Balloon bingo

[DAW89446]

A member here has a hobby of tracking weather balloons online. After they burst and fall to the ground, he attempts to locate their transponder battery packs for free batteries if they survive the 60,000' fall.

[GowerGulch42]

Hah, I've found a couple "radiosondes" from our local National Weather Service offices. I've always sent them back, never really thought about cannibalizing them!

[edward]

What are everyone's PRs for finding balloons and have you found a place they seem to be more abundant?

[DAW89446]

What are everyone's PRs for finding balloons and have you found a place they seem to be more abundant?

I'm not sure what the acronym PR stands for. I'm not a hiker, so I've only found a few random balloons over the decades during my 4WD exploring and off grid camping in the park. I really don't know where they might be more abundant, but logic tells me the southern part of the park, as it's closest to population centers. Any in the northern end of the park would have to cross the Sierra and subsequent ranges from the Central Valley cities and likely would have lost their buoyancy long before reaching the park.

[TacoLand]

PR = Personal Record ....

I'd never found more than two or three in one day before, but back in January of this year I recovered seven in one day in the Owlshead Mountains.

[Beardilocks]

PR = Personal Record ....

I'd never found more than two or three in one day before, but back in January of this year I recovered seven in one day in the Owlshead Mountains.

Impressive as I recovered 3 in the Owlsheads a month or so before you.  Lol.  

PR is hazy.  I’ve done 5 or 6 in a day a couple times.  Can’t remember if I ever went over that.  At a point you’re just annoyed and running out of space to stuff them.

[edward]

I covered a lot of ground in/near the Owlsheads a few weeks ago and didn't find any, so you guys must have collected them all. I believe the Park was once asking volunteers to catalog where they found balloons, and there was a map (don't recall where I saw it) showing that they were found all over. In one 48 period in June 2021, I collected one in Jackass Flats, two near the end of the road near Last Chance Spring, and 7.5 in Butte Valley (including a "Happy Graduation!" bouquet of three). All of those were observed from my vehicle, so its not hard to imagine the vast numbers scattered just out of sight.

[Brice]

What are everyone's PRs for finding balloons and have you found a place they seem to be more abundant?

My record is 11 in one day.  Before that it was around 6-7.  I got the 11 exploring nearly the entire length of virgin spring canyon including many of its little side canyons.  I expect it had been many years since anybody had been up all the little side canyons there, so there was a long opportunity for them to collect.

I've never found even a single a balloon in the Owlsheads.

[wyethia]

It seems like I find more in the southern of the park, but I found the most at once (a big balloon bouquet) in the Nelson Range.  I agree taller ranges might block them somewhat.  I never have found enough balloons that even a $20 bounty would pay for my trip, but I wouldn't turn it down.

My understanding was that the Park Service was trying to track them due to potential effects on wildlife.  Does anyone have any links to scientific research on that (not just the social media stuff).  It certainly seems reasonable, but I like to have actual data.

[edward]

I believe the Park was once asking volunteers to catalog where they found balloons, and there was a map (don't recall where I saw it) showing that they were found all over.

HERE is the article (pp. 1, 6-7) I saw in the December 2019 issue of Desert Report that discusses the informal "park-wide survey [starting January 2018] asking staff to collect Mylar balloons and report their locations to get an idea of how widespread the problem is in the park." My layperson's interpretation of that low-res map on page 6 is that most balloons were found along the roads. It makes sense that quite a few were found along the heavily trafficked Badwater Road, but it does seem that Harry Wade Road and Saratoga Springs Road had many more along them than roads like Wildrose Road or 190. If the recovery locations are accurate, there were also quite a few found near Owl Lake and in the Quail Mountains. This could support the notion that balloons are more likely to be found in the southern parts of the park.