lifestyle that includes outdoor adventure,
metal detecting, yapping, searching for river treasure, SCUBA diving, exploring abandoned places, hiking, caving, caring for animals and pets, and observing the things outdoors that often go unnoticed by most people who are not familiar with outdoor adventures and nature. I keep my KZfaq "Aquachigger" channel family-friendly and hope you subscribe if you like my style.
BTW, you can also catch me here, / chiggsarmy ,but I may get a little edgier there. FB isn't a place for kids anyway...lol.
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I hope to see you guys out there!
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Пікірлер: 172

@aquachigger 8 ай бұрын

A return to Palen Pass. I hope you enjoy this hike and history.

@raynin 8 ай бұрын

You weren't lying about videos every day!

@ryanhoward9048 8 ай бұрын

Happy Thanksgiving chigg

@nopelindoputraperkasa5869 8 ай бұрын

Nice sharing Vidio 🇮🇩⚒️⛏️👍👍

@jamescrabtree4358 8 ай бұрын

Do you think the chicken wire was used fir foliage for camo

@twowingsblackhawk8954 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for the video. We been there several times. Can't go anymore due to old age & health problems. But, thanks to you , we can still enjoy the desert! Thank you, Mr Chigg!

@selfretired3025 8 ай бұрын

You really have THE BEST theme song. I find myself singing it sometimes. They really did a great job with it.

@-O-_-0- 8 ай бұрын

Maybe the chicken wire was to hold what ever they used to camoufage the positioms. You know, grass or what was available.. Edit: apparently Mr. Chigg figured the same. Never should comment mid video🙃

@AndrexT 8 ай бұрын

I thought the same, to hold brush and vegetation. And then Beau solved it.

@hardemanhunter2074 8 ай бұрын

Me being a retired soldier myself, I think I can help. You said they had live fire exercises there. I'd say the small foxholes with the chicken wire were 13F, Joint Fire Support Specialist observation positions (OPs). Their job is to observe and report enemy movements, troop strengths, positions and other valuable information and call for artillery fire on those forces. The chicken wire was most likely used to hold natural vegetation on the (hide) for concealment.

@redtobertshateshandles 8 ай бұрын

That's right. The less targets spotted and destroyed helps give your side the win in the war games. Looks like they didn't do so well with the target spotting and destroying somehow.

@ExploringCabinsandMines 8 ай бұрын

I love your desert content !!

@GDavid1955 8 ай бұрын

Thanks, Beau. I appreciate your sharing your walk through the desert and educating us at the same time.

@aquachigger 8 ай бұрын

Thanks so much. I'm happy to know you enjoy my videos!

@johngennari2899 8 ай бұрын

I helped open Camp Irwin to Fort Irwin in 1981 as an infantryman. We road marched tanks from railhead in Barstow 40 miles to the camp. We also trained down to 29 palms and in that area. Patton did training at Irwin too. Great desert moments.

@jaydeshaw3394 8 ай бұрын

Wow! Chemtrails turning into full clouds during your video!

@cynthiaswearingen1037 8 ай бұрын

Thank you for the history lesson, Chigg!❤

@RobbieRayner-tb7ey 8 ай бұрын

Thank you for taking us along! Enjoy every minute!! Happy Thanksgiving to you and Lindsey and all the fur babies!! Love you guys ❤

@paulwise6722 8 ай бұрын

Chigg good day from England ,the chicken wire was probably used to place the rocks together as they put chicken wire similar on river banks to stop the banks falling in the river like they also use heavy wire to keep cliffs from falling, my father was in North Africa in bomber command Lancashire quadron posted Alexander Bay Egypt to fight rommel German tank command

@kevinallman6700 8 ай бұрын

Loving your videos chig!! You have a way of making it feel like we are sharing the adventure with you in the moment,a day is not the same unless I watch one of your videos.. thanks 👍😊

@stevebroadway3713 8 ай бұрын

Enjoyed watching. Thanks for the videos.Happy Thanksgiving!

@meanderingwithmuddypaw 8 ай бұрын

Boy, that looked hot and dry! I'm surprised the EPA hasn't gone out there and ripped out that animal death trap barbed wire ... it's just a dangerous tangle for anything near it. Thanks for the trip, Chigg! Be safe out there! - Muddypaw 🐾

@beepseatsfindingfoodtreasu8756 8 ай бұрын

It would have been amazing to see Patton out there kicking butts and teaching our boys the facts of war.

@brucewestoby 8 ай бұрын

Hey ...was hatched that year...! Eating Walmart Ice cream ,watching you video. But time to get some chores done . Thanks for the video....great history...!

@kj7a-- 8 ай бұрын

Thankful for your shared adventures El Chiggo

@JustPlainSteve5372 8 ай бұрын

Thank You for the Adventure Chigg!

@richardwarnock2789 8 ай бұрын

Thanks!

@aquachigger 8 ай бұрын

I really appreciate the donation. It all goes into my video fund to help pay for gas and supplies. You have been so very generous.

@IVN357 8 ай бұрын

The chicken wire was used for keeping the rocks collapsing on soldiers. They would lay out wire flat then stack rocks on top for barrier then tightly fold and wrap wire then tie wire together.

@ericcartrette6118 8 ай бұрын

It looks like the mine fuse was near the little divots in the pavement? I was a combat engineer in the Army (long ago). I would say those divots were most likely made by buried mines. Those fuses were long obsolete by the time I joined in 1989. Great video!

@lostonwallace1396 8 ай бұрын

Yeah. Fencing wire like that was probably used to gather foliage for camouflaging areas with scrub bushes, twigs, etc to offer some extra cover.

@charlieschemmel122 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing!!!!!

@richardwarnock2789 8 ай бұрын

Happy Thanksgiving Beau !!!; )

@aserta 8 ай бұрын

2:10 considering it's an exercise area, they were probably lax with what's actually done on account of it being difficult to dig in that terrain. There's a few pictures online with training camps in different areas where they have ration boxes as fortifications (tho, caveat, it's unclear if that's an actual training ground or just some soldiers fooling around for a picture).

@DERISNER 8 ай бұрын

Hey Chig, the chicken wire was used to help camouflage equipment and positions, especially from the air

@earlt.7573 8 ай бұрын

Not uncommon to cover the front of your fighting hole with a section of chicken wire and weave bits of brush / weeds and sometimes bits of burlap sandbag into the wire to create a "camo screen " to help hide your position. Really neat that the wire is still there after all this time.

@joeylandry4933 8 ай бұрын

I think one reason for the shallow fighting positions was that they were in a training mindset of “playing” war and not under the danger of actually being in war. I’m sure those fighting positions got a lot better after their baptism of fire by German artillery in North Africa.

@trudyhodson7669 8 ай бұрын

Very interesting. So cool to see all that!

@blkjckgtr3075 8 ай бұрын

Hey,Chigg thanks again for the History lesson and adventure,Happy Thanksgiving to you hope you catch a big snake to eat,Cheers!lol

@jeller4313 8 ай бұрын

My military daughter says she thinks the cans with the multiple holes in them were coffee stoves. She said they couldn’t have open flames so they used those.

@nopelindoputraperkasa5869 8 ай бұрын

Training area.. beautiful sharing Vidio... always succses friend.. God Bless You.. greeting from Indonesian traditonal gold prospecting 🇮🇩💎🙏⚒️⛏️👍👍

@cyndybutler7330 8 ай бұрын

Happy thanksgiving everyone

@SmallWonda 8 ай бұрын

Very interesting - I'd have thought the chicken wire was for cammo,,, Keep safe!

@leecarbunkle1 8 ай бұрын

My Dad was there in 1942. 338th IR, Custer Division.

@Echoingsweetly 8 ай бұрын

Great hike🌹

@Sausage-3-ways 8 ай бұрын

Love your videos ❤❤❤

@TomFromMN 8 ай бұрын

I was happy to see you were wearing your snake gaiters. It's always nice to go for a walk with you in the desert as you point out a bit of the unusual.

@infigrins 8 ай бұрын

Good stuff chigg

@KS-xb3cg 8 ай бұрын

The wind on the mic sounds like live fire in the background. Interesting

@petewalton5068 8 ай бұрын

Love watching this while i have snow on the ground

@PeteHemdem 8 ай бұрын

The chicken wire at the foxholes would be used to stick sprigs of brush into to help with concealment.

@donaldkachur 8 ай бұрын

MOAR!!... 🪛🙃

@snakeboot-nuggets 5 ай бұрын

The circle scratch marks are from detecting. Either some one detecting for gold nuggets, or coin shooting/ relic poachers. I believe they are too modern of scratch marks to be military detecting by the looks of them also look to be shallow ( boot scrapes ) most likely detecting with a VLF machine. Just my 2 cents on the scratch marks, great video and enjoy watching your desert trips. Maybe one day we cross paths in the Mojave. Take care and keep up the great content!

@speakfreely.1776 8 ай бұрын

Great video chig

@barbaradeath3807 8 ай бұрын

Well my previous post said exactly what you just said!

@artsimpson3670 8 ай бұрын

Aloha Chigg, De-pop never stops, 13:40;16:50; 22 big time. Remember training and barb wire at night. Just can't push through it. Thanks for the companionship!

@marthafenimore4279 8 ай бұрын

Very interesting. Thanks for the tour.

@jamescrabtree4358 8 ай бұрын

When i was a kid we would cook on the bottom of cans and put several hole for ventilation

@dougalexander7204 8 ай бұрын

I can’t unsee Chigg walking out of the maelstrom of live fire looking like Yosemite Sam, swinging a metal detector.

@JOHNEVANS-wi4md 8 ай бұрын

The chicken wire was used weave brush and grass into it to help the concealment of the fireing position for the troops.

@AlaskanCaveMan2012 8 ай бұрын

Chigg you make good videos, have a happy Thanksgiving

@mercedithcompala8148 8 ай бұрын

That was a pretty good walk ...alot of amazing scenery and history 👍thanks and...Happy Thanksgiving 💥👋🏜

@Ken-kv6ee 8 ай бұрын

The spots on the desert pavement may have been where dumby bombs from planes hit the ground. Cleaned away since.

@kevincurrier4719 8 ай бұрын

I live near where you are exploring, there are many other things out there that I've found from Pattons time there. Would be a hoot to run into you 😊

@SolidStateSoul 8 ай бұрын

Glad to see you wearing those gaiters. Maybe they made a rock emplacement instead of using the naturally existing rock, simply because the exercise required building an emplacement with loose rocks.

@janblake9468 8 ай бұрын

South of where you were are several sets of WWI type fighting trenches. Yes, the mine fuse has been pushed in causing smoke to be discharged. I donated 8 whole Coca-Cola bottles found there to the desert history museum at Goffs. They were all 1940's dated.

@alexduncan8735 8 ай бұрын

All the ration tins made me think of an aquachig and steveMRE crossover

@MrKmoconne 8 ай бұрын

I imagine the chicken wire is where they would cut brush and stick it through the wire to provide concealment. The brush would have not lived long but the position would not have been occupied for long either.

@donniehodge2548 8 ай бұрын

Happy Thanksgiving 🇺🇲👍

@susanmarkleyschmitt1314 8 ай бұрын

Thanks Chigg - just love these videos. Have you ever been or near Beatty, Nev and gone to the racetrack. Where the rocks go around and around all by themselves? The Mojave Dessert has some really interesting places out there. I’ve seen about 98% of your videos. Love all. Hope you and your wife have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

@richardklapka5147 8 ай бұрын

I enjoyed it Chig. You are good at what you do buddy. (Entertain & Educate us.) Rk.

@carlgruver695 8 ай бұрын

Happy Thanksgiving

@slimwantedman6694 8 ай бұрын

Good afternoon from Southeast South Dakota

@peterlauter3505 8 ай бұрын

Chigg that chicken wire could have been used to hold camouflage in place.. cool video

@peterlauter3505 8 ай бұрын

Well after watching I see you figured it out too.

@DERISNER 8 ай бұрын

That's exactly what is was for

@the1spen 8 ай бұрын

Happy Thanksgiving Chigg! I was thinking maybe the chicken wire enabled them to break off sage branches and stick them into it to better conceal their positions? Just a guess.

@timbigelow6018 8 ай бұрын

Those larger positions were probably mortar pits

@henrybucki7813 8 ай бұрын

the chicken wire was used to weave brush and leaves to give camouflage to hide their position

@Knee-ko 8 ай бұрын

12:27 - Lots of weird things out here in the desert........says the Chiggster 🤣🤣

@realquiet- 8 ай бұрын

The potholes in the desert pavement is from nugget hunters or when they buried those training mines. Looks exactly like the gold fields.

@smoovefishing 8 ай бұрын

Never forget the first time I wore snake proof boots that came up to my knee, I was walking and jumped a ditch and landing right beside a big rattle snake and he went right for my leg and bite right into my boot! I had to shoot it but I never went without them again and that’s been over 20 years ago!

@joeveltre5560 8 ай бұрын

that chicken wire is for camouflage think netting on your helmet you could jam limbs from shrubs easly and they would hold and stay up right

@sandrarogers1200 8 ай бұрын

Very interesting! I had an uncle who had been a medic in North Africa during WW2. If I'm remembering right from what my dad told me, his brother later went on up into Italy. I can't ask my dad now if his brother had been where you were in this video now. He passed away this past summer.

@reneebrazeal788 8 ай бұрын

Happy Thanksgiving!

@shropshirehistory908 8 ай бұрын

@Aquachigger the four cans in the ground, I can’t tell why there in the ground like that but I can tell why there’s so many holes in the top…..the front 3,4 an 5 was how many cups it was being poured into so 3,4 an 5 men, the back one as you know being for air while pouring.

@stuartb9194 8 ай бұрын

Nice to see you back at Pallen Pass. There's a lot of WW2 stuff out there in the surrounding desert, also old mining gear. It's harsh, but a beautiful place. Did you drive in and out on the East side? The road out to the West gets pretty gnarly.

@rubyredlopez4 8 ай бұрын

About 2 or 3 videos back you showed and talked about the swirly robb/screwed into the ground used to hold up the Bob wire.

@HughDuszaPastor 8 ай бұрын

16:20 yup mines

@thurin84 8 ай бұрын

that set up of ration cans looks like bait to me. btw the barbed wire posts are known as "pigtails". always cool to see these old ww2 training areas.

@sandrabishop2287 8 ай бұрын

maybe the chicken wire helped to give more concealment with putting cactus or whatever they could cover up with.

@user-kn4rf2ly3q 8 ай бұрын

Really digging the bottom of the barrel

@diggerdoc5022 8 ай бұрын

Chiggers you have to make video of the night 🦂. If you're still out west.

@vincenthackett7771 8 ай бұрын

I think the chicken wire was to put maybe Sagebrush in it for camouflage

@paulsouth4794 8 ай бұрын

Howdy chigg, Could you do some metal detecting on the orgian trail . Or other wagon train trails

@Hunter-ym2kk 8 ай бұрын

Chicken wire was to put brush n sticks in for camouflage for their positions..

@THEABOODSA 8 ай бұрын

wow

@GULIVERSOFFROAD 8 ай бұрын

id love to take my rc rock crawler out there it looks beautiful

@thelizabeth909 8 ай бұрын

The California historical group does WW2 reenactments there every once in a while.

@playinhooky11 8 ай бұрын

Maybe the chicken wire was used for Camo purposes, threaded w sagebrush. Haha watched the video crafter my comment and chugged figured it out. 😮

@ralphwatten2426 8 ай бұрын

I think they were defensive positions much like what's done today. Hide until the .50 opens up and move out. Advance until you can't and dig in. Run wire and wait.

@Ebolter1 8 ай бұрын

you take the chicken wire , make a base" bend it ' and weigh it down with rock and than filli it with rocks , it makes a barricade

@user-tn7hc4ww3j 8 ай бұрын

I wonder how many critters get caught in that abandoned barb wire.

@user-kn7gg7yu3p 8 ай бұрын

Maybe they used the wire to attach different vegetation to for camouflage

@herbambs5925 8 ай бұрын

The Germans used wire to divert handgrenades. Not sure how well it worked for them.

@Thayer2000 8 ай бұрын

Maybe they used chicken wire because they ran out of barbed wire. Hope you have a Happy Thangiving Chigg!!

@stevecray8282 8 ай бұрын

Chicken wire possibly to hold the loose rocks in place to form the bunker walls?

@squatchthumper7537 8 ай бұрын

Several other KZfaqrs went at the exact location, after you first posted going there, and metal detected and collected several valuable relics including silver coins

@aquachigger 8 ай бұрын

It's a felony to metal detect for artifacts there. I hope no one turns them in. www.blm.gov/programs/law-enforcement/report-a-crime

@ralphwatten2426 8 ай бұрын

Not a crime if you don't get caught. If you get caught...lie.@@aquachigger

@HammerHed13 8 ай бұрын

The double edged sword of You Tube. The good still outweighs the bad. Still, too many asshats with channels.

@TomFromMN 8 ай бұрын

@@aquachigger Or maybe they should. You constantly remind everyone what the law is and we watch you adhere to it. It spoils it for those that follow. Same kind of KZfaqrs that follow you to your river sites.