Often in regards to the Toiyabe National Forest, one asks "where are
the trees!"

They have a glider fest of sorts at the civilian Tonopah airport (TPH)
once a year.  I was in the area of the ranges (though not near Tonoaph)
once when this event was happening and heard a live radio show
originating from Tonopah, on probably KDWN. What got my attention was a
guy saying he flew over Bald Mountain. However, there is another Bald
Mountain in the general area. I think it is north of route 6.

BTW, thanks for the research on R-4811. From my records, these should
be the waypoints:
38.2458	118.6064
38.2419	118.6069
38.2381	118.6080
38.2344	118.6100
38.2311	118.6126
38.2281	118.6158
38.2255	118.6196
38.2235	118.6239
38.2219	118.6285
38.2210	118.6334
38.2207	118.6383
38.2209	118.6433
38.2218	118.6482
38.2234	118.6528
38.2254	118.6571
38.2280	118.6609
38.2310	118.6642
38.2344	118.6668
38.2380	118.6687
38.2419	118.6699
38.2458	118.6702
38.2498	118.6698
38.2536	118.6686
38.2572	118.6667
38.2606	118.6641
38.2636	118.6609
38.2661	118.6571
38.2682	118.6528
38.2697	118.6482
38.2706	118.6433
38.2709	118.6383
38.2706	118.6334
38.2697	118.6285
38.2682	118.6239
38.2661	118.6196
38.2636	118.6158
38.2606	118.6126
38.2572	118.6100
38.2536	118.6080
38.2498	118.6069

Digging around the net, it seems like glider pilots are the most
concerned about special use airspace, probably because their travels
are not exactly planned.


thomsona@flash.net wrote:

One thing that struck me as strange while researching this is that
there are few to no mentions of the activities associated with New
Bomb.  I'd have thought that transportation of ordnance from Hawthorne
there would be accompanied by noticeable security and, possibly, the
adjacent segment of SR 359 might be closed off during explosive
operations.

Also, those operations probably were sometimes noisy and otherwise
conspicuous.  The area is in a national forest, there are walking
trails in the area. You'd think someone would have remarked on it.

I did find a Usenet posting from 1994 describing a glider flight in the
area on 7 July 1993 that confirms that loud noises were sometimes
produced:


  "Halfway to the Whites, the whistling of the air is broken
  by a low  frequency, thunder-like rumble.  The ship
  reverberates from one, then another sharp report.  My
  body tenses up.  Thunder?  Impossible.  The clouds
  aren't overdeveloping.  Sonic boom?  I'm not near an
  MOA.  Another sharp BLAST from my left side.  I look
  east and not 5 miles way I see a  third, fourth, and fifth
  blast flash at the R-4811 ammunition testing  area.
  Enormous clouds of dense, boiling dust a thousand yards
  across rise from the desert floor.  A few seconds after
  each blast, a concussion wave hits the ship like a fist
  whacking my wing.  It's fascinating, seeing this
  atmospheric amoebae grow and change shape while it
  blows skyward at 15 -   20 knots.  Just like those 1950's
  A-bomb tests."