Tower and Big Feet 2

Bears Ears XX

2024-05-29

TOWERS:

We’re in Southeastern Utah. We have spent the morning climbing up a long ascent on the cliff side of Comb Ridge. We had been looking for an ancient tower in vain, but luck gave us some guidance from two strangers. We have just gotten our first glimpse of the structures in this remote canyon, as our story continues.

The beginning of the story can be found here:

Tower and Big Feet

There is a huge spillway above that makes a waterfall in wetter weather and behind the imagined waterfall is a tower built into the rock. This is the two story structure that we have been looking for.

Making our way closer, we see that there are significant petroglyphic expressions on the natural walls. These are a few:

Some were once indoor decorations in buildings whose unnatural walls have since fallen and decayed.

Still older markings are pictographic displays painted next to them.

I’m impressed to see wood and mud roofs that are still somewhat intact.

Vigas/beams still support them.

This was two stories and maybe something more.

Stone and functioning wood lentils are placed squarely, in a well-crafted appearance.

It is construction of smaller rocks, mostly.

People used what was available locally. Stone breaks down into pieces of different sizes in different places over time and the rubble around here is smaller.  It is also further away to carry back to a new rising wall.

As we wander around the ruins, the clothed couple keep generally to themselves in discussion. After their inspection of the prominent artifacts, they wave and leave satisfied, leaving us to independent exploration. As soon as they have faded out of view, I decide to release my sense of constraint and pull on Velcro to remove cotton.

I place it away from me, down the slope, by our abandoned daypack and walk away into the habitation.

It feels real good to walk away in nature’s overalls.

Wearing just light shoes and a hat is like taking a deep breath on a cool morning, when I feel the sensations of this wild place rush over me. No longer just an intellectual experience, but a sensual step into the past, I get a whole feel for the place. The temperature, the air currents, the texture of the place. The massive curved rock wall is now cool. I think to reach out to touch it. This is now more than just an object of my gaze, but I feel it. It is able to communicate more to me. I notice more, be it only small things like the fine layer of dust. Dust doesn’t wash away under the protection of this geological indentation. Every experience is more alive. Each piece cues my imagination, projecting me better into the reality known by these ancients who inhabited these canyons for millennia.

An archeological dig is roped off, so some officials are still planning to return for more excavation. It is just a shallow hole now, but it may reveal buried secrets. It may be a trash pile, or another room.

I begin to imagine life before. Looking inside the tower, the ceiling is black from soot/smoke.

The layers of natural rock inside were once shelves of display, or perhaps storage. I am reminded of documentaries that I have seen of the present day Tarahumara in Mexico, who live much as these people’s did. Now, protected by the crags of the Copper Canyon, the old ways have plastic vessels and tin mixed in with them.

There is a slope into the empty pool that collects water when it rains. The smooth indentation has been created by millennia of falling water from high above.

I ponder how idyllic this could be when the pool fills and a refreshing skinny-dip would be had. Did the natives use this as a swimming hole, too? It would have stored a great deal of rain for crops.

This is where we left our belongs. Wandering about, contemplating, feeling the naked sensations that the inhabitants may have had, we squat down on the smooth slope for a snack lunch of dried fruits and whole breads with chia, much like what may have occurred here.

While noticing the acoustics at this spot, we hear a shout from the couple from the other side of the canyon. They are letting us know that the path of the more common way back will be easy to find.

The return is marked by cairns.

It is perhaps as treacherous as the climb down on the route less traveled. Chips of rock and sand slip under our footings.

It is just a little longer to return this way.

To Be Continued, Very Soon….

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