Night Sky

The southern sky. Planet and Moon.

Roadkill

We even smelled like it by now....4 days and still going.

Big Grinders

Deep and worn out.

The Ridge

Yikes. This is way up there. Far higher than I expected.

The Panel

This was a big Panel running a 100 ft or so along the wall. These deer were large.

Mini Moki's

Found these way up on the Ridge.

Warming Up

Awe....a nice warm fire.

Looking Back

Yup, I was up there earlier in the day. I scaled it and crawled in. Yup I am a little nutty....maybe half Indian even.

Tired and Worn Out

Not them, me. 12 miles of up and down all day. Sun was setting fast and it was getting cold quick.

Looking Across

The is the same site, looking across from the other canyon wall.

Awesome Ruin

Note the logs jutting out from the walls. Pretty incredible. Above the highest log you can see the remains of a small wall very high above. They must have been crazy to be up there, even with ladders, if they had them. It was at least another 30 feet above us after we climbed up to the base level of the ruin. This picture was taken looking almost straight up.

What's up there?

Could resist the urge to scramble and go see what else we might find.

Snack Time

Snack Time at the water hole.

Poor Planning

It was so cold the night before our water jugs froze solid. In our haste to leave camp we forgot water. Fortunately up the canyon later in the day at much lower elevation we found water to filter. Yummy.

High Up

By the time I crawled the log, scaled the ledge, and crawled in I was shaking like a leaf in the wind. These were way up there with only one way in or out.

Dropped In

We dropped in, but had to scramble back out. It was worth every effort we put into it.

Don't Slip

Not a place to slip and fall. This was fun to navigate and posed quite a few challenges for all of us.

A Favorite

Still one of my favorites. Incredible views. These guys were warriors.

Another Good Find

One very cool snake

The Mansion

Matthews favorite. He calls it the mansion.

NBA

This guy had to play in the NBA. Huge.

One cool pictograph

The boys found this one up high.

What a view.

Check out the far side canyon wall. Now that was fun getting over there.

Citadel

Ben's favorite of the day. Matthew's most feared.

What to do when you forget your tent poles.

Improvise. Improvise.

Bear Prints

Matthew found some awesome bear prints today. Some of the coolest I've ever seen. Wow.

I have an itch!

Oh yeah it is that time again. I just have to get back down there. My boys are coming along this time. A first time real experience. I have butterflies in my stomach!

Day-2

This day starts out on a long ride in seach of history....and we found it.

Look closely through the trees. Too bad I can't tell you where it is.

Hidden from view and secluded. Just the way it should be.

A view from within.............

This fast is becoming a favorite. Wow. Pristine and Beautiful.

Heading out to do a little more scouting. We think there is more to see today.

Spent the remainder of the day hiking in to another site. This turned out to be spectacular.

Check out the landbridge we have to cross.

I think Josh said this was something like being in Mario Brothers Mushroom world.

Sure felt like it.

Pretty crafter Designers

A View from the Top




My palms get sweaty just looking a this photo. This shows a very small portion of the overall perspective of this site. Everything about this place says 'fortress-keep out.'

Pictures just don't do this justice.....it's a very long ways down.

Look closely to see the remains of the fortress wall that guarded the landbridge.

Time to call it day and hike out of here.

Day-1

Morning Sunrise. Time to Ride.

It was very cold (low 30's) last night. I felt bad for Josh since I brought a cot to sleep on, but honestly I think I was colder with the airflow under me. Wasn't expecting those temperatures.

Fuel Problems

So while I am lying on my back against a rock to rest I notice the moon rising through the 'fins.'

Thought this was a nice view while Josh was busy transferring fuel from one tank to another due to an unexpected hole.

A fun stop on the way out to the Maze. Yeah, this is pretty remote alright.

Maze overlook. Nevermind the biker shorts I had to borrow from Josh since I forgot my hiking ones back at camp. Good thing he had them along for the ride or I was in for a long hot day of hiking naked. I wasn't about to quit here. The fun was just starting.

Josh at the Harvest Scene. Note the size of this panel.

One very cool Picto of a very mean warrior.

Time to hike out this place and get to the mountains to setup camp.

Trip Summary

Day 1 Josh forgets Cody Maverick. Big Bummer.

Camped on the cot and Josh the rocks.

Day 2-4 camped in tent on ground. Felt bad for Josh not having a cot. Cot = too cold anyways.

Took a ride out to the Maze Overlook

On the way spotted a lone flower in the road. Very pretty.

Climbed down into the Maze. Found some Moki steps. Maybe modern.

Saw an Anasazi snake etched on the wall down in the bottom of the wash.

Hiked into the Harvest Scene. Pretty neat to see. Worth the hike.

Josh rubbed a hole in his rear fuel tank
Drained remaining into a bottle and filled the front tank

I took a rest on my back an noticed the moon in the daylight sky.

Back to camp for some good grub
Josh saves the day and cooks up the cheesy potatos.

Stopped by the Colorado on the way to No-Where.

Found a great camp site at No-Where overlooking the No-Where Mesa.

Slept in the Tootsie Roll for the next few days

Saw a lot of Elk tracks on our way back in.

Found a ruin in it's pristine state. WOW.

Made the hike out to very cool lookout ruin. Pointed out some kivas below and

decided not to hike it. What a hike and what a view.

Noticed the fortress wall on the way out that would have guarded access via a land bridge.

Stopped by roadside ruins the next day.

Very cool arch located here.

Took
a drive out to a cave.

Spotted some smaller ruins on the way in and an obvious cleared area where a wall could have surrounded.

Found another set on the way up. Pretty destroyed but great to see. Had a couple of bread oven looking structures. Lot's of pottery shards.

Fingerprints in the mortar was pretty cool to see.

Notice their knife sharpening cuts in the rock on the way out.

Located another small set again.

Beautiful negative handprint here.

This cave is huge. Hike up was fun. Complete set of negative handprints. Positive prints as well. Side by side.

Lot's of graffiti here over some really neat things. Not a good thing.

Gigantic grinding stones found here. Giant slabs actually.

Found evidence of the Hyde Exploring Expedition from late 1800's.

Next stop was another cave.

Lot's of Moki steps and prints here. Kids were obviously all over the place and mothers didn't want them to fall...hence, the Moki's.

Kid prints, baby prints, color prints-red, yellow, green, etc.

Wonderful picto's here also.

Steep drops = death

Prints very high on ceiling = high risk of death

Sillohouets on wall left from pigment stains = cool lifesize ghosts

Huge yellow drawings on ceiling - 15 or 20 feet

Headed out another wash to find a secluded ruin. Found another smaller wall in a corner up a wash. Probably had not been visited for many many years. Left no footprints on this one.

Very cool washes here where the run-off converges. Cool sinks and rock formations. Unique for sure.

Hiked all over the place searching this one.

Found it. Came out on top. Specatacular. Resides adjacent to a 100ft' waterfall (if flowing). Just awesome.

No way to enter. Entry is high risk = death = not this time.

Handprint found here below and a grinding stone down a 100 yards.

Another set opposite canyon wall. Not as cool. Easy access. Small cistern here for food something. Definitely felt like a mass grave site for some reason.

Another small alcove with ruin on opposite wall. Triangle entry, triangle floor shape. Pretty cool actually.

Hike out of wash is wet, green, cool, and lush. Defintely a place to grow food.

Eagle eye spots another driving home. Have to drop in and see.

Bigger than it looks. Very cool.

Whoa. Nice panel found just around the corner. Completely untouched and probably not visited for a very long time. Really cool stuff on this panel.

Trip over. Loaded up. 4 nights camping. Too fun. Great food. Cold first two nights. Don't want to leave.

One more stop. Another set of ruins. Far wall - very high up and down...no way to even get close. Have to think like Pooh on this one.

Found old airstrip - raced the truck an moto's down the strip leaving a dust cloud behind.

Now we can call it a day. Hiked 25 or 30 miles and Rode a couple hundred. Nice relaxing trip with good food and friend.

Long depressing ride home. Trying to figure out how to make another trip in the fall.

Last Stop

One last stop. Yes, there are ruins there on the other side of that 400 ft deep canyon wall....guess I will have to come back.

Gear Down

Loaded up and heading home.

Comb Wash

Had to snap a photo of Comb Wash.

Accident

Stumbled into this by accident. A whole panel 20 feet wide. I thought this was a great shot of a small section.