2 Men Die After Off-Road Vehicle Slides Into Ravine in Angeles Forest

Two off-road vehicle enthusiasts died when their Jeep slipped off a ridge in a remote area of the Antelope Valley and rolled 1,500 feet into a ravine, landing with such force that “the vehicle literally disintegrated,” a California Highway Patrol official said Friday.

The two friends, Gary Volner of Palmdale and Joseph Roach of Lancaster, had been looking for a new meeting place for the Antelope Valley Four Wheelers Club when they tried turning around in a narrow firebreak atop the ridge, CHP spokesman Miguel Siordia said.

Their bodies were recovered by helicopter Friday morning after a search by club members in the rugged terrain of Angeles National Forest.

The site east of the Angeles Forest Highway and south of Kentucky Springs Road near Acton is popular among “off-roaders”--motorcyclists and operators of four-wheel-drive vehicles who drive far from highways for enjoyment.

The area is hilly, slippery and steep, requiring experience to negotiate, said Rick Sieman of Granada Hills, who heads an off-road group called the Sahara Club. “If you miss a turn, you certainly pay a very, very serious price,” he said. “It’s a very technical area and you have to pay attention.”

Don Ferguson, a writer for Off-Road magazine, said he knew Volner and did not consider him an experienced “four-wheeler.”

“I don’t believe the other gentleman was either and they were out exploring trails,” Ferguson said.

Members of the Antelope Valley Four Wheelers Club could not be reached for comment Friday.

The site also lies in an area of the Angeles National Forest not designated for such activity, said U.S. Forest Ranger Clara Johnson. She said the site was so remote, and the firebreak driven by Volner and Roach was so narrow, that “normally people don’t even hike up there that I’m aware of.”

But Johnson also said budget constraints made it unlikely that forest patrols would increase in the wake of the accident. Her 168,000-acre district is staffed by only three rangers, she said.

Off-road driving has been the subject of increasing animosity between participants and environmentalists, who contend it damages sensitive wildlife habitats. Off-roaders, meanwhile, argue that lands maintained by taxpayer funds should be at least partially open to the public for all forms of recreation.

U.S. Forest Service officials are expected to rule soon on a three-year-old dispute over how much of the Angeles National Forest should be open to off-roaders, who logged 281,000 visitor days there in 1987, the equivalent of 23,000 ORV users riding once a month.

Volner, 50, and Roach, 53, were last seen about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday when they left their jobs at the Lockheed Advanced Development Co. in Palmdale for the forest. Volner was a machinist and Roach a mechanic, a company spokesman said.

Both men climbed into Volner’s 1974 brown Jeep for their ascent up the ridge, Siordia said.

“It appears they were trying to make a U-turn to come back down and as they were doing that, the vehicle slid down the side and overturned,” he said.

The men were thrown from the Jeep, which continued into the ravine.

Their wives reported them missing early the following morning, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies. Friends found their two Jeeps and bodies Thursday evening.