I Found an Ancient Watchtower and Dwellings in this Desert Canyon

I Found an Ancient Watchtower and Dwellings in this Desert Canyon

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In the heart of the desert Southwest lies a  land heavy with forgotten history, a place   where ancient civilizations once thrived  and then vanished without a trace. Here,   among the endless canyons and shifting shadows,   the place holds tight to its secrets. But  every so often, the desert decides to whisper. On this day, where the silence weighed heavy,  the land revealed something it had guarded   for lifetimes. Just when I thought the desert  had given me all it would, the cliffs shifted,   the sun moved, and in the blink of an  eye, another secret was unearthed—one   hidden in plain sight, waiting for the  right moment to finally come to light. Welcome to Outer Range.

While researching a canyon system on Google  Earth, I noticed something unusual. Here was   a series of right angles on top of a mountain  promontory. The angles didn't look natural to   me. It seemed like something human might  have been there, so I decided I wanted   to find out if this could be connected to the  ancient cultures that once lived in this area.

Found me a game trail, happy for that. Right here on the edge of the cliff, so  the animals will also try to find the   easiest route. A lot of bear. There's  a lot of deer in this area too—our   white tail and mulies. I think this  is probably more mule deer country. But what's really cool about this is about four  steps to the right and I can be at the bottom. Oh my, what have I done? Where am I? I've made it around this, uh, this  rock outcropping right here and wow,   these people did not—the access is unreal.  Now I'm on the backside and I still don't know   how to get up there, so it's almost like it's  cliffed out all the way. But there it is—that's  

the backside. I still want to get up there,  so I'm going to keep working at it and,   uh, see what I can't do here. They're  going to make me earn this one for sure. This is the route that I have to go to  get there. It's absolutely—I've made it   so far to not get to this, I'm just going  to keep pushing. But time is ticking away.

Well, I climbed up here to get to that pueblo and  no joke—that is deep. I wish I could show you, but   that is profound. I can't see the bottom. A person  doesn't want to fall down in that. That's crazy. After one of the most difficult  scrambles I've ever made in my life,   what I'm coming up to—oh wow. I can't wait  to show you. We'll see it together. Here,   you can see where the natural rock  of the mountain goes up and blends   in with the man-made portion of  this. Maybe kind of peek inside.

And I don't know if it was a dwelling,  a lookout point, a place for rituals.   I just know everything up here  is very loose and very loose and   sketchy to walk around on. There's  more down below; it's multi-layered,   but they certainly used the natural rock  outcropping to integrate their building with it. Here's a view again of the surroundings. So it's  not a cliff dwelling, but it kind of is. It's  

really like an old pueblo up on top of a ridgetop.  And this is what I had seen from Google Earth. I'm standing here in front  of a crumbling wall. You can   kind of see the country around—big, big country.

What do you think? Is this a watchtower, a  ceremonial site? From here you can see straight   down the valleys and across the open land.  Most other structures in this area are hidden,   but this particular one stands out. As you watch  the next segment and see how it is positioned,   let me know what you think this place might be. To grasp the complexity and location of this structure here are views from all angles Why Here? Out in the open Yet difficult to access Was this a central meeting place? But Wait...there's more

beyond anything I imagined Okay, right here behind me—if I'm out of  breath, it's probably because I've been   hiking and I'm also super excited—headed  to an area that's supposed to hold some   ruins. Haven't got there yet, but on  the way out here across the canyon,   there's a lot of bluffed-out areas.  I know they're a long way away,   but I just found some alcoves that are holding  for sure three different ruins in there. And so now, you know, I was planning on being  here overnight just in case I couldn't get in   and out of this one. But, uh, now I'm  wondering, in the time frame I have,   how in the world I get over there to see those.  But it's 2 miles plus from here as the crow flies,  

and probably 8 miles hiking. So that kind of  tempers the excitement just a little bit. But   I know they're there, even if it's another trip.  Amazing. This country is absolutely astonishing. Well, I thought this might deserve an explanation.  This part of what I'm going to show you—I came   into an area looking for a particular, um,  cliff dwelling. On my way to the dwelling,   turned around—I was looking at some cliffs,  there's some cliffs that's back over here—and   I turn and I find the shadows and everything  just hit just right. And I see little arches,   and get my binoculars out. I look through, and  sure enough, there are walls and structure.  

Never heard about these before and super  just kind of overwhelmed to think that   maybe I might have found something that perhaps  hadn't been found in a very, very long time. I wasn't really prepared to explore these others.  It's gotten hot, and I just feel like making the   right decision is not to go. I mean, I would love  to get the close-up view of maybe what's there,  

maybe what's not, but I'm not going to today.  So, uh, but I do want to share with you what I   perhaps get here in a few minutes on  the drone. Thanks for understanding. This canyon system holds some of the  richest discoveries I've encountered in   all my journeys through the Southwest.  Tucked deep in the shadowed arches of   the South Rim, I found these ancient cliff  dwellings—guardians of a mostly forgotten world.

At first, I thought there were only three,  but as I sent the drone soaring closer,   the truth revealed itself—there were six,  at least. Yet I feel there are even more. Today the canyon asked me to wait.  The journey wasn't meant for this day.   After many trips into the area, I feel  this canyon keeps beckoning me back,   teasing me with more, wanting to  share. And soon we'll go back.

2025-04-26 18:52

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