I just got back from driving in the area of the search. My plan was to start at the Cornelius Pass Tunnel (discussed on page 7 as a place searchers were looking) and then drive the pretty direct route northwest past the school and into Forest Park. Sorry, no pictures, the battery in my camera was dead. I will try to give specific details about the area.
On my way out to the area from downtown Portland I took Hwy 26 West and saw 2 helicopters on the way. If youre looking at a map, the first helicopter was flying over the Cedar Hills area and the second helicopter was near the town of Hillsboro (2 exits before the exit to where the tunnel was supposed to be.) Hopefully I can get a map posted but if you get a chance before that, youll notice that these areas are pretty far southwest from the school, the closest being about 5 miles.
Following the directions given earlier in the thread I couldnt find the tunnel anywhere. We drove around quite a bit but there was not tunnel nor did I find train tracks or even a hill for a tunnel to go through. If he is not found soon, I plan to find more specific directions and go out again tomorrow with a charged camera.
From the area where the tunnel was supposed to be, we drove about 4 miles down Cornelius Pass Rd and turned onto Skyline. I hadnt been out there in a long time and was amazed at how rural it is. Skyline is a very narrow road with two lanes and no shoulder. As we approached the school, I saw that Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue is immediately next door to the school and it looked like that is where the command post may be. There were 20 to 30 vehicles, mostly unmarked parked on both sides of the road and it looked like more in the school parking lot. On either side of Skyline both in front of the school and across the street were signs saying Search and Rescue in Progress. Surrounding the school are several open fields with tall grass and on the opposite side of Skyline, about 100 yards past the school was a small pond. I saw only one or two officers, one on a cell phone. Im assuming that means they are out in the fields and forest.
We drove about another mile to where Skyline intersected with Newberry which immediately entered into Forest Park. The first mile of Newberry in forested but has many expensive homes built on either side, nestled down in the trees. After that though, for approximately another mile, it is very dense forest and almost no homes. This continues until you reach Hwy 30 which runs through a very industrial area parallel to the Columbia River.
If there is anything anyone wants me to check out, let me know.