Malinta Hill

[fots2]

Hi oozlefinch,

Your description sounds pretty good. Here is a recent photo of the area taken standing on the road and looking east towards the SW Malinta hillside. The two tunnels are located here. I was in both of them last month so they still exist.

In this photo, the tunnels are located behind trees at the mid to left side of the photo and about a third of the way up from the bottom.

[oozlefinch]

Yes, that sounds about right. EXO, ArmyJunk and I went in those in '06. If that area ever gets burned off in the dry season, maybe you could search up in the NE corner and see if anything remains of the QM tunnel south entrance. You've probably been in the QM laterals. Back in the 80's I went south as far as my nerves would let me. At the point where I had to get down on my hands and knees, my courage deserted me and I turned tail.

[fots2]

oozlefinch, you are a smart man.

I have been as far south as you can go in that tunnel and it is a bit scary for sure. Once I was with EXO and a couple other times alone when doing the map surveys about three years ago. Walking/crawling on jagged collapsed tunnel roof is not the wisest thing to do. Actually it was this tunnel and the southernmost Navy tunnel that woke me up to stop doing such stupid things. I will go as far as the semi-collapsed areas in those tunnels now.

Speaking of the QM tunnel South entrance, we estimated we got roughly 40 feet or so from it. The broken rock tunnel narrowed down to about a foot high and there was a breeze coming into the tunnel towards us. Also, we saw roots growing down through fractures in the rock so we knew we were close to the end.

Many people do not realize that the Malinta (QM) Tunnel South Entrance still exists. It goes in about 15 feet before what looks to be a complete collapse. We do know that wind can get past here though as we felt it from inside the tunnel.

Hey EXO, are you game to get into there again? I will wait for you on the outside buddy… ;D




Here is an example of what it is like to walk along a passage which is actually a collapsed tunnel roof. Some places you can stand up and other places you have to crawl. Walking can be a bit tricky as the rocks you step on can be loose and at the same time keeping an eye on the jagged ceiling so as to not split you head wide open. Add humidity and the rocks get slippery.




This view must have been near the end as I can see roots hanging down from cracks in the ceiling.




More roots near the end.




This is as far south as we could go. A gap about one foot high continued for about 10 feet then we saw only broken rock. There was a breeze coming out of here so the South Shore Road was not far away.




Here is the south side of Malinta Hill. Winding around it is the South Shore Road. About mid photo at road level are the remnants of the South Entrance.




In the dry season, maintenance people cleared the road a few years ago and by cutting bushes they exposed the South Entrance. It is heavily damaged but you can see the opening, the concrete ceiling and one wall.




If you slide inside here is the view you see at what appears to be a complete collapse.

For some reason I find these old tunnels fascinating and there still is much to learn.

[EXO]

Been there, done that, no reason to crawl back.

But on the other hand, if there's something new to be found....

[pdh54]

Fots your photos are absolutely amazing!

[okla]

Hey Patty....And the amazing thing is....it's all done with a little "pocket camera". He has posted pics of his little "gadget". It might have something to do with talent. Ya think?? The photo he uses for his Avatar is the second best pic ever taken in my humble. Surpassed only by the Iwo Jima shot from WW 2. I have the pic, enlarged and hanging on my Den wall and use the same photo as the background on my PC Monitor. I never tire of looking at the "Bataan Sunset". Cheers.

[fots2]

Hi pdh54 and okla,

Thank-you for the comments. Taking photos along with the hiking and exploring makes for a great trip every time I visit Corregidor. It never gets boring.

[fots2]

EXO,

I suppose I should “never say never” but the reason would have to be very good for me to go in there again. The south side Navy tunnel past the big blast cavern is much worse than the tunnel south of the QM area so I will say “never” to that one.

Hey, I have a photo of you in the tunnel south of the QM area if you want it.

[oozlefinch]

Fots - Thanx for the info & photos. I wasn't aware that anyone had found the South Navy Tunnel. I thought it was closed up for all eternity. It is amazing what you can get out of a modern point&shoot camera. In the 80's I was using a Canon FT with a Vivitar flash and I had to guess the flash settings. Consequently, a lot of my cave/tunnel shots came out poorly.

[chadhill]

Fots, thanks for measuring the main tunnel length. That puts an end to all those mindless estimates I read about before. Where do these folks get those 1000' and 1500' UN-SWAGS from? Amazing photos, too. You speak of surveys...anything like a chart or map of the Navy tunnels that you can post here for us? ;D



For some reason it seems that maps of the Malinta Navy tunnels are hard to come by (yep, I need to go to the NA and start digging around). The following map was drawn in 1988 by E.R. Michaud based on information available to him at that time, is missing a couple of entrances, and shows many more laterals south of the main E-W tunnel.

(courtesy corregidor.org)


In '86 I went as far south as I could before coming to a collapsed end somewhere. As I recall it took me about 45 minutes to reach the end, but enroute I had toured some of the laterals. I left piles of rocks along the way to mark my return path in case I got lost in the darkness, since I was alone (a real dufus). Fots, I don't remember the cave-ins being quite as bad back then as your current pics show, until nearing the end where it became impassable. But of course there certainly have been many more cave-ins during the last 26 years. I found several rail track spikes, but do not remember seeing any rails. I do not remember as many laterals as this chart shows, although I probably wasn't counting and it was of course pitch black darkness except for my flashlight beam (I did at least have the sense to carry a spare flashlight).




This photo was taken during "Mass on April 5, 1942 in the Navy Tunnel". The "Navy Tunnel" would appear to be more narrow than lateral #12 which is shown in the final photo below.





This well known photo has a story behind it. In issue # 23 of After the Battle magazine (1979), William Bartsch wrote, "The negative of this famous photograph, taken by Major Paul Wing of the US Signal Corps on April 24, 1942, was lost en route to the US. The last submarine to contact the garrison on May 3 picked up a print from Colonel J.R. Vance (standing with hands on hips) which was later copied by the Signal Corps. The photograph shows the Finance Office which shared Lateral No. 12 with the Signal Corps whose code machines are situated behind the screens".