We did some nice trails today in the afternoon. We went to Comb Ridge for lunch at 6000 ft. We were 1000 ft above the bottom.



We met some friends of Calvin coming down the dugway behind us. They were scoping out the trail for an ATV Safari run. We let them by because they travel much faster than Jeeps do even on the rough road we were on. Believe me, it was a very rocky and rough road even if it doesn't look like it.




This is Calvin below me on a switch back on Comb dugway.




This is Lucille standing next to a stalactite in Stalactite Cave. It's an unusual formation for this part of the country. It was at the top of a long steep climb.




This is pictographs that are on a large stone on the top of a hill. It was a long steep climb again but worth it. Calvin and Lucille said there was probably a watch tower on top of the rock. It was a very large rock and about 50 ft tall.




This is 2 ft of sand deposited last spring in Arch Canyon where Betty, Lucille and Calvin's sister sat while Calvin and I tried to rescue my Jeep last year.




These are some ruins I found last year while looking for a way to walk out of Arch Canyon to rescue my Jeep. Calvin and I climbed up to see them last year. He said he had never noticed them before I pointed them out last year.




This is the trench I got stuck in last year. The County road department worked it over last year and again this spring. It is easily passable now if we don't get a heavy rain. We will visit Arch Canyon again this year with several Jeeps.

Today Calvin was busy so I went out by myself. I went to a trail we thought would lead to another trail we wanted to take and hoped it would be a shortcut loop, it wasn't. I drove a short way in and took a photo of Annabel, she like me to photograph her.



As I was creeping along the trail, 4whl, low range, low gear, looking for ruins I found this one. It looks like some of the wall was pushed down or fell down but it's on a steep wall or so it appears.



This shows how rough the Canyon is. It's not real wide but it's a very rough ATV trail not a Jeep trail so I had many tight turns and I was hit by tree limbs many times.



Annabel must like to play in the sand. I thought it would be an average stream bed crossing but no, the angle of attack was wrong and there was to much loose sand and steep banks. Then there was the large rock right behind me when Annabel failed to climb the bank on the other side. Because Calvin persuaded me to put a winch on I was able to pull poor Annabel out of the sand. Problem is, the road ended about 1/8 mile ahead.



At the end of the road there was a barbed wire fence across the stream bed and a steep drop off. I looked around and found another ruin so I walked ahead and got a better view and snapped a photo. This ruin looks to be intact and somewhat large. Calvin and I are going to that trail tomorrow to explore one or both of the ruins. Stay tuned. BTW, getting back across the place Annabel got stuck was easier she and I are learning how to do it better now. I really think she was tired and didn't want to play in the sand again.

Calvin and I have been very busy the last two days. After a hard day rock climbing on a trail in the Blue Mountains to a ruin Calvin had a problem. He got to a friends home and the Jeep started squealing. It turned out to be the pilot bushing so we had to pull the tranny, etc and replace the bushing. We had four of us working on it at times. We also discovered the rear transfer case output shaft bearings had to much end play so we reset that. We had it out for a test run today so I will post more trips later tonight.

Two days ago we went to Dry Wash Cave and the trail was steep and VERY rough with large rocks in the trail. We almost lost Lucille but Emily pulled her back in the Jeep. Here I am coming up after Calvin and getting air with the front wheels. It pushed be back and forth up the road bouncing around. It was almost like rock climbing.



At the top we found the ruins high on the bluff. One had what looked like the remains of a pole bridge across the gap.



We climbed up to view a near perfect Anasazi structure. It may have been a food storage area as it's not built like a dwelling structure.



Here we are resting before our decent down the hard trail. Going down was MUCH easier than climbing the large moving rocks.

Today we went to Spirit Cave and another Anasazi cave ruin in a tributary of West Water Canyon. This is a some of the ruins in Spirit Cave. I should mention that what is called a cave in most of the ruins is an opening under some shelf rock. It's not really a cave but just an open area under the shelf. Spirit cave had several damaged ruins that were not real interesting. It was on my list to see but Calvin said it wasn't real interesting. I took several photo's there but nothing really stood out.



These next series of photo's are in a tributary of West Water Canyon. They are very interesting and few people visit them.



This is a shot of a wall with spy holes pointing in several different directions so they can see everything in the canyon below without looking over the wall or leaving the room.



This is a shot of the logs supporting the doorway. The logs are tied together with cords made of the Yucca plant. It was amazing to look at what they did and how they did it. This site is amazing as you will soon see.



This is a photo of a two story ruin wall. You can see the holes in the wall for the logs to support the floor. Some of the ruins in Mesa Verde have four or five floors but the ruins here don't have that many.



Here are some remains of the logs in a wall for the second story floor.



Here is a photo of the most important thing that Calvin wanted to show me at this site. I was overwhelmed at seeing this. To think that as the Native American was building the wall he raised his child up and pressed it's foot print into the wall is something that must have been done from the earliest times. It's a personal touch that adds realism and passion to these ruins. The ball point pen gives a size comparison for you.



These are the remains of a Kiva, pronounced keva, and they are always round with a fire pit and places to sit around the wall. It's a meeting place for the families and it's also used for their ceremonies.



This gives a perspective as to the size of the Kiva. I sat down waiting for the ceremonies to begin but no one but us showed up.



Well, goodnight everyone. This is a sunset shot when we left a nearby farm with canyons to drive in. Pilots will recognize the cloud formations. Calvin said they are called virga dropping from the clouds.

 





 

Carl. that looks like you are having the trip of a lifetime. You are very blessed to have the opportunity to see that from the air... Incredible pictures. Can you imagine how long it took to build those walls way back then with only manual means for construction?

It is surprising some entrepreneur hasn't conrnered the market on helicopter rides to see those ruins. Or that there is n't a fourn lane blacktop, parking lots, visitors center, and snack bar at the top.. 

Thanks for the great armchair tour!

Ok, after a little trip to Salt Lake City to pick up the wife we are Jeeping again. Mac and Robyn joined us in their white CJ3A Jeep and we spent a rainy morning working on Mac's Jeep. Around noon when it quit raining we saw snow on the Blue mountains but it was gone by late afternoon.



In the afternoon we went to Redd's farm for some trail riding in the mud and rocks. We are passing through a wash after driving down a muddy entry road. Mac has wide street tires on his Jeep and they really loaded up with mud but he still went everywhere we did.



We went around a trail that Calvin and I laid out but I went up a hill at the end of the loop that Calvin and Mac would be coming down. I went the opposite direction they were going and I met them on the trail then turned around and led them back to this spot.



I call this mushroom rock. It's on a ledge at the top by my Jeep.



Dave drove his trail bike out to be with us on the trail so he took some shots of us as we came down the hill that ended the trail. The hill doesn't look as steep as it really is. It's hard to show how rough or steep things are in a photo. This hill is about 45 deg and loose dirt and rock and is hard to climb.

Carl, how much longer will these trails be open? I'd love to visit those in person.