Exploring Hidden Caves in the East Potrillo Mountains, New Mexico
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- Finding forgotten places that are part of our region's history have always been an alluring interest of mine. Going beyond the historic era of abandoned mines, we find ourselves discovering a location that dates back to prehistory- caves that once sheltered the Mimbres Natives that were part of the Mogollon culture that dates back to beyond 5000 B.C.!
Along with the history associated with these caves comes some ghost stories: In 2015, an online news organization had reported that terrorist operatives from ISIS had occupied these caves to provide countersurveillance against Border Patrol Agents for members of the terrorist organization to cross into the United States.
As someone from El Paso, I know that there are volcanic craters on that same road, but closer to El Paso. In the beginning of the 20th century, there was a discovery of a giant ground sloth in a cavern covered in bat guano. The Peabody Museum has that corpse now, but it shows you how interesting our corner of the world is geologically. Good work on your videos though!
Thank you, I really appreciate it! I've been to all of the maar volcanoes in that area. It's really cool scenery and geology. Rappelling down the fumerole at Aden Crater has been on my bucket list for a while. The giant ground sloth that was mummified by the bat guano was discovered by guano miners, I believe, either in the 1920s or 1940s.
Just got back from hiking up the East Potrillos yesterday! Climbed to the high point. I was looking for caves- what part of the range were these petroglyphs?
Man, this is cool, the stacked tunnels is really cool looking. Yeah that was a ton of black soot from fire. LOL you are always way cautious with Mark. Good job Mark! Looked pretty tuff terrain. The one Mark was in on 9min54sec had some interesting formation stuff on top. Mark cam, NICE! Great video guys!
Thanks, Todd! Precious cargo when it comes to my kids! I gotta hold him back sometimes because he's all Gung ho! Lol. Who knows what this place looked like prior to modern visitors 60 years ago?
The petroglyphs were cool! Such a fragile connection to the distant past. Those two-tier caves were an interesting formation. Wonder what caused those? Looked like there wasn’t a lot of room to maneuver outside those caves. It almost looked like it was a sheer drop off, in fact! Must’ve been difficult to get all the way up there. Depending on how difficult it is to access those caves, it might be fun to take some camping supplies up there and spend a couple nights and days camped out in those caves! The Mark cam footage near the end was cool. Nice to see him in your video. 👍
The petroglyphs were a pretty cool find! It's just a shame that they were somewhat defaced. Those mountains are a tilted fault block of limestone, uplifted by all of the volcanic activity and the Rio Grande rift. I'm carbonic acid from water, and carbon dioxide formed the caves along the jointed areas of the limestone. There are more caves up there, just harder to get to. That area is so close to the border, and will all of the activity going on around here, camping might not be the most prudent decision. It would be a cool spot otherwise. I love Mark's enthusiasm for exploring! He just needs to throttle back a lil, lol! Thanks, Frank!
Very interesting!
Thank you very much!