Lower Half Creek Falls
(Near Escalante, Utah)
Somebody painted the wall of the canyon about 1,000 years ago.
The artist may have been from the Anasazi or possibly a culture that we’ve never heard of.
They’re about ten feet tall, about a mile away from a 120 foot waterfall, which may or may not have been a waterfall of the same dimensions 1,000 years ago.
Or they’re pictures of ancient aliens?
The fact that they are holding hands may mean something profound, but humans hold hands for so many reasons, dealing with things specific to culture.
Walking the road less traveled offers the opportunity to speculate all on your own without noise from outside. Maybe it is precisely what you think that it is.
The falls and the pool of water below are an example of an oasis in an otherwise parched land. No trees, or bushes in this place.
Just rock and water, and the occasional deer or desert bighorn sheep drifting by for a cool drink. The canyon does have some vegetation but it’s in the middle of a desert…ok, it’s a recreation area now.
Is the land haunted by the presence of spirits from roaming, restless shamans who resent the careless foot prints of belching tourists? Or are their dry bones just rendered to dust?
An interesting part of the country, very quiet with few folks who wish to go places that aren't Glen Canyon. Get away from the main roads and you never know what you'll find.
I'm drawn to places such as this. These are the sorts of places where I prefer to camp – however in this case it's a spot with a "trailhead", park rangers and tourists. There are other locations every bit as intriguing and remote without parking lots, trash cans, and the detritus of modern man.
Beautiful — sorry about the trashcans and belching tourists…
It's the same with the Grand Canyon and other majestic locations. You must keep the good spots to yourself.
Bucket list time!
Very interesting mural. Pretty much only friends do that.
Were they depicting the then 'here and now', or the afterlife?
The waterfall is lovely. Thanks for sharing.
That's definitely our kind of place. "Lonely" but beautiful.
Yes, that's some place that you could visit while drifting through the Southwest. Not difficult to get to, but worth the visit – maybe in conjunction with Zion's and/or Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyonlands or Capitol Reef.
My sense is that was their epitaph. Painted on the side of the mountain for all time. Good observation.
It has the virtue of being visited less frequently and there are a lot of other interesting things like that in the area.
Doubt we will ever know how long homo sapiens have been in the Americas. Doubt a Bering Land Bridge was the sole source. Advances in DNA analysis brings forth new information. Those figures may well be much older than 1,000 years.
The Vikings and the Italians (under a Spanish flag) came by ship. Irish monks are alleged to have come to the Americas by ship as did the Pacific Islanders. Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki and Ra Expeditions showed that people could have arrived in the Americas on rafts – any time that they set out across the great void. Additionally craft hugging the shore could have originated in Asia and sailed along the coastline to the American west coast – easily. That may have been the origin of Kenewick Man. And there's the ice bridge.
I recommend a good book – 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (as one more perspective on the subject.)
WSF, from my readings, the oldest continuous settlement in the New World is a temple complex on the southwest coast of South America. As best I recall, it is in Chile. Carbon dating puts it at around 10,000 BC. The Olmec are said to have arrived in Mexico/Central America from elsewhere (wherever elsewhere is) about 2,500 BC had their golden age between 1,500 BC and 400 BC.
Author Frank Joseph has published several books on the subject.
One of my favorite spots like that is Chaco Canyon in NW New Mexico – stark beauty in the middle of nowhere. Look up 'Sun Dagger Formation in Fajada Butte' and 'Pueblo Bonito'. The fact that neighboring pueblo ruins are aligned with astronomical events such as the solstice and equinox is awesome.
Comments are closed.