September 19
Four airmen, stationed at Kingsley field in Klamath Falls, are arrested for stealing nine interpretive and informational signs valued at $650. The four men spend six days in jail and each are assigned to 40 hours of community work in the Park.
September 25
A prescribed burn of 250 acres takes five weeks to burn itself out among the Ponderosa Pines of the south Panhandle.
October 13
Two hikers, from Texas, turn in to Park Headquarters a ripped and torn backpack they found while walking along a little used trail in the Sphagnum Bog area of the Park. The two Texans had been hiking the Pacific Crest Trail when they mistakenly took the abandoned spur trail into the bog.
October 14
While inventorying the contents of a nearly empty, dirty, ripped and torn backpack, Rangers Larry Smith and Marion Jack discover a Volkswagen key in a zippered side pocket. A suggestion is made to compare the VW key with a Xerox copy of a VW key from the Charles McCullar file, who was thought to have disappeared somewhere in the Park a year and half earlier. An “electric charge” went through the two rangers as the overlaid key made a perfect fit. A horse patrol, lead by Marion and Dave Lange set out immediately to search the area where the backpack had been found. At 1:30 p.m. the radio call came that McCullar’s remains had been found, scattered over and down a steep bank of the Bybee Creek drainage, four miles from Lightning Springs. The FBI is called in to complete the investigation.
McCullar’s cause of death is ruled by natural causes, but the mystery remains how it was possible for McCullar to have walked from the North Entrance, on top of 105 inches of new snow, 14 miles into Bybee Creek, especially considering that the young man was not prepared for winter survival. One theory is that McCullar may have followed snowmobile tracks, but the machines are not allowed into remote areas of the Park and secondly, the new snow was so fresh and deep, it would have been impossible for snowmobiles to have traveled the distance.
So, just how McCullar was able to get into the Bybee Creek drainage remains conjecture, as does his exact cause of death. The boy’s father remains convinced that his son was the victim of foul play because none of McCullar’s expensive camera equipment was ever found.
October, 1976 to June, 1977
The Lake level drops 2.16 feet, the greatest winter decline on record.
December 9
The second latest measurable fall snowfall on record. October 1 is normal for the beginning of the winter snow season. 50% of the time, the Rim Road is closed for the season by the third week of October.
December 31
Supervisory Park Ranger Bruce Wadlington and family drive completely around the Lake on the Rim Drive. This is the latest seasonal drive on record.
Season 1976
Snowfall for the past 60 years averages 650.66 inches (54 feet) or 16.53 meters. The average yearly precipitation averages 65.99 inches or 1.676 meters.
Season 1976 Visitation: 606,636, the second highest on record. This is an increase of 179,384 over 1976 and an increase of 81,606 over the visitation in 1974. Good summer weather and a dry fall contributed to the increase.
