Radar Hill Revisited In July 2005, 40 years later...
Here are the notes from the visit:
Took a long hike from the Dairy Lane entrance to the Ridges property up to the old Radar Hill site. Some climbing felt like about a 4-mile total. Very pretty! The whole area is now a biological workshop and it shows. Kept well; remnants of the old orchard still there, and remnants of the antenna foundations, etc., still on top of the hill. But trees have really sprouted at the top in the decades since the Hill has been left alone.
It felt good to remember all those neat times up there! It's also good that the place has returned to nature, and is, in fact, a park. Spent an hour or so looking around and taking pictures. Got rained on a little, and had some quiet time to think about the Barnums, Clabaughs, George Bush (yes -- remember?) Dudashs, Huffs, Burhanses and so many other people we met and worked with up there. It was another of those good growing-up experiences that, fortunately, didn't grow us up too much!
For years, I have a recurring dream about Radar Hill -- the buildings being turned into condos, but with enough of the old laboratory equipment around so that it's clear what the location is. Maybe I don't need that dream any more. We made use of that spot, and we're just not using it any more. It looks good.
Bob Lilley, October 2005
