Just in case you don't know about these hidden dangers.

November 16, 2004

Dirt-biking fun turns tragic

Matt Frey of Mission Viejo dies when he tumbles down unmarked mine shaft.

By GREG HARDESTY and JOHN McDONALD
The Orange County Register

RED MOUNTAIN – The three close friends were roaring back to their tent after two days of dirt-biking in Red Mountain, a remote high-desert town in northwestern San Bernardino County.

Their stomachs were full after a lunch of chicken-fried steaks and mashed potatoes at the Silver Dollar Saloon in Randsburg, where they shot pool.

They took their last ride together under a brilliant sun.

Experienced off-road dirt bikers Matthew Frey, Cole Hatter and Scott Grimm - all 21 - were careful not to follow each other too closely, in case one of them wiped out.

What they hadn't thought about were the thousands of unmarked holes that pepper the Mojave Desert: abandoned mine shafts that can kill with silent, brutal efficiency.

At about 1:40 p.m. Sunday, Frey, of Mission Viejo, fell to his death after riding his motorcycle up a 150-foot-high hill and into a 700-foot-deep mine shaft at the center of the hill, which the dirtbikers decided to climb for fun.

His body was recovered about six hours later.

Frey, dressed in full protective gear, was found about 15 feet from his 2004 Honda TR motorcycle, which will remain in the abyss because authorities said retrieving it would be too dangerous.

Hatter, riding behind Frey, nearly plunged into the estimated 10-foot-by-20-foot hole that swallowed up his friend.

The left-foot peg of Hatter's motorcycle got embedded in the sand; he was able to grab onto a bush and pull himself out of the steep, funnel-like slope that led to certain death.

He waved off Grimm before he, too, rode over the top of the hill. The sickening realization of what had happened to Frey slowly sunk in.

The hill, located less than a quarter-mile east of Highway 395 near the historic mining town of Red Mountain, looked like any other in the desert. Rising against a larger, natural hill, the years had filled it with rocks and vegetation.

The dirt-bikers didn't see any "no-trespassing" signs, warning signs or a fence.

"It wasn't too steep," Grimm recalled in an interview Monday. "We thought it was flat on top. ... When I got to the top, it was a big black hole ... .

"We hoped that Matt had ridden off somewhere; we called for him, we looked around but then we realized he was in the hole.

"We screamed his name down the hole but there was no answer.

"We dropped a stone to see how deep it was, and all we heard was it bounce and bounce and bounce along the side. We never heard it hit bottom."

Grimm said the three were not aware they were riding on private land owned since 1929 by the Rand Consolidated Silver Mining Co.

After calling 911 from a cell phone, Grimm and Hatter returned to the saloon where, by chance, members of the Indian Wells Search and Rescue team were sitting down for lunch.

"They had been training in the area since 8 a.m.," said Kern County Sheriff Department Sgt. J.C. Plank, who supervises the volunteerunit.

The team abandoned its food and set up an A-frame with hand cranks to lower the rescue worker with a safety line and a communications line into the black pit.

The team only had a 300-foot-long line - long enough for most of the shafts in the area, but far too short to reach Frey. They were able to rig up a line that was able to reach the bottom - and the horrible truth.

The Freys, who arrived at the scene before their son was found, were too distraught to talk about their only child Monday.

Matt Frey died in the Spangler Hills area of the Mojave Desert, a popular spot for dirt-bikers. The terrain is varied, with stretches of flatlands, hills and sand.

In a similar incident last February, a 14-year-old boy was rescued after falling off his dirt bike into an abandoned mine shaft in the same general area; his fall was broken by a beam about 100 feet down the 780-foot-deep shaft.

Relatives and friends described Frey, a waiter at Chammps Americana at the Irvine Spectrum, as a God-loving 21-year-old who was close to his relatives and friends.

Frey was to celebrate his birthday Thursday. He had been an honors student at Capistrano Valley High School, from which he graduated in 2000.

Frey was a right-handed pitcher and infielder who played city-league baseball through his sophomore year and was a member of Mission Viejo Community Christian Church, where he was active in the youth group from 1995 to 2000.

He loved to work on his silver Toyota truck.

For Hatter, it was the second loss of a close friend in two months.

On Sept. 9, he and Frey escaped with minor injuries after a car driven by their close friend, Stephen Brown, 21, of Trabuco Canyon, flipped on a highway in rural Baker while on the way to Las Vegas.

Brown, who was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected, died the next day.

Through Chris Johnson, 34, Frey's uncle, Hatter said: "I'm afraid to have anyone be my friend now, because it seems like they'realldisappearing."

The state is pocked with about 47,000 abandoned mines that pose chemical and physical hazards, said Doug Craig, manager of the California Department of Conservation's Abandoned Mine Lands Unit.

There are between 12,000 and 15,000 in San Bernardino and Riverside counties alone, he said.

Authorities and veteran dirk-bike riders cautioned about venturing off designated roads.

"If you go across the desert, you just might fall into a hole," said Bob Piche, 41, of La Mirada, who used to race in the desert. "When I ride out there, I'm very careful.

"If you see a pile of dirt, watch out, because there's usually a hole somewhere."

In 1997, the state launched a program to locate all abandoned mines with the aim of eventually getting the holes plugged with dirt, covered with polyurethane foam or fenced.

"We will be working on this for decades to come," Craig said.

It was not immediately clear Monday if Rand Consolidated Silver Mining Co. is still in operation.

Although there are no reliable statistics, abandoned mines injure or kill a person every few months in the state, Craig said.

There have been three deaths in the past three years related to abandoned mines, including two Santa Ana brothers who drowned in the Blue Light Mine in Silverado Canyon in June 2002.

Through Johnson, Frey's mother, Kathy, said: "I am appalled that in an open riding area there could be a 700-foot-deep hole less than a quarter mile off the road."

As Frey's family started to contemplate funeral arrangements, Grimm replayed the tragedy in his mind.

"If I had gone first and fallen, then Matt and Cole had gone in, we would have disappeared," Grimm said. "Nobody would ever have found us. We would have been in that hole for all eternity."