Automatic Cattle Roundup
A You Tube video on a roundup of a few of his cattle. A
visit to
Sandal
House an ancient ruin in the Ute Mountain Tribal Park near Mesa Verde,
Colorado. A
video of Jim and Marie in a balloon crash into trees Kenya, Africa.
Balloon Crash
The Decalogue Stone sits below a 700 foot cliff at the base of Hidden
Mountain. Marie and I climbed up in a V shaped extremely steep wash to get
to the top. The mountain is nearly flat on top with a 360 deg view in any
direction. The boulders and cliff tops are littered with petroglyphs and
collapsed rock ruins. We hiked a full circle of the top which is about a
mile long and a half mile wide. We found a Greek inscription on a
basalt boulder and more ruins and saw a Phoenician Tanit symbol just below the
cliff face on the north side. There were between 20 and 30 abandoned ruins
which were obviously not of the Ancestral Puebloen style. I wonder
if they were of Jewish or Phoenician origin?
On a recent climb to view several of the 1800 Petroglyphs on Tome Hill I
think I saw a Phoenician
Tanit symbol. I reviewed several of my photos
taken on a recent climb and think one of them reveals a Phoenician Tanit symbol
but will have to make another climb to be absolutely certain. It's not
much of a stretch to think that the Phoenicians could have traveled from Hidden
Mountain to Tome Hill a couple of thousand years ago. This of course is
valid only if the Hidden Mountain Decalogue Stone and the Tanit symbols are not
a hoax.
One
of the Earths most astounding sights.
John Wetherill led
many expeditions throughout the area in early 1900. He also passed through
here on the expedition of discovery to
Rainbow Natural Bridge
in 1909.
The 700 year old Ancestral Puebloan ruins
of
Keet Seel were discovered by
RichardWetherill in early 1895. They can only be
viewed by hiking into Tsegi Canyon, climbing down a thousand foot plateau and
hiking up a well marked trail. The route requires crossing a rocky streambed
through water sometimes encountering quicksand, rock and mud. The route is some
of the most enchanting country on the planet passing five waterfalls, colorful
bluffs of Pink sandstone and the intense Blue skies of Navajo country.
When the overnight campground is reached a ranger must be met to guide visitors
through the ruins. The route back is the mother of all hikes when the base of
the Shanto Plateau is reached it requires a thousand foot climb out of the Tsegi
Canyon. Click
here for a video of the 19 mile hike to Keet Seel.
Shaffners in Colorado on a trip to Sandal House in the Ute
Mountain Tribal Park Cortez, Colorado. The park is behind the cliff
dwellings of the Mesa Verde National Park and must be guided by a Ute Tribal
member to gain Access. A collection of artifacts was made here in about 1889
by the Wetherills and sent to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in
1893. Members of the group were the two authors Fred Blackburn and Robert
Sanchez. Robert Sanchez is a writer for the magazine 5280 Denver's magazine.
He is writing a story about Richard Wetherill for the February 2012 issue.
John Wetherill discovered Betatakin
after being told by a Navajo tribal member of
it's where abouts. It is an Eastern facing alcove which is protected from
the Southwestern prevailing winds of Arizona. A truly spectacular site and one
of the most beautiful Ancestral Puebloan Ruins in the United States. It
can be viewed by climbing down a well marked trail of a thousand feet. The
round trip is about five miles.
Antelope
Canyon is just outside Page, Arizona and is truly a mystical place with
colors that change every few minutes and sounds that echo off it's walls in
various volumes. It is a photographers dream.
