 Above: Rescue Gulch with the Missouri River and the chest of the Sleeping Giant in the background (peak on horizon). Although Hellman's cross cannot be seen in the photo, the four hikers could see it from their vantage point. (Photo by Bob Gresswell) To see a photo taken from the opposite vantage point, CLICK HERE.
They ran upgulch on top of the ridge for a hundred yards or so and staggered down the slope on the other side of the ridge. There they stumbled onto a rock slide "several hundred feet long and perhaps seventy-five feet wide." . . . Norman Maclean CLICK HERE to listen to a recent 15-20-minute interview that Dick Gordon of American Public Media did with Bob Sallee in 2009. You won't be disappointed. Thanks to Tom Montgomery for sharing the link.
 Above: This photo shows the two distinct levels of rimrocks present from this point downgulch for several hundred feet. Mann Gulch is on the left and Rescue Gulch is on the right. The place where the last few hikers are crossing is the wide saddle that Sallee was referring to when he said, "It's the same God damn pass the Forest Service investigator tried to make me believe was where Rumsey and I crawled out of Mann Gulch." (Young Men and Fire, Chapter 9) CLICK HERE to see another photo of this saddle.  Above: This photo was taken from the rockslide where Rumsey and Sallee took refuge from the fire as it crossed over from Mann Gulch. When Rumsey and Sallee returned here with MacLean in the late 1970's they found the tin can from which the dying Hellman drank salty potato juice. They found the can near a big flat rock on the right side of the photo (also shown in the photo below). *Hellman's Cross is not located near at the big flat rock where he spent the night. The photo below shows Hellman's rock in the foreground, his cross, and the rocky slopes to the left of the cross where Rumsey and Sallee found refuge.  CLICK HERE to see a photo of Hellman's cross looking toward the Missouri River. |
