Hey my friends. A couple things I'd like to add. - It's worth it to note that these desperate strongholds are usually only from a time period of about 200 years of the Southwest's history. For many thousands of years, there may have been "relative" peace and security throughout the Southwest, as much as anywhere else. But then, due to a number of possibilities, things took a dramatic turn to the desperate, and people started taking to the cliffs and ledges. - I realized a brain fart typo after posting the video. It’s the Yosemite Decimal System, not decibel. Clearly I was still flustered when I edited. 😂 Thank you for watching!
*I got a bit of **#Vertigo** just watching this and also a tad worried that you would fall* _Stay Careful_ *It's amazing they were able to build those structures*
I am from the Navajo Nation. Thank you for respecting the artifacts of the past and putting them back where they belong. Those are sacred to native Americans. Thank you!
Hopefully as a Native American you can offer an explanation as to the mystery of how these dwellings were constructed and accessed rather than just commenting on the artifacts which are clearly being respected anyway (and surely aren't all sacred as was mentioned by the other person). Eagerly awaiting your insight, thanks.
@GM-qq1wi Always nice to see ignorance on subjects like this. I'll try to explain. In many native cultures pottery was used to house divine beings or spirits. Some were literally used on altars or had special meaning to the family that created them. Just because you don't hold that type of artistry special, doesn't mean it was nothing to these ancient peoples. Clearly this will probably go over your head anyway, but I tried.
Haha, I can assure you the camera makes things look steeper and narrower than they are. Where I bailed things definitely got much more serious and consequential, which I why I stopped there
@@Desert.Drifter Explored Grand Gulch in the early 70’s. The ruins and petroglyphs there were amazing. At the time it was a bit of a hike getting in there. Hope it hasn’t changed too much in 50 years. Got lost in there briefly and that definitely got my blood pressure up as it was getting dark and cold and I wasn’t dressed for it! Another amazing place is Death Hollow. That place will test your nerves and legs! Love your channel! Brings back some great memories!!!
I worked as an Engineer for over 25 years in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Peru etc.. I am in awe of all the structures I have seen in my travels. I have deep admiration and respect for the engineering accomplishments of the ancient builders who came before me.
As we should be. I've never seen a convincing argument about how the megalithic stones used to build such structures were quarried, moved and placed... there is much we've forgotten over the eons, it's amazing, and humbling.
My mother, born in 1923, lived on a mountain top above a similar place , growing up in Indian Territory, Oklahoma. As a kid, she and her 7 siblings would play in the ruins, saying it was easy to get to from the top. In 1964, She took her children to see where she had had so much fun growing up. Alas, It was no longer access-able to us. The rocks of the cliff face had crumbled away with time. THANK YOU for the chance to get a glimpse of a similar experience like what she had a chance to enjoy.
Where, exactly in Oklahoma? I lived in Oklahoma for four years, and am curious where this area happened to be. Since no place in Oklahoma, resembles the Four Corners, area, in the least.
@@LUIS-ox1bv The two places I remember her mentioning was "Indian Territory" which could include a very large area and the other was Madill, OK. Also my brother lived at Altus, OK which was different also. It WAS a hundred years ago.
People say we're lucky in Europe with all our history but I'm mad jealous of you guys and the fact that you still have lots of land to explore and history to uncover!
For some odd reason we do not explore our own history much here in the US. Thousands or years of history that we do not know a whole lot about. I hope that is changing.
@@davidrobinson1201 we explore it everyday and have tons of archeologists studying our Native History but it's not as celebrated as European history unfortunately.
Oh I see, I just assumed that Manifest Destiny continued on in our day and Native American history was not explored much here. It sounds like the work is being done but the general populace has not shown the interest yet. @@robertlambert4514
@@robertlambert4514I think part of the issue is that a lot of Native American lore and histories are passed on through oral traditions, as opposed to European or Asian histories which have a vast written archive which can survive centuries without anyone knowing of it. There's a phrase I find relevant here which is "Books are the memory that does not die" - and I think that's why it's so much harder to analyse Native histories - especially given that the upheavals of the Native populations means that the lore held by modern populations is fragmented and discontinuous, with much lost to the mists of time.
I grew up in the Pueblo of Zuni. I used to do exactly what you are doing when I was a boy and it was some of the best times I've had in my life. Aside from all the ruins I also found lots of fossils.... fossilized plants and trilobites and amethyst crystals in those red boulder fields. I do hope you at least have a hand gun at least. I always had a .22 rifle even at 10 years old and it came in handy a few times when mountain lion would stalk me. I never shot directly at them. Just near enough for them to sense the danger and flee. I love mountain lions. My Zuni Grandma used to tell me that looking to the night stars was forbidden which I found odd as our Anasazi ancestors held vast knowledge of astronomy. I feel that perhaps something came from space which is why the people moved to the cliffs and why my Grandma passed the directive to fear the stars. I never listened though. On my 3 day hikes in the desert I always soaked in the night sky
Superb record of your teavelsand great respect for our ancient ancestors. I am Shasta Indian Nation and the lands over here are being utterly destroyed by the gold-diggers. I very much appreciate someone that cares and is Honorable and Respectful enough to care. So rare these days! Thank you and your wife my friend.
My parents were explorers and rockhounds. My dad got a months vacation, or more, every year. We spent our time in the desert. We found places that weren't on maps. When I was very young we use to visit family in Oklahoma and Missouri. On our way back home, northern California, they would take different routes. One year we followed the Pony Express route. Needless to say I love exploring and the desert. In Mesa Verde, the Cliff Palace, could be protected by one warrior. Everyone had to crawl through a tunnel to get to the site. Don't forget to also look for hand and foot holds coming down to the dwellings from above. I honestly wish that I was with you finding these places. I love the desert, waking up in the morning and taking a deep breath of air... That's the life. Thank you for sharing all of this with us.
Wow. Love your comment. Your parents. The best?! My dad was real estate developer. Taking me to countrified areas he was about to destroy. Admiring presence of wildlife. I was so young but repelled by the irony. I adored him. Still. Somehow those trips w/dad encouraged me to go further. Find those hinterlands even the capitalists found valueless. This is where our intrepid host has taken us. The regions I haunt.
Well you literally scared the hell out of me up on that ledge but thank you would have liked some more close-up drone shots of the last structure up there
My thoughts and feelings have already been expressed by other aging adventurers. Thank you for taking us on trails we can no longer take ourselves. Your camera work is so detailed, I feel like those are my shoes on the rocks and ledges, and my fingers grasping crevice for support. Your narrative completes the picture, further contributing to the feeling of being there in person. Thinking this part of my life was gone, I now can live my adventures through you. You have extended a quality of life I had thought was lost. I also appreciate your example and teaching to younger adventures evaluating the risk of reaching that last ledge, and not foolishly continuing when the risk could have a deadly outcome. Thank you again for taking us on your adventures with you.
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 I take wild lettuce in capsules for my pain and another one for the nerve pain. I looked up herbs to help and found that they take the edge off so I can function. All the best to you!
I totally understand where you're coming from. Living with chronic pain is incredibly debilitating. Andrew's videos let me escape and forget about my pain. And yes, definitely lifts one's spirits. I hope your pain eases for you. All the very best.
I always worry when you go climbing up a cliff and struggle across a rim edge that if you do fall, how long will it be before help can get to you? If they ever find you.
I also want to show massive respect to this man. From the beginning, we heard about the sun going down, and much respect for the amazement that lead to the statement, "I'm hiking back in the dark" that comes from respect and awe of these ruins.
First time watcher here not knowing what to expect, but you returning that piece of pottery instead of taking it home as a trophy instantly tells me all I need to know. Good stuff amigo!
Taking such a piece of pottery would be highly illegal under ARPA (Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979). Taking it and publishing a video doing it would be monumentally stupid, providing evidence of the crime...and ARPA carries fines for violations and (in more serious cases) potential jail time.
My palms were sweating the whole time. What an example of wonderlust. One of the hardest as wisest things you can do on an adventure is turn back. I enjoy your drone shots of these sights and your theories.
Growing up in the SW. Arizona for the first 48 years of my life. Now living in the deep South Georgia for the past 8 years. Watching your awesome videos taks me back home. Even though i am experiencing some great historical sights all over the South and SE, i am missing my home land and Desert. Its time for a visit back to the land that speaks to me and fills my soul. Thank you so much for sharing the land that you walk.🙏👍
At 19:27 you can see what appears to be a perfectly built wall in the background just above ground level. Or was that a natural formation from multiple sediment layers? And if you look upwards into the right of that very long wall you can see an opening as though somebody had lived also there. Are you gonna check that out the next time you come back in the same area? Also, I was trying to figure out why people would want to spend so much time, effort and risk living in those hard-to-reach dwellings? At first I thought it was to be protected against other human tribes that would attack them. But that did not make any sense because all the other attacking tribesmen would have to do is simply wait them out while they died of either lack of water or food. So, I doubt that was the reason for them living there. Then, I considered the probability that they were trying to avoid something like mountain lions that would simply follow the humans and either attack them during the daytime or while he slept on the open grounds. That makes more sense why they built those extremely hard to reach dwellings on the cliff. And I normally would ask what someone else thinks about this reasonable explanation I came up with but no one ever responds with their thoughts or comments anyway so don't even think about responding to my comment. BUT the main reason I usually NEVER get any thumbs up or comments to any of my comments on TH-cam is that the damn retarded-minded TH-cam extreme left-wing Libturds/Democraps monitor and read our personnel comments hate my guts because I support Trump and give good reasons why. Those TH-cam monitor personnel retards simply stop anybody from making comments or leaving at thumbs up to anything I say it.
@@1Dogsoldier4life I moved from Mesa AZ. Athens GA. coming close to 8 years ago. I do miss my high dessert homeland very much. I plan on a much needed vacation with my wife to AZ. this November. I am looking forward to showing my wife how special the dessert is to one's soul.
@@danielhillwick5276 that will be amazing, has she ever been? I've taken my husband to the rez a few times, my dad still lives there, and to the grand canyon and also phx for grandbabys bdays. It is a special place for sure.
I grew up in and still live in the northeast but the southwestern desert has always called to me and is the only place my soul feels complete. When I visit I feel like I’m home . I hope to make the move permanently one day.
So do you forgo a car or drive electric because if not you are burning the bodies of millions of creatures every day, and that seems more disrespectful- 😂 im fecking with you tho, dont rell just stop oil, we dont need more of them 😮
I would take every single thing I found why wouldn't you. It's more respectful to put it somewhere safe on display rather than letting it rot in the open desert.
I have been an avid observer and chronicler of rock art panels since the early 90’s and have been fortunate to photograph panels that have since been damaged by flooding or vandalism. Although my adventures were primarily geared towards chasing picto/petro panels, I have skirted some sketchy faces to granaries and dwellings and have a theory on this particular site in Andrew’s video. All three of the structures were made at different times and under varying degrees of stress or need. The first structure with the portholes was done over a much more substantial time span than the other two. The outer wall has rock work that is sheer and uniform and hardly requires the glazing of a mud veneer. It is impressive. The second one to the far right around the rock face was less impressive with the type of construction that is typical I would say of many structures dotting canyon country. The last however, seemed like it was hastily thrown together as if under duress. And sitting upon a precipice, I would say that the location was chosen out of necessity. As if the people involved had to quickly move into riskier territory on the cliff to more easily defend themselves from a threat. I would also suggest that ladders were used though not for vertical access but for breaching horizontal gaps. The makeshift bridges would be pulled in if needed to prevent any other crossing at this single point of access. No one would risk that ‘elite 5-12’ climb bringing up the rock and mud to make the structure in the first place. Even if all the materials were pulled up by ropes, getting to this place in a hurry to gain cover was done with a well thought out plan conceived ahead of time. Whatever the reason, it is obvious that this extreme access point was created out of dire need in what seems to be a very tumultuous time in the history of the southwest and for pre-Puebloan cultures.
@@piratessalyx7871 I read that a 'multidecade drought that came close to today's was in the 1500s', and more evidence of even longer, more severe drought has been found to have occurred in paleohistory in the southwest. The tribes would have been not only competing for area food/water resources but attacking and stealing from other tribes in a desperate bid for survival. I think saying ' times were rough' would be an understatement.
It's amazing to see how respectful you are towards the history. A lot of people think they're "saving" these artifacts when they bring them home, but that's just not the case. Putting them on a bookshelf in your basement where they will only be seen by a handful of people if any is hardly saving them. Thank you for the content!
Alright but what if he puts it back and nobody else were to ever see it or witness it again? Maybe donating to a museum would’ve been the next best thing to do? I just feel like leaving such things where we found them is like finding a needle in a haystack and tossing it back in. That’s just my thoughts though. Glad we at the very least got to see video footage of the chunk of pottery, I hope anyone else who might come along to visit finds it.
@@nangld Yeah, we do (I know your joking) and I harshly disagree with the hippy dippy "leave it there" sentiment. Looking forward to a likely butt hurt reply regarding my thoughts on the matter.
I am from the alps so I grew up climbing, I think a very likely explaination would be rope ladders, or even more likely: rope bridges. So they bridged the gaps between the pillars and came in the same way you did. That still means someone had to climb that stuff first, but they very likely did not want to do that multiple times a day.
That was my thinking. You can make rope ladders and bridges as long as you need to and just yank them up when baddies approached. Then when the danger is gone you just throw it back down. I assumed it was some kind of rope bridge between the two structures too. Even if they used rope ladders and bridges, that is an almost superhuman feat. It’s wild to see something from almost 1000 years ago still standing and trying to imagine what these peoples’ lives must have been like.
Cool, alps in a german speaking country? There‘s a tribe who still builds roap bridges, i saw a documentary, they have to mobilize the whole town to get such a bridge down, but the bridge is sturdy. I post the link if i find it
@@Sol-Cutta [ th-cam.com/video/GT-7Ix7U2b4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=XCZCrKqyF28l8FD8 ] sorry this one‘s more informative th-cam.com/video/JCxnStgZsTw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=qBoCeqhMMGJ8PaRF
I live in Clinton utah.. I'm seventy five years old. I pounded a lot of desert sands in southern UT many years ago and I never looked up to find ruins. I wish I could accompany you on a treck one day. I'm thrilled with your videos on TH-cam.
Great work mate. Being in the uk and being registered disabled now, i know ill never see many special places that i find wonderful, so thanks for the close up , boots on the shelf view. Btw you're more softly spoken and steadily applied in your presentation than 95% of TH-cam content creationists . We really appreciate that in the UK here. Ive subbed in to your channel for that main reason. Cheers.
You don't want somebody yelling I WENT TO THE DESERT AND FOUND FIVE IMPOSSIBLE RUINS! WILL MY CYBERTRUCK SURVIVE AS I JUMP FROM ONE AND SMASH INTO THE OTHER? IT'S OK BECAUSE I'M BUYING THE LOCALS 20 LAMBORGINIS THAT THEY CAN'T POSSIBLY AFFORD TO MAINTAIN. CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE!
@@ZenEndurance Hahahaha, exactly that, yet so many TH-cam channels are of that nature. It's so jarring, even without the adds. Finding a "good" IMO, TH-cam channel can be tricky, but they are out there. Voices of the past, is another gem. Much much better than anything you'd ever find on the history channel or Netflix.
I read a journal from a Spanish priest on one of the early treks into California and he mentioned a tribe that lived up in rocks like these. They got up to their homes by leaning tall poles against the rock and climbing up.
rjmun580. It is surprisingly easy to run up the knobs and notches left in a tall tree trunk after u cut off the branches. I ran up a tree trunk every night to sleep on the roof of my mud house in Mali, africa as a middle aged woman.
Rope ladders make more sense as they can easily be drawn up after use, thus achieving the purpose of peoples being up there in the first place (security). Wooden poles would be very heavy to drag up and use a lot of space to store until they are next needed.
Thanks Andrew. Your channel is a credit to TH-cam. Both your knowledge and enthusiasm are a joy and you have such respect for these ancient structures. Perfect! I love your sensible, measured approach. Top man!
I really appreciate how he is respectful of the history by not removing artifacts and not giving exact locations to where his exploration is. I have had brief hikes in Arizona around the Phoenix area mountains and into the Wyoming mountains. Most times just day hikes, of not more than a few miles in and out of the mountains. Where people before me have made improvements to make it more accessible for others to hike. I appreciate the danger involved in these multi day explorations with a solo person. I am fascinated with the history of this worlds past civilizations. It was not a leisurely life these people lived. Every day was a struggle for survival.
@@melkor_of_utumno Archaeologists allow ordinary people to climb these ledges. On the podcast "Genealogies of Modernity," episode 1 "Climbing the Mountains of Modernity" , the author comes with some archaeologists to climb a ledge in the Arizona desert to see a grain store like this one. They say it was built by the Anasazi and it was unlikely the security need was so great as we are theorizing in this video, more likely to clown on poor climbers and make petty theft slightly difficult.
Given how soft and crumbly that “hollow” ledge was, there’s no reason to believe a significant rock fall would have left large boulders on the ground. Sandstone weak enough to crumble beneath your fingers surely would have pulverized to tiny bits with a 55 foot drop onto the canyon floor.
@@gwenspain8152 it’s more likely that rainwater and dew condensate running down along the harder, more-dense (overhanging) rock strata was able to seep into the softer sandstone of the lower layers, percolating through it, slowly washing out minerals like Ca, Mg, K, Na, Fe which act as binders between silica grains in sandstone. It’s also likely that the human activity on that ledge [building fires for cooking, heat, and light] also leached carbon into the sandstone below, making carbonic acid as the water gradually dissolved campfire residues with every morning dew that settled into unburnt char. Carbonic acid can, over time, leach away the silica as well - leaving hollow voids in the rock. Kinda like how caves and aquifers are formed, but on a micro-scale within a rock outcropping. …heat from the fires probably also caused enough thermal shock to open fractures in the sandstone, channeling water and carbonic acid leachate *through* the lower layers, instead of running down the cliff face (as it had in the upper strata.)
This. Sandstone is pathetically weak for a rock. Even looking at that cliff now, you can see all sorts of cracks that indicate that the whole face is in the process of cracking and breaking off. The leftover ruins will be gone in another 800 years.
I agree. This is clearly a case of collapsed walkways from erosion and rockslides from above, especially as evidenced by 14:05. Once upon a time this was likely reasonably traversible.
I liked this episode so much. It really makes you think why aren't there any documentary films about it and fortunate for us to have Andrew to show us these wonders that we would never ever see. Thank you pal
FYI, some sites will have these notices - “Archaeological resources are fragile and irreplaceable. The Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 protect them for the benefit of all Americans. Any person who without authorization, excavates, removes, damages or otherwise alters or defaces any historic or prehistoric site, artifact or object of antiquity on the public lands of the United States is subject to arrest and penalty of law.” Regardless, they apply to ALL sites wether the notice is there or not. Thanks to watching your video I discovered a couple of other TH-camrs sites. One of them had flown his drone up to a site that he could not climb to and found that notice posted there. Glad to see you are very respectful of these archeological sites and artifacts.
They are afraid people will decipher secrets of the past. They are protecting what has been taught in schools. These are melted cities from a pre Adamic civilization. Great knowledge and treasures would be found underneath
You said it yourself, those rocks were very hollow. When those huge boulders fell they broke into the thousands of pieces you see on the ground. Awesome video!
I love your adventurous spirit and willingness to tackle such high and treacherous climbs while taking videos to share wit all of us. Your warm, open demeanor is very engaging. You are so young, and yet have such wise insight to these Native American ancient sights. It leaves me amazed at how these ancient people lived. Thanks for your entertaining commentary and fantastic videos. A 79 yr. Old fan.
Andrew, bud you are really kinda pushing it for your channel. I/we really appreciate you're many awesome treks. Up on that shelf was really freaking me out. Please, please be careful sir. 🙂👍
Watching this near midnight in UK and getting very wobbly whilst lying in bed! Thank you for sharing these places that most of us will never see. Could the “portholes” be ventilation holes for some sort of store?
That's funny I said the same thing. He's the best guy out there. Please listen to us. Your exuberance shows and we all love it. But if you don't back off some we are all going to make you harness up and write a daily planner and have us approve your activities. Lol.
I agree!! I feel nauseous. Andrew this was too extreme. 😮But. I could hear my mom telling me to stop climbing. Thanks for using your head. Thrilling. Heart racing.😊
My hands are all sweaty from the anxiety of watching you in that ledge. Several times I was saying, no it’s close enough. What freaks me out is, it’s one thing to get there, another to get back down safely. Stay safe and thank you.
Man.....I wish that I wasn't afraid of heights. I'm 53yrs old and me and my buddies were the first of many urban explorers. I grew up in Kansas City, Mo. In the 70's. The closest we had to a camera was a Polaroid and we couldn't even afford those. We went through abandoned factories in the railyards, to beautiful theaters. The best we did was Union Station! It was in bad shape. I remember that even though it was weather ridden, the beauty in the massive stone architecture was still there. Nice to see it all fixed up and a focal point now for Chief's Superbowl Parades. Thank you for your video. I still feel privileged to have explored the places I was able to. Oh! We found out when traversing a beam 5 stories in the air getting to a control booth in a theater that I was afraid of heights! I froze and it took some time for my friends to get me down. Mom, was never told!
Andrew I must say, I’ve watched you for some time, each video you present is truly amazing. The emotion, substance, and research you provide is second to none! I for one will always enjoy the mystery and exploration you provide as a genuine and humble human. Fond appreciation my friend
I am in awe of the ancient ones who built these. I am building a Timber Frame mountain lodge style cabin for my wife and I to retire from lumber we milled ourselves with tools I made with my own hands (I'm a Blacksmith). The property we purchased in 2016 is 1.25 in the high country of Arizona (near Flagstaff). elevation 6856ft. It is 750 miles from our current rental. The first property we've ever owned after renting for 40 years. It has been the most challenging, difficult but incredibly rewarding experience of my life. It is so hard to do! I thought I have it tough but my God, what super human effort to build on ledges like that! Holy moly. Much respect to you and grateful for you to bring these videos to life along with your inspiring commentary. I am truly humbled.
That sounds AMAZING! I'd love to do something like that. We've rented our entire life as well (30 years) and something like that would be a dream come true. I love the Flagstaff AZ, area it is so beautiful. Good luck with your building project it sounds like an absolute blast!🎉
@@junglemom1263 Trust me it's beyond amazing. You should start looking for some land. Looking doesn't cost anything! Start dreaming about what it will be like camping on your own property with a nice campfire with those you love. There is cheap land still. You may have to be off-grid. Do your homework. Good luck!
This is the exact reason I think there had to be ledges that fell. At least enough to get across. Put it this way. The first section is almost in the same condition. At some points there were inches. That wouldn’t been really seen as a pile. I’m inexperienced and guessing though.
Regardless of how they accessed it, I'm sure they would've used some kind of pulley system, or simply just ropes to haul the materials up from the bottom, rather than climbing with them
There's probably more to that than just rocks and ropes. They probably had a wooden structure to make that place more accessible. Unless early people on that place are spider man and woman 😂.
That landscape is stunning! You are one lucky man to have acess to these lands. Treat the nature and these unique artifacts with all the care and respect they deserve. And please be careful so you don't fall and get injured while you are out there.
❤❤ Whenever I watch one of your videos I have the knowledge in knowing you made it home in good enough shape to edit the video and to post it. Helps me breathe a little easier when you are climbing ❤❤
It's funny to me that people say for you to be safe as if you aren't experienced enough to know that. But then I realized they just care about you and love your videos! As I do too.
probably a lot of un experienced people are going out there for experiences, and they get injured or killed doing it. Only leaving it up to the authorities to come get them at tax payers expense.
@@DD-bn2mx Yeah of course but you have to go experience some things to get experience, kinda like learning to drive. The only way to get better at it is to start driving. Some people die driving at any point in their experiences of driving. Same here, dude seems like he's got a good head on his shoulders and is being careful. Sometimes shit just happens though.
I was literally holding my breath watching you traverse that ledge! Thank you for sharing with us. That alone has to make your exploration much more difficult,!
Super dangerous getting to those structures on that clift. Many of the rocks appear to have fallen so there is no trail. Glad you did not attempt to get to the last one.
Hi Andrew. Here’s a challenge that will need consideration and thought combined with your experiences. 1) At 11.10 you begin tapping the “rock” which rings with a hollow sound. It is not therefore sedimentary rock. It is the air trapped within the manually molded mud that enables it to ring with a hollow sound, when tapped. 2) on the video as you begin to withdraw from the edge one can see the cliff face is encrusted with the remnants of a muddy slip, at the top of the cliff! Therefore you were resting on the remains of a column of mud with no foundation, whose interface with the cliff is still evident. This is where a leap of faith is required. From your initial description I wondered if the cliff dwellers had created a mud bridge which was cemented onto the cliff and its strength was enhanced with brush and sticks? This could have joined different rock parts together but that would have meant trusting in an unsupported structure, after making an initially difficult climb. Unlikely. The piece you broke off showed no such additional enhancements had been added, as would be the case with wattle and daub accretions. However the “slip mud” left behind on the cliffs leads me to postulate that the whole of the cliff face was encased from the ground up! They created a mud wall, of indeterminate width, over generations, which joined the dwellings together in a cohesive environment. A walkway topped the wall and therefore enhanced the cliff ledge path. Now, for a bit more speculation on my part. Evidence of cliff rock fall debris at the base of the cliffs, here or elsewhere is rare. Why? because a few blocks of sandstone will fall occasionally, but on the whole when sandstone is the source of the debris it degrades into sand having come from compressed sandy mud from its alluvial deposition under the river deltas and ocean’s aeons ago. You also speculate that it would be difficult for the dwellers to gain access to their cliff homes on a regular basis especially when manually hauling all their food, water, building materials and children up the cliff face! Did they make the daub (muddy cement) on the ledge, or make it at the base and then carry it up? If so, how? If the muddy cliff face theory holds together it becomes a simple process to carve footsteps into the face or edge of the mud daub cliff wall covering, allowing “ladder” access to the dwellings especially for children. These could easily be defended in the event of attack. When the people lived in the valley, in the first days of their settlement, they made mud cement to bind the structure of their dwellings but over time they began to realise they needed more defensible locations. They worked out, through time, that they could gain access to cliff caves by applying the mud to the cliff face and move above the valley floor. This theory all holds together from your following facts. 1) There is very little cliff rock debris. 2) The rock art survives, showing that most of the cliffs have not deteriorated since the art was painted or carved. 3) Your climbing skills show that access is improbable given what your videos show today. 4) You encountered the last of the mud wall. Speculation on my part. The original man made mud cliff has deteriorated over hundreds of years because of the weather cycles since the dwelling “style” was abandoned, either through choice, war or famine, and has therefore not been regularly maintained and subsequently degenerated to dust and grit, leaving almost no evidence, anywhere. So wherever you find walls incorporating muddy sand and piles of dust at the cliff face, it should then be possible to interpolated this theory into the lives of the historical communities, where today access seems impossible. Hopefully this and the help of others can guide you further on your quest. Keep up the amazing videos. With all best wishes Chris McMullen
What a great, informative post. Incidentally, I thought “mud bridge” as soon as he knocked on the hollow rock, and until that point, I assumed wood and/or rope, both of which would be erased by the passage of time. It seems improbable that there was not some kind of engineering solution to both accessing and traversing between dwellings, and it’s unthinkable that the difficult ascent demonstrated here was the actual means of accessing these dwellings.
You are brave and scare me to death when you scramble around like you do. I have to remember that, obviously, you survived, or you wouldn't have been able to post this video! 😮
Maybe a horizontal ladder from the spot where you reached over to the second structure? There could’ve been a narrow pillar between the two structures that had fallen…it’s mind boggling how constructed those shelters
Is mind-boggling - Despite the flooding in rain events and the snow - it's quite amazing how the relics are scattered around as if they've been there for ever.
Hi, have not looked yet at your equipment, but is there a drone you would recommend for me as a ultra reliable, and great for image scale/ context? I have not bothered to buy one but I'm fast noticing great sites to check out and I'm definitely into hiking & climbing. Your channel is very inspiring, I've only just began watching, I guess you might appreciate some of the scenery here in Oz, maybe on Giddos Fishing channel, for example. Regards Jake
Wow! Imagine having to build something so high? I have a feeling there was a lot more to this site. Native People made trails and sturdy dwellings. This place is amazing. Thank you for taking us along.
@@houseofsolomon2440I think they used boats and it was and inland lake or sea that has been drained. You can see water erosion all along the rock faces
@@dogsop fool look at maritime shipping maps from the 1700s much of the coast was a shallow inland sea that the Spanish drained for agriculture.....they brought in their grass for grazing the drained valley
@@RustyShakleford1 You have no idea what you are talking about. The Four Corners area was an inland sea millions of years ago, not 300. Some links to actual scientific proof of this fantasy, please.
In 2003, I fell 30' from a tree, and landed flat on my back in mud and roots. Although I lived, I suffer from the condition I was left in. But it makes me extremely anxious watching you climb around on those slick/loose ledges! The mud felt Hard back then, but it was like a "my pillow" compared to sandstone waiting for you below!! One little slip... PrayersUp, brother!!
I never get tired of your videos. I am an explorer and adventurer too. I live in the Pacific Northwest in Oregon. So I don’t get to explore much of a desert setting except for what little we have on the eastern part of the state. So watching you is living part of my dream of exploring the southwest.
crawling on that walled off cliff? youre braver than me. thank you for following your adventurous spirit. i would have never seen these views without you
Even though I knew you were going to be OK, I could barely watch this one. The broken rocks and the dizzying height really got to me! Don’t know how you do it, but I am so grateful that you are willing to take us along on these wonderful adventures!
Thanks for the video Andrew. As a former rock climber this kind of climbing is difficult to watch and it makes me wince. I enjoy watching your exploration and hope to see many more. Please stop taking such extreme risks. Best Wishes & Good Luck, -Dave
Good stuff man. It’s also important to consider the fact that these cliff faces / walls don’t look the same way they looked 1000 years ago. Much of that appears to be sandstone. Just like the rocks crumbled when you touched it, the rain disintegrated the fallen rock walls over the years
It looks to me like old, or ancient water lines are found all over the earth. Just like on ancient Egypt ruins. Water was higher for example in the southwest such as lake Bonneville and various floods in history. So, people could float to these places or swim. There are many stories of these, but the history isn't gone into often and honestly enough. What we're taught is mostly theories or worse scams. People have always been controlling others with lies, stories, theories and scams its usually for power, control or most often just greed money or fame etc. Selfish escapism desires of all types obtained by lying, terrifying, scamming, helping in slave classism, or just being greedy and selfish. We have more scam theft ads pop up during videos than ever before online now. Everyone sells worthless crap or worse poisons and slavery systems nonsense telling others they can make money easily or get rich. Its 99% scams literally just like all the fake money asking for organizations, tax thieving governments and fake charities. I cannot believe how many people fall for it all. I'm going with higher water levels, because people would find other options to build and other places if the obstacles, they faced included moving rocks up that high. Most likely they were living on the water and from the water. That's most common in history. Fishing, birds and travel are much more of a lifestyle than the theory of drought and doing incredible building that is just unbelievably strenuous. Ancient people were hunters, gatherers, used fishing a lot and small farms all over the place. They would move around with weather and food sources. So, this was likely stops on their water and land journeys also. Places to stay or stash supplies during travels to more quality places. The earth has so many great places to live why choose places you would suffer? Also, the powerful and rich may have paid these people to explore for things they wanted. They could have been explorers and survivalists on journeys needing emergency shelters and shipping stops along the way. My best guesses. Enjoy! I have another theory that many step pyramids are actually ancient mines that were turned into temples or for other uses. Today miners still create step pyramids all over the earth with mine tailings. Deceivers and their believers run the earth. Bribers and bribe takers. Often not good for most people as its slave classism and they RUIN place after place especially in modern times with poisons, wastes of resources and bad to terrible social control system for maximum power, control, overt or more COVERT slavery, stealing and slave classes keeping. Some people are just not supposed to be in power or have extreme wealth. They will abuse it and misuse it if allowed. The places these types operate are vacated as they aren't not good for more to terrible, become prisons, are conquered, or destroyed. Food for saner thoughts lol.
Exactly. You can see above, where the water cuts down and underneath the rock in between the "pillars." Exactly where it was probably a ledge that continued.
Absolutely remarkable video and commentary. You are a cut above the average and I applaud your ingenuity and fearlessness at attempting those ledges. My fear of heights was tensing every muscle in my body. Having lived in Albuquerque and taken many hikes, I've never seen anything like what you have presented. Thank you! Brilliant!
Your such a peacful man. Thank you for your content. Its relaxing to listen to your voice ❤please remember to carry your beacon when you drop your pack incase something happens out there. It would be terrible if you got injured without it.
I love free climbing- you've got some big balls mate. Please be careful bro. Your respect and honour of these old sites is a testament to your love of what you do. Keep up the great work champion.
Thank you for sharing such a cool experience, for leaving no trace, leaving artifacts where you found them aaaand most of all, for making the decision to turn back when the path became unsafe! There are so many uneducated/unskilled people out there that would’ve just gone for it without thinking.
Would make sense they used wooden poles to make bridges to cross the gaps. They might have even built them into the structures to make them more stable.
Andrew safety first! I hope you carry a first aid kit, a personnel locator beacon, GPS phone satellite, etc. Be safe during your adventures, please! Thanks for sharing.
Yeah, when that rocked moved just a bit at 9:39 my heart skipped. Keep thinking of that line "It's a long way down to the bottom of the warp core." The lens must really distort the reality because it looks super narrow and one slip of those shoes on soft dusted rock... ack. Andrew should get a buddy for these adventures.
It seems like water would have been involved. That whole ledge is a shoreline i think, and by the looks...it was a shoreline for a long time. They didn't climb up there. They floated. Just a thought.
Thank you so much for this incredible video! From a young age I was absolutely entranced by cliff dwellings. I've been to a few sites to see them since, but they remain a big fascination for me. Thank you for hiking up to see them.
I want to join you on every adventure, but man I want to see these with my own eyes, and go into much deeper detail of the entire site. Please continue to do what you do, and don't stop telling us to respect the land and put things back the way we found. Every episode is someone's first time, we must continue to teach so we can all learn!😊
DUDE. Absolutely the right call. Even going out that far was really pushing it. Consider a rope and a few cams. Maybe a brain bucket. You could have climbed that crack up to the higher one no problem and safer. Nothing better than those lovely vertical cracks. Seems like you are out alone. . I am no safety Sally, but hope you have some gear in that bag to manage some trauma, an impromptu overnight, weather etc. I salute you for what you are doing. Totally amazing area and so few people have gotten up to those. The drone is a real game changer. Allowing you to really scout a areas and target you time better.
This was my thought too. Those cracks look pretty cherry for climbing. I'm guessing some physically fit person living there a few hundred years ago wouldn't have had much trouble, even without sophisticated gear. Wooden pegs would go a long way to making it easier if you were carrying stones or supplies, and can be pulled out afterwards for security.
@@sicksock435446 One of the defenses would have to have been the limited knowledge of some solid free climbing skills. If you were trying to follow the natives you would swear they climbed vertical walls like spirits! It had to have been a way of life to be able to jam up a crack without missing a beat. Just like walking. And we are talking generations of free solo climbers. Who knows what you could find in those "less" accessable areas. Sure makes me want to visit that area again and pole around a bit.
Bro! This is the very definition of "Intrepid", in fact I looked the word up and, lo and behold, your face was there! In the Oxford English Dictionary no less!
Hello Desert Drifter I just love your posts. Some thirty years ago the British Factory Inspectorate did a survey and found that on British construction sites: Any falls up to twenty feet were approximately fifty percent fatal. Any fall over twenty feet were nearly always fatal. Please be careful climbing those cliffs, Mike
Boy, your research really pays off! These structures you found are really amazing. What it took for those of the past to build these are very impressive.
Structures like this and like the ancient pyramids (which only the tip is coming out of the 'ground') were no problem. Everything on this earth is small scale stuff, maintained by giants. Once we get to the other planets and so-called asteroids and moons people will go into shock over what was hidden from us. It is all in the novels from before 1940.
I missed every single FACT gathered from this hiker's "research" in this video. Probably because the only actual fact in this entire video, was that someone built a place three people could sit behind stacked rocks on a ledge. A space with zero resources or space for anything other than a couple people to hunker down and hide, as if abushing large game . Which was a practice of those cultures all the way up to the elimination of the buffalo. But hunting was not even considered by this guy. He created out of his own fantasy a culture, from a resting/hiding spot, hilarious. .. lol.
It’s really mind boggling on how they built this probably over 800 years ago it’s really amazing thanks for sharing your adventures I wish I were there also. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
the rubble at the bottom could indicate that there was a layer of the side that has crumpled off where there might have been steps carved in or people would also use ropes and buckets for hauling stuff and people up.
The path has definitely deteriorated. Not “significant rock fall” as he described like the whole side of that gap falling off.. but significant enough to make the pass near impossible now. There’s enough rubble at the bottom that matches the color rock up above to indicate the path has broken off.
Are these rocks usually this smooth? Anytime I see people living higher up it’s usually either due to predators or water level. Maybe there use to be a river or something below.
@@KaxxonxboxSandstone weathers easily so it does tend to be pretty smooth unless there is a stream which is highly effective at cutting through it. Pretty sure most of the large floods of that area happened at the latest something like 11,000 years ago when the ice age started ending. The floods that resulted when ice dams broke (such as the Missoula floods) were responsible for a good amount of the landscape of Western North America. Hard to say when this ruin was inhabited without more info though.
AZ native here and have hiking/rock climbing experience also… plenty on sandstone. I like how you addressed the erosion but you don’t address the clear indicator of erosion from the black streak that leads down to that section you couldn’t pass.. which is water staining. Also, the younger darker rock stained from the water erosion is exposed on the rock by where you were tapping. Yes there might not have been a large sheered off section but imo, it was water erosion that wore off that section enough to cause major damage. Btw, I love your videos and enjoy watching them, in no way am I knocking your opinion because this is just mine. Keep it up!
In other locations expert level climb routes, proof someone was climbing that route, have been found which modern experts can climb. So the tribe experts climbed up and ropes were lowered as needed. But scouts and single warriors probably just climbed down and back up later so not to bother with the amount of rope require.
Brother you have the best channel for adventure covering the ancients that lived before us i absolutely love what you do! You are a great presenter sharing what you see and touch! Thanks for your abilities as most of us learn through your eyes and hands GOD BLESS
I live right outside of New Orleans. There is very little scenery here and nothing like the desert. No mountains, not even a hill. We have Lake Pontchartrain and a couple of nice parks. I love watching your videos. You are a natural. Thank you for sharing your adventures.
I live in Metairie. There really is nothing here. We drove to Arizona and Nevada for a family vacation in summer of 1997 and the scenery was amazing as was the lack of humidity. It was a whole other world and did not feel as hot as back home with the awful humidity we live in here. After moving out and living on my own (still in Metairie) I don't go anywhere and I watch others explore through youtube every evening after work. I am content with that but I'll never forget that vacation out west driving from here to Arizona/Nevada and my sinuses clearing up and being in the higher altitude and how amazing it felt and the breath taking sights my teenage eyes got to see. I don't think we visited Utah but that would be my first choice if I ever took the time to travel.
@@Vile-Flesh I’m in Slidell but work in New Orleans. When I was younger and had more time on my hands, I would drive to North Carolina and Tennessee to escape the heat. Just drive up into the mountains where it is cooler. Not sure what I was thinking driving alone to Tennessee but I guess I have a little bit of an adventurer in me. I crave scenery. Cheers to you!
These are melted cities. When are people going to wake up to the fake history we were taught. Great treasure is to be found beneath,in terms of ancient patents technology and storehouses of scarce material.
I'm so glad you didn't chance it! I first thought that the rock face had fallen off but, like you said there was no huge boulders lying below. Climbing up there is a feat in itself, carrying rocks up to build the walls is something else! Another great video. Thanks for taking me along! lol
Hey my friends. A couple things I'd like to add.
- It's worth it to note that these desperate strongholds are usually only from a time period of about 200 years of the Southwest's history. For many thousands of years, there may have been "relative" peace and security throughout the Southwest, as much as anywhere else. But then, due to a number of possibilities, things took a dramatic turn to the desperate, and people started taking to the cliffs and ledges.
- I realized a brain fart typo after posting the video. It’s the Yosemite Decimal System, not decibel. Clearly I was still flustered when I edited. 😂 Thank you for watching!
"hey man, nice climb! that crack looks so wide and so steep!"
"how loud is that route?"
Brain fart such dum saying! First heard it on the east coast!
I think those people had ladders.
Is the Yosemite Decibel System how loud you scream on the way after falling off.
*I got a bit of **#Vertigo** just watching this and also a tad worried that you would fall*
_Stay Careful_
*It's amazing they were able to build those structures*
I am from the Navajo Nation. Thank you for respecting the artifacts of the past and putting them back where they belong. Those are sacred to native Americans. Thank you!
Girl please, do y'all seriously think every peice of discarded antique trash in the desert is sacred? It's not even remotely ancient.
Hopefully as a Native American you can offer an explanation as to the mystery of how these dwellings were constructed and accessed rather than just commenting on the artifacts which are clearly being respected anyway (and surely aren't all sacred as was mentioned by the other person). Eagerly awaiting your insight, thanks.
Sacred how?
Here here...
@GM-qq1wi Always nice to see ignorance on subjects like this. I'll try to explain. In many native cultures pottery was used to house divine beings or spirits. Some were literally used on altars or had special meaning to the family that created them. Just because you don't hold that type of artistry special, doesn't mean it was nothing to these ancient peoples. Clearly this will probably go over your head anyway, but I tried.
Perfectly happy to see a drone shot of inaccessible places. Thanks for not pushing your luck on that tricky ledge.
I second this, it was very much a relief to see him turn around. Love to explore another day
Omg,, I had a heart attack just watching you 😂 Bravo!
That was definitely NOT BAILING! That was sanity returning…beautiful work sir!
I found over the years that getting down is most difficult and tricky.
I was getting mad anxiety watching him do that while holding a camera
Looks wobbly...be safe! Great photos!
Haha, I can assure you the camera makes things look steeper and narrower than they are. Where I bailed things definitely got much more serious and consequential, which I why I stopped there
@@Desert.Drifter Explored Grand Gulch in the early 70’s. The ruins and petroglyphs there were amazing. At the time it was a bit of a hike getting in there. Hope it hasn’t changed too much in 50 years. Got lost in there briefly and that definitely got my blood pressure up as it was getting dark and cold and I wasn’t dressed for it! Another amazing place is Death Hollow. That place will test your nerves and legs! Love your channel! Brings back some great memories!!!
I worked as an Engineer for over 25 years in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Peru etc.. I am in awe of all the structures I have seen in my travels. I have deep admiration and respect for the engineering accomplishments of the ancient builders who came before me.
As we should be. I've never seen a convincing argument about how the megalithic stones used to build such structures were quarried, moved and placed... there is much we've forgotten over the eons, it's amazing, and humbling.
no such thing. made by nature not animals
big deal
That is amazing!!! I know you e seen some beautiful sites!! I truly aspire to be an archeologist & ancient Egyptologist buuuttt I’m too old now lol
Our ancient ancestors were so intelligent and skilled!!
My mother, born in 1923, lived on a mountain top above a similar place , growing up in Indian Territory, Oklahoma. As a kid, she and her 7 siblings would play in the ruins, saying it was easy to get to from the top. In 1964, She took her children to see where she had had so much fun growing up. Alas, It was no longer access-able to us. The rocks of the cliff face had crumbled away with time.
THANK YOU for the chance to get a glimpse of a similar experience like what she had a chance to enjoy.
Where, exactly in Oklahoma? I lived in Oklahoma for four years, and am curious where this area happened to be. Since no place in Oklahoma, resembles the Four Corners, area, in the least.
@@LUIS-ox1bv The two places I remember her mentioning was "Indian Territory" which could include a very large area and the other was Madill, OK. Also my brother lived at Altus, OK which was different also.
It WAS a hundred years ago.
Fascinating stuff!
Thanks for the sharing! Cool!
My Mom was born in 23 as well, but lived in a small town in MI. But in her later years lived in the bush in Alaska so she had a bit of adventure too🙂
People say we're lucky in Europe with all our history but I'm mad jealous of you guys and the fact that you still have lots of land to explore and history to uncover!
For some odd reason we do not explore our own history much here in the US. Thousands or years of history that we do not know a whole lot about. I hope that is changing.
We know the history but “they” don’t want us to know more. 2 caves out of thousands are legally accessible in the GC. Why? Safety? I call BS.
@@davidrobinson1201 we explore it everyday and have tons of archeologists studying our Native History but it's not as celebrated as European history unfortunately.
Oh I see, I just assumed that Manifest Destiny continued on in our day and Native American history was not explored much here. It sounds like the work is being done but the general populace has not shown the interest yet. @@robertlambert4514
@@robertlambert4514I think part of the issue is that a lot of Native American lore and histories are passed on through oral traditions, as opposed to European or Asian histories which have a vast written archive which can survive centuries without anyone knowing of it. There's a phrase I find relevant here which is "Books are the memory that does not die" - and I think that's why it's so much harder to analyse Native histories - especially given that the upheavals of the Native populations means that the lore held by modern populations is fragmented and discontinuous, with much lost to the mists of time.
I grew up in the Pueblo of Zuni. I used to do exactly what you are doing when I was a boy and it was some of the best times I've had in my life. Aside from all the ruins I also found lots of fossils.... fossilized plants and trilobites and amethyst crystals in those red boulder fields. I do hope you at least have a hand gun at least. I always had a .22 rifle even at 10 years old and it came in handy a few times when mountain lion would stalk me. I never shot directly at them. Just near enough for them to sense the danger and flee. I love mountain lions. My Zuni Grandma used to tell me that looking to the night stars was forbidden which I found odd as our Anasazi ancestors held vast knowledge of astronomy. I feel that perhaps something came from space which is why the people moved to the cliffs and why my Grandma passed the directive to fear the stars. I never listened though. On my 3 day hikes in the desert I always soaked in the night sky
They came from the stars.....
I could actually feel this. Thank you for sharing so honestly.
❤️🙏
I'd watch content from you about native stories. Shanclen Shadow Prod has a great channel on Navajo stories.
Maybe the asteroid impacts which started the flood
I miss being out there u reminded me of being out there
Superb record of your teavelsand great respect for our ancient ancestors. I am Shasta Indian Nation and the lands over here are being utterly destroyed by the gold-diggers. I very much appreciate someone that cares and is Honorable and Respectful enough to care. So rare these days! Thank you and your wife my friend.
My parents were explorers and rockhounds. My dad got a months vacation, or more, every year. We spent our time in the desert. We found places that weren't on maps. When I was very young we use to visit family in Oklahoma and Missouri. On our way back home, northern California, they would take different routes. One year we followed the Pony Express route. Needless to say I love exploring and the desert.
In Mesa Verde, the Cliff Palace, could be protected by one warrior. Everyone had to crawl through a tunnel to get to the site. Don't forget to also look for hand and foot holds coming down to the dwellings from above.
I honestly wish that I was with you finding these places. I love the desert, waking up in the morning and taking a deep breath of air... That's the life.
Thank you for sharing all of this with us.
Wow. Love your comment. Your parents. The best?!
My dad was real estate developer. Taking me to countrified areas he was about to destroy. Admiring presence of wildlife. I was so young but repelled by the irony. I adored him. Still. Somehow those trips w/dad encouraged me to go further. Find those hinterlands even the capitalists found valueless. This is where our intrepid host has taken us. The regions I haunt.
curious to ask what sort of found or bought artifacts if any did u have in your home growing up?
Beautiful memories! 😍
Well you literally scared the hell out of me up on that ledge but thank you would have liked some more close-up drone shots of the last structure up there
My thoughts and feelings have already been expressed by other aging adventurers. Thank you for taking us on trails we can no longer take ourselves. Your camera work is so detailed, I feel like those are my shoes on the rocks and ledges, and my fingers grasping crevice for support. Your narrative completes the picture, further contributing to the feeling of being there in person. Thinking this part of my life was gone, I now can live my adventures through you. You have extended a quality of life I had thought was lost. I also appreciate your example and teaching to younger adventures evaluating the risk of reaching that last ledge, and not foolishly continuing when the risk could have a deadly outcome. Thank you again for taking us on your adventures with you.
Sitting here having a day filled with pain, this adventure had me captivated the entire time and really lifted my spirits. Thank you Andrew
I am sorry sir. I lived with brutal pain for 10 years and know how pain changes who you are. I hope there is some resolution for you.
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
I take wild lettuce in capsules for my pain and another one for the nerve pain.
I looked up herbs to help and found that they take the edge off so I can function. All the best to you!
@sandralouth3103 well the spine was fused last year but takes some time to heal
Im gonna check that out this summer. Was it a pain to process? @@leopardwoman38
I totally understand where you're coming from. Living with chronic pain is incredibly debilitating. Andrew's videos let me escape and forget about my pain. And yes, definitely lifts one's spirits. I hope your pain eases for you. All the very best.
Don't risk your life for ruins. The drone is made for that.Thanks for the beautiful pictures.
Wow awe inspiring, breath taking bro thx. 🤘😎
I always worry when you go climbing up a cliff and struggle across a rim edge that if you do fall, how long will it be before help can get to you? If they ever find you.
That's a big NO for me
Who knows how much of the original route has fallen or washed away since it was last used.
Sandstone... vertical... free climb? Makes me very nervous. Not something to trifle with. Holds can just disappear.
I also want to show massive respect to this man. From the beginning, we heard about the sun going down, and much respect for the amazement that lead to the statement, "I'm hiking back in the dark" that comes from respect and awe of these ruins.
First time watcher here not knowing what to expect, but you returning that piece of pottery instead of taking it home as a trophy instantly tells me all I need to know. Good stuff amigo!
RIGHT.........HES A GOOD GUY..............LOVED THE JOURNEY................IM A 1ST TIMER TOOO,,,,,,,,,,IM GONNA SUB........#BIGBADPAPPAWOLF
I kind of wish he turned it upside down to protect the drawing
Taking such a piece of pottery would be highly illegal under ARPA (Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979). Taking it and publishing a video doing it would be monumentally stupid, providing evidence of the crime...and ARPA carries fines for violations and (in more serious cases) potential jail time.
@craigk.gowens7534 really? 😅what it if it was on my property?
Good point Craigk. Didn’t think of that. Cheers!
My palms were sweating the whole time. What an example of wonderlust. One of the hardest as wisest things you can do on an adventure is turn back. I enjoy your drone shots of these sights and your theories.
What you wrote is what I was just thinking 🤔.
I am from the American Nation. Thank you for these videos from the Western desert. Great land. Great history!
wtf - are you from zion national park, too? ⚠ ⚠ the History here is about cannibals, btw, so any from Canaan might think it's 'great' I guess.
American Nation? What the F is that?
@@loboxx337 that's low key way of saying 'Anglo Saxons who don't like popes or monarchists'
Growing up in the SW. Arizona for the first 48 years of my life. Now living in the deep South Georgia for the past 8 years. Watching your awesome videos taks me back home. Even though i am experiencing some great historical sights all over the South and SE, i am missing my home land and Desert. Its time for a visit back to the land that speaks to me and fills my soul. Thank you so much for sharing the land that you walk.🙏👍
At 19:27 you can see what appears to be a perfectly built wall in the background just above ground level. Or was that a natural formation from multiple sediment layers? And if you look upwards into the right of that very long wall you can see an opening as though somebody had lived also there. Are you gonna check that out the next time you come back in the same area?
Also, I was trying to figure out why people would want to spend so much time, effort and risk living in those hard-to-reach dwellings? At first I thought it was to be protected against other human tribes that would attack them. But that did not make any sense because all the other attacking tribesmen would have to do is simply wait them out while they died of either lack of water or food. So, I doubt that was the reason for them living there.
Then, I considered the probability that they were trying to avoid something like mountain lions that would simply follow the humans and either attack them during the daytime or while he slept on the open grounds. That makes more sense why they built those extremely hard to reach dwellings on the cliff.
And I normally would ask what someone else thinks about this reasonable explanation I came up with but no one ever responds with their thoughts or comments anyway so don't even think about responding to my comment.
BUT the main reason I usually NEVER get any thumbs up or comments to any of my comments on TH-cam is that the damn retarded-minded TH-cam extreme left-wing Libturds/Democraps monitor and read our personnel comments hate my guts because I support Trump and give good reasons why. Those TH-cam monitor personnel retards simply stop anybody from making comments or leaving at thumbs up to anything I say it.
I grew up on the Navajo rez, my oldest lives in Mesa and we live in FL....
@@1Dogsoldier4life
I moved from Mesa AZ. Athens GA. coming close to 8 years ago. I do miss my high dessert homeland very much. I plan on a much needed vacation with my wife to AZ. this November. I am looking forward to showing my wife how special the dessert is to one's soul.
@@danielhillwick5276 that will be amazing, has she ever been? I've taken my husband to the rez a few times, my dad still lives there, and to the grand canyon and also phx for grandbabys bdays. It is a special place for sure.
I grew up in and still live in the northeast but the southwestern desert has always called to me and is the only place my soul feels complete. When I visit I feel like I’m home . I hope to make the move permanently one day.
I like that you leave artifacts where you found them. It is a show of respect
@@SandBox86 Would be pretty dumb to record yourself doing something illegal and then post it online for the world to see lol.
@@SandBox86 Stay away from any of this stuff. You are definitely the kind of person that would desecrate a place like this.
@@shaynejenkins446 I've doing it for years, go and start crying 😭😂😂😂
So do you forgo a car or drive electric because if not you are burning the bodies of millions of creatures every day, and that seems more disrespectful-
😂 im fecking with you tho, dont rell just stop oil, we dont need more of them 😮
I would take every single thing I found why wouldn't you. It's more respectful to put it somewhere safe on display rather than letting it rot in the open desert.
I have been an avid observer and chronicler of rock art panels since the early 90’s and have been fortunate to photograph panels that have since been damaged by flooding or vandalism. Although my adventures were primarily geared towards chasing picto/petro panels, I have skirted some sketchy faces to granaries and dwellings and have a theory on this particular site in Andrew’s video. All three of the structures were made at different times and under varying degrees of stress or need. The first structure with the portholes was done over a much more substantial time span than the other two. The outer wall has rock work that is sheer and uniform and hardly requires the glazing of a mud veneer. It is impressive. The second one to the far right around the rock face was less impressive with the type of construction that is typical I would say of many structures dotting canyon country. The last however, seemed like it was hastily thrown together as if under duress. And sitting upon a precipice, I would say that the location was chosen out of necessity. As if the people involved had to quickly move into riskier territory on the cliff to more easily defend themselves from a threat. I would also suggest that ladders were used though not for vertical access but for breaching horizontal gaps. The makeshift bridges would be pulled in if needed to prevent any other crossing at this single point of access. No one would risk that ‘elite 5-12’ climb bringing up the rock and mud to make the structure in the first place. Even if all the materials were pulled up by ropes, getting to this place in a hurry to gain cover was done with a well thought out plan conceived ahead of time. Whatever the reason, it is obvious that this extreme access point was created out of dire need in what seems to be a very tumultuous time in the history of the southwest and for pre-Puebloan cultures.
With the vastness of the territory you would think each group had resources….its sad they were threatened…but times must have been really rough
@@piratessalyx7871 I read that a 'multidecade drought that came close to today's was in the 1500s', and more evidence of even longer, more severe drought has been found to have occurred in paleohistory in the southwest. The tribes would have been not only competing for area food/water resources but attacking and stealing from other tribes in a desperate bid for survival. I think saying ' times were rough' would be an understatement.
Appreciate the theory. It sounds plausible.
Well said Paleobuzz, I appreciate you sharing your insights with all of us
I need one of you. To keep in my pocket.
“Always leave stuff where you found it” I love that. Good ethos.
It's amazing to see how respectful you are towards the history. A lot of people think they're "saving" these artifacts when they bring them home, but that's just not the case. Putting them on a bookshelf in your basement where they will only be seen by a handful of people if any is hardly saving them. Thank you for the content!
Yup. And then they are completely taken out of context. Within a generation, it's, "from an Indian site somewhere in the desert".
Alright but what if he puts it back and nobody else were to ever see it or witness it again? Maybe donating to a museum would’ve been the next best thing to do? I just feel like leaving such things where we found them is like finding a needle in a haystack and tossing it back in. That’s just my thoughts though. Glad we at the very least got to see video footage of the chunk of pottery, I hope anyone else who might come along to visit finds it.
Do you really think that's why he left it there?
Do Americans have museums?
@@nangld Yeah, we do (I know your joking) and I harshly disagree with the hippy dippy "leave it there" sentiment. Looking forward to a likely butt hurt reply regarding my thoughts on the matter.
I am from the alps so I grew up climbing, I think a very likely explaination would be rope ladders, or even more likely: rope bridges. So they bridged the gaps between the pillars and came in the same way you did. That still means someone had to climb that stuff first, but they very likely did not want to do that multiple times a day.
That was my thinking. You can make rope ladders and bridges as long as you need to and just yank them up when baddies approached. Then when the danger is gone you just throw it back down. I assumed it was some kind of rope bridge between the two structures too.
Even if they used rope ladders and bridges, that is an almost superhuman feat. It’s wild to see something from almost 1000 years ago still standing and trying to imagine what these peoples’ lives must have been like.
Cool, alps in a german speaking country? There‘s a tribe who still builds roap bridges, i saw a documentary, they have to mobilize the whole town to get such a bridge down, but the bridge is sturdy. I post the link if i find it
@AmadeuShinChan yes pls post, sounds great. Thank you for your effort. 🙏
@@stephgreen3070 well actually if baddies approached you know damn well i'm letting all the ladders down lol
@@Sol-Cutta [ th-cam.com/video/GT-7Ix7U2b4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=XCZCrKqyF28l8FD8 ] sorry this one‘s more informative th-cam.com/video/JCxnStgZsTw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=qBoCeqhMMGJ8PaRF
I live in Clinton utah.. I'm seventy five years old. I pounded a lot of desert sands in southern UT many years ago and I never looked up to find ruins. I wish I could accompany you on a treck one day. I'm thrilled with your videos on TH-cam.
I'm the same age and did my share of hiking and climbing back in the day, but would not dare fate at this age.
I’ll go with both of you. I’m 42, not that that’s very reassuring 😅
Y'all can ascend to heaven. Way better experience lol!
@@WhiteGeared bro wtf?! Have some respect for those who come before you.
@@22TheJmans It's way more respectful and beneficial if y'all ascend sooner in this era of overpopulation.
You have my deepest respect for your balls of steel climbing that cliff face and respect for the people who lived such hard way of life.
Great work mate. Being in the uk and being registered disabled now, i know ill never see many special places that i find wonderful, so thanks for the close up , boots on the shelf view. Btw you're more softly spoken and steadily applied in your presentation than 95% of TH-cam content creationists . We really appreciate that in the UK here. Ive subbed in to your channel for that main reason. Cheers.
Until I did some reading recently, I had no idea how huge the Grand Canyon is. It’s mind blowing.
You don't want somebody yelling I WENT TO THE DESERT AND FOUND FIVE IMPOSSIBLE RUINS! WILL MY CYBERTRUCK SURVIVE AS I JUMP FROM ONE AND SMASH INTO THE OTHER? IT'S OK BECAUSE I'M BUYING THE LOCALS 20 LAMBORGINIS THAT THEY CAN'T POSSIBLY AFFORD TO MAINTAIN. CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE!
@@ZenEndurance Hahahaha, exactly that, yet so many TH-cam channels are of that nature. It's so jarring, even without the adds. Finding a "good" IMO, TH-cam channel can be tricky, but they are out there.
Voices of the past, is another gem. Much much better than anything you'd ever find on the history channel or Netflix.
I read a journal from a Spanish priest on one of the early treks into California and he mentioned a tribe that lived up in rocks like these. They got up to their homes by leaning tall poles against the rock and climbing up.
Ohhhhhh cooool
They used two long poles next to each other with shorter pieces going across between them. These were knows as ladders.
rjmun580. It is surprisingly easy to run up the knobs and notches left in a tall tree trunk after u cut off the branches. I ran up a tree trunk every night to sleep on the roof of my mud house in Mali, africa as a middle aged woman.
Rope ladders make more sense as they can easily be drawn up after use, thus achieving the purpose of peoples being up there in the first place (security). Wooden poles would be very heavy to drag up and use a lot of space to store until they are next needed.
We don’t what it was like two hundred years or more ago.
Thanks Andrew. Your channel is a credit to TH-cam. Both your knowledge and enthusiasm are a joy and you have such respect for these ancient structures. Perfect! I love your sensible, measured approach. Top man!
Thank you for the kind words and financial support of the channel, it means a lot!
I really appreciate how he is respectful of the history by not removing artifacts and not giving exact locations to where his exploration is. I have had brief hikes in Arizona around the Phoenix area mountains and into the Wyoming mountains. Most times just day hikes, of not more than a few miles in and out of the mountains. Where people before me have made improvements to make it more accessible for others to hike. I appreciate the danger involved in these multi day explorations with a solo person. I am fascinated with the history of this worlds past civilizations. It was not a leisurely life these people lived. Every day was a struggle for survival.
This isn't respectful. Respectful is to contact archaeologists and let them do the exploring.
@@melkor_of_utumno Archaeologists allow ordinary people to climb these ledges. On the podcast "Genealogies of Modernity," episode 1 "Climbing the Mountains of Modernity" , the author comes with some archaeologists to climb a ledge in the Arizona desert to see a grain store like this one. They say it was built by the Anasazi and it was unlikely the security need was so great as we are theorizing in this video, more likely to clown on poor climbers and make petty theft slightly difficult.
Given how soft and crumbly that “hollow” ledge was, there’s no reason to believe a significant rock fall would have left large boulders on the ground. Sandstone weak enough to crumble beneath your fingers surely would have pulverized to tiny bits with a 55 foot drop onto the canyon floor.
I was thinking that the "hollow" rocks were actually built there by the original builders to fill gaps?
@@gwenspain8152 it’s more likely that rainwater and dew condensate running down along the harder, more-dense (overhanging) rock strata was able to seep into the softer sandstone of the lower layers, percolating through it, slowly washing out minerals like Ca, Mg, K, Na, Fe which act as binders between silica grains in sandstone. It’s also likely that the human activity on that ledge [building fires for cooking, heat, and light] also leached carbon into the sandstone below, making carbonic acid as the water gradually dissolved campfire residues with every morning dew that settled into unburnt char. Carbonic acid can, over time, leach away the silica as well - leaving hollow voids in the rock. Kinda like how caves and aquifers are formed, but on a micro-scale within a rock outcropping. …heat from the fires probably also caused enough thermal shock to open fractures in the sandstone, channeling water and carbonic acid leachate *through* the lower layers, instead of running down the cliff face (as it had in the upper strata.)
He also didn't show the bottom of the incline the cliff sat off of, so we don't know if there's anything down there either 😁
This. Sandstone is pathetically weak for a rock. Even looking at that cliff now, you can see all sorts of cracks that indicate that the whole face is in the process of cracking and breaking off. The leftover ruins will be gone in another 800 years.
I agree. This is clearly a case of collapsed walkways from erosion and rockslides from above, especially as evidenced by 14:05. Once upon a time this was likely reasonably traversible.
Andrew you are awesome. How many of us live through your bravery.
I am glad you turned back. Zero shame. Live to tell many stories. Don't risk your life for a quick glimpse at a collapsing ruin.
Major respect for leaving the pottery where it belongs, and for encouraging others to do the same. Fantastic find!
I liked this episode so much. It really makes you think why aren't there any documentary films about it and fortunate for us to have Andrew to show us these wonders that we would never ever see. Thank you pal
My heart was racing watching you climb that 2nd place. Crazy
FYI, some sites will have these notices - “Archaeological resources are fragile and irreplaceable. The Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 protect them for the benefit of all Americans. Any person who without authorization, excavates, removes, damages or otherwise alters or defaces any historic or prehistoric site, artifact or object of antiquity on the public lands of the United States is subject to arrest and penalty of law.”
Regardless, they apply to ALL sites wether the notice is there or not.
Thanks to watching your video I discovered a couple of other TH-camrs sites. One of them had flown his drone up to a site that he could not climb to and found that notice posted there. Glad to see you are very respectful of these archeological sites and artifacts.
They are afraid people will decipher secrets of the past. They are protecting what has been taught in schools. These are melted cities from a pre Adamic civilization. Great knowledge and treasures would be found underneath
Glad you used this as a teaching moment to tell everyone to leave anything found at the sites. Respect
You said it yourself, those rocks were very hollow. When those huge boulders fell they broke into the thousands of pieces you see on the ground. Awesome video!
The rocks are not hollow. That was adobe.
@@snowmiaow so very brittle then though right?
@@jusdsun8319 right!
Thats what i thought
You give me the shivers every time you climb on those narrow ledges, yet I am addicted to watching you do it. Stay safe.
I love your adventurous spirit and willingness to tackle such high and treacherous climbs while taking videos to share wit all of us. Your warm, open demeanor is very engaging. You are so young, and yet have such wise insight to these Native American ancient sights. It leaves me amazed at how these ancient people lived. Thanks for your entertaining commentary and fantastic videos. A 79 yr. Old fan.
Andrew, bud you are really kinda pushing it for your channel. I/we really appreciate you're many awesome treks. Up on that shelf was really freaking me out. Please, please be careful sir. 🙂👍
I agree! Don’t want an accident happening. Take care and be careful! 😮
Watching this near midnight in UK and getting very wobbly whilst lying in bed! Thank you for sharing these places that most of us will never see.
Could the “portholes” be ventilation holes for some sort of store?
That's funny I said the same thing. He's the best guy out there. Please listen to us. Your exuberance shows and we all love it. But if you don't back off some we are all going to make you harness up and write a daily planner and have us approve your activities. Lol.
I agree!! I feel nauseous. Andrew this was too extreme. 😮But. I could hear my mom telling me to stop climbing. Thanks for using your head. Thrilling.
Heart racing.😊
You need someone spotting you doing that level of climbing, if you fall and knock yourself out ,break a leg or drop your phone then what.
My hands are all sweaty from the anxiety of watching you in that ledge. Several times I was saying, no it’s close enough. What freaks me out is, it’s one thing to get there, another to get back down safely. Stay safe and thank you.
I have to keep reminding myself: well, I'm watching the video, so it's going to be ok...
I always found going in was much easier than getting out. I felt multiple nerve impulses watching him as you got sweaty hands. Yikes
One-handed, to hold the damn camera-stick 🙈
A good climber will never climb up something they can't climb down if not roped.
Man.....I wish that I wasn't afraid of heights. I'm 53yrs old and me and my buddies were the first of many urban explorers. I grew up in Kansas City, Mo. In the 70's. The closest we had to a camera was a Polaroid and we couldn't even afford those. We went through abandoned factories in the railyards, to beautiful theaters. The best we did was Union Station! It was in bad shape. I remember that even though it was weather ridden, the beauty in the massive stone architecture was still there. Nice to see it all fixed up and a focal point now for Chief's Superbowl Parades. Thank you for your video. I still feel privileged to have explored the places I was able to. Oh! We found out when traversing a beam 5 stories in the air getting to a control booth in a theater that I was afraid of heights! I froze and it took some time for my friends to get me down. Mom, was never told!
Andrew I must say, I’ve watched you for some time, each video you present is truly amazing. The emotion, substance, and research you provide is second to none!
I for one will always enjoy the mystery and exploration you provide as a genuine and humble human. Fond appreciation my friend
I am in awe of the ancient ones who built these. I am building a Timber Frame mountain lodge style cabin for my wife and I to retire from lumber we milled ourselves with tools I made with my own hands (I'm a Blacksmith). The property we purchased in 2016 is 1.25 in the high country of Arizona (near Flagstaff). elevation 6856ft. It is 750 miles from our current rental. The first property we've ever owned after renting for 40 years. It has been the most challenging, difficult but incredibly rewarding experience of my life. It is so hard to do! I thought I have it tough but my God, what super human effort to build on ledges like that! Holy moly. Much respect to you and grateful for you to bring these videos to life along with your inspiring commentary. I am truly humbled.
That sounds AMAZING! I'd love to do something like that. We've rented our entire life as well (30 years) and something like that would be a dream come true. I love the Flagstaff AZ, area it is so beautiful.
Good luck with your building project it sounds like an absolute blast!🎉
@@junglemom1263 Trust me it's beyond amazing. You should start looking for some land. Looking doesn't cost anything! Start dreaming about what it will be like camping on your own property with a nice campfire with those you love. There is cheap land still. You may have to be off-grid. Do your homework. Good luck!
Crazy town. Lol 🤪
What blows me away is that they hauled stuff up there while climbing.
Thank you 🙏
Not likely. It had to come from above, lowered on ropes. Carrying it up makes zero sense.
I kept thinking how the heck lil children and elderly would trek this rock laden hollow
This is the exact reason I think there had to be ledges that fell. At least enough to get across. Put it this way. The first section is almost in the same condition. At some points there were inches. That wouldn’t been really seen as a pile. I’m inexperienced and guessing though.
Regardless of how they accessed it, I'm sure they would've used some kind of pulley system, or simply just ropes to haul the materials up from the bottom, rather than climbing with them
There's probably more to that than just rocks and ropes. They probably had a wooden structure to make that place more accessible. Unless early people on that place are spider man and woman 😂.
That landscape is stunning! You are one lucky man to have acess to these lands. Treat the nature and these unique artifacts with all the care and respect they deserve.
And please be careful so you don't fall and get injured while you are out there.
You sure do like adventure!! Thanks for taking g me with you😊.
❤❤ Whenever I watch one of your videos I have the knowledge in knowing you made it home in good enough shape to edit the video and to post it. Helps me breathe a little easier when you are climbing ❤❤
Alone, and basically one-handed, this is madness! But I admire the curiosity and generosity of spirit.
Not necessarily alone. . . 🤔 ..
lol.. what about those port holes he's infatuated with
It's funny to me that people say for you to be safe as if you aren't experienced enough to know that. But then I realized they just care about you and love your videos! As I do too.
probably a lot of un experienced people are going out there for experiences, and they get injured or killed doing it. Only leaving it up to the authorities to come get them at tax payers expense.
It’s ok, whoever is running the camera will look out for him
@@DD-bn2mx Yeah of course but you have to go experience some things to get experience, kinda like learning to drive. The only way to get better at it is to start driving. Some people die driving at any point in their experiences of driving. Same here, dude seems like he's got a good head on his shoulders and is being careful. Sometimes shit just happens though.
I was literally holding my breath watching you traverse that ledge! Thank you for sharing with us. That alone has to make your exploration much more difficult,!
Super dangerous getting to those structures on that clift. Many of the rocks appear to have fallen so there is no trail. Glad you did not attempt to get to the last one.
SO DANGEROUS TO CLIMB THAT
So glad to see you back bro! I absolutely love your channel! Don't give up
I can no longer hike and explore. But am living vicariously through your lense and narration. Thank you very much👍👍
Hi Andrew.
Here’s a challenge that will need consideration and thought combined with your experiences.
1) At 11.10 you begin tapping the “rock” which rings with a hollow sound. It is not therefore sedimentary rock. It is the air trapped within the manually molded mud that enables it to ring with a hollow sound, when tapped.
2) on the video as you begin to withdraw from the edge one can see the cliff face is encrusted with the remnants of a muddy slip, at the top of the cliff! Therefore you were resting on the remains of a column of mud with no foundation, whose interface with the cliff is still evident.
This is where a leap of faith is required.
From your initial description I wondered if the cliff dwellers had created a mud bridge which was cemented onto the cliff and its strength was enhanced with brush and sticks? This could have joined different rock parts together but that would have meant trusting in an unsupported structure, after making an initially difficult climb. Unlikely. The piece you broke off showed no such additional enhancements had been added, as would be the case with wattle and daub accretions.
However the “slip mud” left behind on the cliffs leads me to postulate that the whole of the cliff face was encased from the ground up! They created a mud wall, of indeterminate width, over generations, which joined the dwellings together in a cohesive environment. A walkway topped the wall and therefore enhanced the cliff ledge path.
Now, for a bit more speculation on my part. Evidence of cliff rock fall debris at the base of the cliffs, here or elsewhere is rare. Why? because a few blocks of sandstone will fall occasionally, but on the whole when sandstone is the source of the debris it degrades into sand having come from compressed sandy mud from its alluvial deposition under the river deltas and ocean’s aeons ago.
You also speculate that it would be difficult for the dwellers to gain access to their cliff homes on a regular basis especially when manually hauling all their food, water, building materials and children up the cliff face! Did they make the daub (muddy cement) on the ledge, or make it at the base and then carry it up? If so, how?
If the muddy cliff face theory holds together it becomes a simple process to carve footsteps into the face or edge of the mud daub cliff wall covering, allowing “ladder” access to the dwellings especially for children. These could easily be defended in the event of attack.
When the people lived in the valley, in the first days of their settlement, they made mud cement to bind the structure of their dwellings but over time they began to realise they needed more defensible locations. They worked out, through time, that they could gain access to cliff caves by applying the mud to the cliff face and move above the valley floor. This theory all holds together from your following facts.
1) There is very little cliff rock debris. 2) The rock art survives, showing that most of the cliffs have not deteriorated since the art was painted or carved. 3) Your climbing skills show that access is improbable given what your videos show today. 4) You encountered the last of the mud wall.
Speculation on my part. The original man made mud cliff has deteriorated over hundreds of years because of the weather cycles since the dwelling “style” was abandoned, either through choice, war or famine, and has therefore not been regularly maintained and subsequently degenerated to dust and grit, leaving almost no evidence, anywhere.
So wherever you find walls incorporating muddy sand and piles of dust at the cliff face, it should then be possible to interpolated this theory into the lives of the historical communities, where today access seems impossible.
Hopefully this and the help of others can guide you further on your quest.
Keep up the amazing videos.
With all best wishes
Chris McMullen
What a great, informative post. Incidentally, I thought “mud bridge” as soon as he knocked on the hollow rock, and until that point, I assumed wood and/or rope, both of which would be erased by the passage of time.
It seems improbable that there was not some kind of engineering solution to both accessing and traversing between dwellings, and it’s unthinkable that the difficult ascent demonstrated here was the actual means of accessing these dwellings.
You are brave and scare me to death when you scramble around like you do. I have to remember that, obviously, you survived, or you wouldn't have been able to post this video! 😮
I had to keep telling myself that, I was so scared for him. He is such a good hiker though, know he knows his stuff!
Haha, yes if there's a video posted, its likely not posthumously
@9:34 Heart pounding adventure ! Whoo wee you are brave to climb up there!
Maybe a horizontal ladder from the spot where you reached over to the second structure? There could’ve been a narrow pillar between the two structures that had fallen…it’s mind boggling how constructed those shelters
Is mind-boggling - Despite the flooding in rain events and the snow - it's quite amazing how the relics are scattered around as if they've been there for ever.
Dude, you're turning into a serious story teller! I love seeing the awe that you are left in...God is great, my brother!
Thank you again Nate!
Hi, have not looked yet at your equipment, but is there a drone you would recommend for me as a ultra reliable, and great for image scale/ context? I have not bothered to buy one but I'm fast noticing great sites to check out and I'm definitely into hiking & climbing. Your channel is very inspiring, I've only just began watching, I guess you might appreciate some of the scenery here in Oz, maybe on Giddos Fishing channel, for example. Regards Jake
Wow! Imagine having to build something so high? I have a feeling there was a lot more to this site. Native People made trails and sturdy dwellings. This place is amazing. Thank you for taking us along.
I wonder if they employed rope & wood ladders, which are easily retracted(?) Think rope & wood ladders from wooden ship days -
@@houseofsolomon2440I think they used boats and it was and inland lake or sea that has been drained. You can see water erosion all along the rock faces
@@RustyShakleford1 I think they flew in helicopters, that makes as much sense as boats. That area hasn't been under water for 10,000 years.
@@dogsop fool look at maritime shipping maps from the 1700s much of the coast was a shallow inland sea that the Spanish drained for agriculture.....they brought in their grass for grazing the drained valley
@@RustyShakleford1 You have no idea what you are talking about. The Four Corners area was an inland sea millions of years ago, not 300. Some links to actual scientific proof of this fantasy, please.
In 2003, I fell 30' from a tree, and landed flat on my back in mud and roots.
Although I lived, I suffer from the condition I was left in.
But it makes me extremely anxious watching you climb around on those slick/loose ledges!
The mud felt Hard back then, but it was like a "my pillow" compared to sandstone waiting for you below!!
One little slip...
PrayersUp, brother!!
I never get tired of your videos. I am an explorer and adventurer too. I live in the Pacific Northwest in Oregon. So I don’t get to explore much of a desert setting except for what little we have on the eastern part of the state. So watching you is living part of my dream of exploring the southwest.
crawling on that walled off cliff? youre braver than me. thank you for following your adventurous spirit. i would have never seen these views without you
It just blows my mind! It's one thing to climb up there, but to build it... Incredible!!! 🤯
Thank you for sharing your experience with us 🙏 you make my day with your adventures ❤
Even though I knew you were going to be OK, I could barely watch this one. The broken rocks and the dizzying height really got to me! Don’t know how you do it, but I am so grateful that you are willing to take us along on these wonderful adventures!
Thanks for the video Andrew. As a former rock climber this kind of climbing is difficult to watch and it makes me wince. I enjoy watching your exploration and hope to see many more. Please stop taking such extreme risks. Best Wishes & Good Luck, -Dave
Good stuff man. It’s also important to consider the fact that these cliff faces / walls don’t look the same way they looked 1000 years ago. Much of that appears to be sandstone. Just like the rocks crumbled when you touched it, the rain disintegrated the fallen rock walls over the years
It looks to me like old, or ancient water lines are found all over the earth. Just like on ancient Egypt ruins. Water was higher for example in the southwest such as lake Bonneville and various floods in history. So, people could float to these places or swim. There are many stories of these, but the history isn't gone into often and honestly enough. What we're taught is mostly theories or worse scams. People have always been controlling others with lies, stories, theories and scams its usually for power, control or most often just greed money or fame etc. Selfish escapism desires of all types obtained by lying, terrifying, scamming, helping in slave classism, or just being greedy and selfish. We have more scam theft ads pop up during videos than ever before online now. Everyone sells worthless crap or worse poisons and slavery systems nonsense telling others they can make money easily or get rich. Its 99% scams literally just like all the fake money asking for organizations, tax thieving governments and fake charities. I cannot believe how many people fall for it all. I'm going with higher water levels, because people would find other options to build and other places if the obstacles, they faced included moving rocks up that high. Most likely they were living on the water and from the water. That's most common in history. Fishing, birds and travel are much more of a lifestyle than the theory of drought and doing incredible building that is just unbelievably strenuous. Ancient people were hunters, gatherers, used fishing a lot and small farms all over the place. They would move around with weather and food sources. So, this was likely stops on their water and land journeys also. Places to stay or stash supplies during travels to more quality places. The earth has so many great places to live why choose places you would suffer? Also, the powerful and rich may have paid these people to explore for things they wanted. They could have been explorers and survivalists on journeys needing emergency shelters and shipping stops along the way. My best guesses. Enjoy! I have another theory that many step pyramids are actually ancient mines that were turned into temples or for other uses. Today miners still create step pyramids all over the earth with mine tailings. Deceivers and their believers run the earth. Bribers and bribe takers. Often not good for most people as its slave classism and they RUIN place after place especially in modern times with poisons, wastes of resources and bad to terrible social control system for maximum power, control, overt or more COVERT slavery, stealing and slave classes keeping. Some people are just not supposed to be in power or have extreme wealth. They will abuse it and misuse it if allowed. The places these types operate are vacated as they aren't not good for more to terrible, become prisons, are conquered, or destroyed. Food for saner thoughts lol.
Exactly. You can see above, where the water cuts down and underneath the rock in between the "pillars." Exactly where it was probably a ledge that continued.
Absolutely remarkable video and commentary. You are a cut above the average and I applaud your ingenuity and fearlessness at attempting those ledges. My fear of heights was tensing every muscle in my body. Having lived in Albuquerque and taken many hikes, I've never seen anything like what you have presented. Thank you! Brilliant!
Your such a peacful man. Thank you for your content. Its relaxing to listen to your voice ❤please remember to carry your beacon when you drop your pack incase something happens out there.
It would be terrible if you got injured without it.
I love free climbing- you've got some big balls mate. Please be careful bro.
Your respect and honour of these old sites is a testament to your love of what you do. Keep up the great work champion.
Thank you for sharing such a cool experience, for leaving no trace, leaving artifacts where you found them aaaand most of all, for making the decision to turn back when the path became unsafe! There are so many uneducated/unskilled people out there that would’ve just gone for it without thinking.
Your theory of how they got up and down is spot on.. ropes and logs! Scaffolding if you will!? that spot is insane, brother!
Ailens 😂😂😂
Yep. Just because implements, rope, ladders, scaffolding isn't there now, doesn't mean they never were.
Would make sense they used wooden poles to make bridges to cross the gaps. They might have even built them into the structures to make them more stable.
Yes, they had ladders all over the place. Big herkin ladders & hauled everything up on the ladders. Yep, that's how they did it. Plus more 🌞🪜 🪜
But with scaffolding in place, the security is gone. Also I don't see how anyone could survive here for more than a week or so.
I love that you are so mindful and respectful to the places you Journey quite a risk taker may the great spirit always be with you
Andrew safety first! I hope you carry a first aid kit, a personnel locator beacon, GPS phone satellite, etc. Be safe during your adventures, please! Thanks for sharing.
No kidding! Scary what he was doing all alone.
You forgot GUN
Yeah, when that rocked moved just a bit at 9:39 my heart skipped. Keep thinking of that line "It's a long way down to the bottom of the warp core." The lens must really distort the reality because it looks super narrow and one slip of those shoes on soft dusted rock... ack. Andrew should get a buddy for these adventures.
It seems like water would have been involved. That whole ledge is a shoreline i think, and by the looks...it was a shoreline for a long time. They didn't climb up there. They floated. Just a thought.
The light is beautiful. Scary climbing. I am very grateful that you take me where I can’t go myself. Love from the north of England x
Thank you so much for this incredible video! From a young age I was absolutely entranced by cliff dwellings. I've been to a few sites to see them since, but they remain a big fascination for me. Thank you for hiking up to see them.
Hey -love your tenacity yet wisdom of not taking the ledge
We could all see you weren't ready to end or stop scrambling & adventuring
Love ❤❤❤it TY
Thank you! For letting us in on that adventure. It was exciting!
that first wall was beautifully made and surprisingly smoot on it's face... they took great care in making it...
Brothers channel is blowing up quick! Good for you 👍🤠
Definitely deserves it.
@@webwillie1yes he does!
100k plus, pretty wild! Thanks to people like you!
I want to join you on every adventure, but man I want to see these with my own eyes, and go into much deeper detail of the entire site. Please continue to do what you do, and don't stop telling us to respect the land and put things back the way we found. Every episode is someone's first time, we must continue to teach so we can all learn!😊
Some of us need to be continually reminded too.
DUDE. Absolutely the right call. Even going out that far was really pushing it.
Consider a rope and a few cams. Maybe a brain bucket. You could have climbed that crack up to the higher one no problem and safer. Nothing better than those lovely vertical cracks.
Seems like you are out alone. . I am no safety Sally, but hope you have some gear in that bag to manage some trauma, an impromptu overnight, weather etc.
I salute you for what you are doing. Totally amazing area and so few people have gotten up to those. The drone is a real game changer. Allowing you to really scout a areas and target you time better.
This was my thought too. Those cracks look pretty cherry for climbing. I'm guessing some physically fit person living there a few hundred years ago wouldn't have had much trouble, even without sophisticated gear. Wooden pegs would go a long way to making it easier if you were carrying stones or supplies, and can be pulled out afterwards for security.
@@sicksock435446 One of the defenses would have to have been the limited knowledge of some solid free climbing skills.
If you were trying to follow the natives you would swear they climbed vertical walls like spirits!
It had to have been a way of life to be able to jam up a crack without missing a beat. Just like walking. And we are talking generations of free solo climbers. Who knows what you could find in those "less" accessable areas. Sure makes me want to visit that area again and pole around a bit.
Bro! This is the very definition of "Intrepid", in fact I looked the word up and, lo and behold, your face was there! In the Oxford English Dictionary no less!
14:39 - AND of course you have the added difficulty of holding your 3-D camera stick in one of the two hands you should be using to climb with.
Hello Desert Drifter
I just love your posts.
Some thirty years ago the British Factory Inspectorate did a survey and found that on British construction sites:
Any falls up to twenty feet were approximately fifty percent fatal.
Any fall over twenty feet were nearly always fatal.
Please be careful climbing those cliffs, Mike
Boy, your research really pays off! These structures you found are really amazing. What it took for those of the past to build these are very impressive.
Structures like this and like the ancient pyramids (which only the tip is coming out of the 'ground') were no problem. Everything on this earth is small scale stuff, maintained by giants. Once we get to the other planets and so-called asteroids and moons people will go into shock over what was hidden from us. It is all in the novels from before 1940.
@@togowack Novels are different from documentaries.just saying
I missed every single FACT gathered from this hiker's "research" in this video. Probably because the only actual fact in this entire video, was that someone built a place three people could sit behind stacked rocks on a ledge. A space with zero resources or space for anything other than a couple people to hunker down and hide, as if abushing large game . Which was a practice of those cultures all the way up to the elimination of the buffalo. But hunting was not even considered by this guy. He created out of his own fantasy a culture, from a resting/hiding spot, hilarious. .. lol.
@@UseByDate-Expired The definition of 'research' refers to the fact that he found the site. Not his opinion of what it may be used for
@@bclark5955yes for those who are asleep keep believing what they tell you on TV they used the novels to tell us what was really going on out there.
It’s really mind boggling on how they built this probably over 800 years ago it’s really amazing thanks for sharing your adventures I wish I were there also. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Incredible! Don't risk too much for a few ancient ruins! It's great to be out there alone and do things like this, but life is too precious to risk.
You are so brave and thank you for sharing all of it! Just be safe and trust your instincts always!
Best ever! You keep topping yourself. Hat's off to you, you demonstrate incredible courage.
the rubble at the bottom could indicate that there was a layer of the side that has crumpled off where there might have been steps carved in or people would also use ropes and buckets for hauling stuff and people up.
The path has definitely deteriorated. Not “significant rock fall” as he described like the whole side of that gap falling off.. but significant enough to make the pass near impossible now.
There’s enough rubble at the bottom that matches the color rock up above to indicate the path has broken off.
Are these rocks usually this smooth? Anytime I see people living higher up it’s usually either due to predators or water level. Maybe there use to be a river or something below.
@@KaxxonxboxSandstone weathers easily so it does tend to be pretty smooth unless there is a stream which is highly effective at cutting through it. Pretty sure most of the large floods of that area happened at the latest something like 11,000 years ago when the ice age started ending. The floods that resulted when ice dams broke (such as the Missoula floods) were responsible for a good amount of the landscape of Western North America. Hard to say when this ruin was inhabited without more info though.
AZ native here and have hiking/rock climbing experience also… plenty on sandstone. I like how you addressed the erosion but you don’t address the clear indicator of erosion from the black streak that leads down to that section you couldn’t pass.. which is water staining. Also, the younger darker rock stained from the water erosion is exposed on the rock by where you were tapping. Yes there might not have been a large sheered off section but imo, it was water erosion that wore off that section enough to cause major damage. Btw, I love your videos and enjoy watching them, in no way am I knocking your opinion because this is just mine. Keep it up!
In other locations expert level climb routes, proof someone was climbing that route, have been found which modern experts can climb. So the tribe experts climbed up and ropes were lowered as needed. But scouts and single warriors probably just climbed down and back up later so not to bother with the amount of rope require.
Brother you have the best channel for adventure covering the ancients that lived before us i absolutely love what you do! You are a great presenter sharing what you see and touch! Thanks for your abilities as most of us learn through your eyes and hands GOD BLESS
Thanks for the support David
❤ how you respect the ancient land thanks for sharing i get up in the cold north of uk just rows of terraced houses . A beautiful place.
I live right outside of New Orleans. There is very little scenery here and nothing like the desert. No mountains, not even a hill. We have Lake Pontchartrain and a couple of nice parks. I love watching your videos. You are a natural. Thank you for sharing your adventures.
I live in Metairie. There really is nothing here. We drove to Arizona and Nevada for a family vacation in summer of 1997 and the scenery was amazing as was the lack of humidity. It was a whole other world and did not feel as hot as back home with the awful humidity we live in here. After moving out and living on my own (still in Metairie) I don't go anywhere and I watch others explore through youtube every evening after work. I am content with that but I'll never forget that vacation out west driving from here to Arizona/Nevada and my sinuses clearing up and being in the higher altitude and how amazing it felt and the breath taking sights my teenage eyes got to see. I don't think we visited Utah but that would be my first choice if I ever took the time to travel.
@@Vile-Flesh I’m in Slidell but work in New Orleans. When I was younger and had more time on my hands, I would drive to North Carolina and Tennessee to escape the heat. Just drive up into the mountains where it is cooler. Not sure what I was thinking driving alone to Tennessee but I guess I have a little bit of an adventurer in me. I crave scenery. Cheers to you!
@@Vile-Fleshyou should definitely come to Utah! We have some incredible National Parks.
Spear holes. Rock faces change and sections fall down over time. There may have been a solid complete trail at one time.
Could have been super easy originally. If the ancient people watched the video, they might say, "Man! This guy is doing some dangerous climbing!"
Came to say spear holes.
Yeah whole sections have fallen down just like the 2nd wall had fractures ect
Yeah he even said it. "Its was like hollow sand stone to keep going ". Thoes ruins are way older than we think..
These are melted cities. When are people going to wake up to the fake history we were taught. Great treasure is to be found beneath,in terms of ancient patents technology and storehouses of scarce material.
I'm so glad you didn't chance it! I first thought that the rock face had fallen off but, like you said there was no huge boulders lying below. Climbing up there is a feat in itself, carrying rocks up to build the walls is something else! Another great video. Thanks for taking me along! lol
I'm so happy you didn't go any further that was bonkers, the landscape is marvellous thank you
Thank you, thank you for sharing your explorations, this one was great. I would have been tongue tied, and at a lose of words. Keep it rolling.