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Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on May 10, 2013, 07:05 PM:
Alright, last time I tried to post pictures I couldn't get it to work. So let me try just one and see how it goes before I start posting a bunch.
Testing, testing, test, test...
- DAA
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on May 10, 2013, 07:09 PM:
Okay, that worked.
So, here is a bunch of pictures from a backpacking trip I took two weeks ago. Has nothing to do with predator hunting, but I know Leonard likes this kind of stuff and I'm sure he's not the only one who will like to see some of this.
Not sure if there is a limit to pics per post? I got a million just from this last trip, will break them up into six or seven a post and post about twenty altogether.
Here goes...
- DAA
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on May 10, 2013, 07:20 PM:
More...
Something about this pictograph I just liked. Looks like a man falling on his head - pushed off the cliff it was painted on maybe? Notice how his eyes are just vertical slits painted in red and the red lines running across his body.
A lot going on in this panel. The white stick figure right behind me, pregnant maybe? Person inside of a person? The two big red figures, one has a penis, the other is wearing an elaborate necklace and a skirt. See all the red handprints too? Very cool panel.
Hiked over 45 miles in 3.5 days on this trip and water was scarce. Had travelled 14 miles without seeing any when I found this pot hole. That water hit the spot!
I might add that the water from that pot hole was some of the cleanest, best looking/smelling water I found on the whole trip. Some of what we had to drink was pretty scummy!
Here I am after drinking my fill from the pot hole, just taking it easy in the shade waiting for the heat of the afternoon to pass...
And I know somebody is going to ask... Those are dust gaiters, keeps the hitch hikers and dirt out of my socks when hiking this desert country in short pants. They look funny, but for helping to keep my feet happy on a long haul through the desert they are well worth using.
- DAA
[ May 10, 2013, 07:23 PM: Message edited by: DAA ]
Posted by CrossJ (Member # 884) on May 10, 2013, 07:22 PM:
I always like your pics Dave! Anymore?
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on May 10, 2013, 07:30 PM:
Heck yes I got more...
Kind of hard to see, but there is a tiny handprint in the mud/mortar to the left of mine. A small child helping with the construction 800 years ago left it there. Pretty neat...
My buddy Jared at one of our camps along the way.
I handed my camera to Jared to take this one of me checking out some awesome ruins out on a ledge. He's not as comfortable as I am with skinny high places. It really doesn't look too bad in the picture, but one wrong step here and you're dead...
- DAA
[ May 10, 2013, 07:40 PM: Message edited by: DAA ]
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on May 10, 2013, 07:34 PM:
Last batch...
This is what I found when I went around the corner after that picture of me out on the ledge. Jared didn't get to see any of this...
See that little eyebrow of a chunk of rock in the bright sun spot looking back along the ledge in the pic below? That's where I had to walk to get to where I took this pic. Sketchy enough to even make me think twice before I stepped around that corner!
That's all. Hope you enjoy!
- DAA
[ May 10, 2013, 07:42 PM: Message edited by: DAA ]
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on May 10, 2013, 07:46 PM:
Okay, I lied, actually have just a few more I want to add...
Self portrait...
Okay, that's really all of 'em this time!
- DAA
Posted by Lonny (Member # 19) on May 10, 2013, 08:21 PM:
Absolutely fantastic pictures Dave. All so clear and sharp!
The people who carved a living out of this country before us is interesting as hell to me.
I'm amazed at how pristine everything looks. From your pics it doesn't appear to be defaced or had numerous parts packed off over the years.
Thanks for sharing the adventure!
Posted by Kokopelli (Member # 633) on May 10, 2013, 09:38 PM:
Awesome!!!!!!
Thanx!!!!
Posted by TOM64 (Member # 561) on May 10, 2013, 11:36 PM:
Great pics of an awesome place but you gotta be crazy to walk out on those ledges.
Posted by 4949shooter (Member # 3530) on May 11, 2013, 03:59 AM:
Last pic in the second to last batch of pics.....it looks like a ladder going down to the "basement."
Posted by DiYi (Member # 3785) on May 11, 2013, 05:12 AM:
Stunning.Thanks.
Posted by Eddie (Member # 4324) on May 11, 2013, 05:25 AM:
A lot of it looks like they just left a few years ago not 800 years, the people that build up that high were some hard working son-of-a-guns!!! Got to give it to them they were survivers. Does anyone no what they were so afraid of to build up that high? I always wonder who push them up there.
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on May 11, 2013, 05:36 AM:
Afraid of each other, is my thinking.
They were in larger pueblos on the mesa tops for a thousand years. It was only in the last hundred or so years of the civilization that they moved to the cliffs. Even though the mesa top period lasted much longer and there were far more sites built, there is almost nothing visible left on the surface of the mesa tops. It's only in the alcoves of the cliff dwellings where a piece of mud can not see a drop of rain in 800 years that the stuff has remained so well preserved. Lots of evidence of extreme violence in the archaeology. Cannibalism, even.
I think the region suffered a prolonged, profound drought and they started to suffer an acute lack of resources. So they had to get defensive in their habits.
Didn't last all that long. They just up and walked away, apparently in mass, about 750-800 years ago. With only what they could carry. When white men first found these sites, it was truly like the inhabitants had just stepped away for a moment - all the household goods still in place etc.
The Navajo and Ute that eventually took over the area considered, still do for that matter, messing around places of the dead like that to be very bad ju-ju, so they left it all alone.
Every once in a great while I still stumble across a site that has seen very few visitors in the last many hundred years.
- DAA
Posted by JeremyKS (Member # 736) on May 11, 2013, 06:09 AM:
Thats awesome stuff. How far did you walk in to get to it?
Posted by Eddie (Member # 4324) on May 11, 2013, 06:13 AM:
Thanks for sharing DAA I have always like going to old places and seeing what people have done in the past. You live in a great place to have so much to see.
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on May 11, 2013, 07:11 AM:
Jeremy, on this trip, hiked 45+ miles in 3 1/2 days. We left a mountain bike (and a cooler full of beer) near where we planned to end up. When we came out of the canyons on the fourth day, my buddy Jared rode the bike for 3 hours to go get the vehicle, I sat in the shade and drank the beer while I waited ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
.
Jared is a devout Mormon, doesn't touch the stuff .
- DAA
Posted by TRnCO (Member # 690) on May 11, 2013, 07:53 AM:
very interesting for sure. Thanks for sharin' your adventure Dave.
Seeing corn cobs and seeing the environment they lived in tells of wetter conditions at one time, or they traveled a long ways to get the corn.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on May 11, 2013, 08:16 AM:
Damn, I am so jealous!
Dave, those photographs are professional quality. You said exactly what I was thinking, that it looks like they left the site yesterday.
By the way, I have done a little reading myself, and one theory is that they totally ran out of firewood, considering the drought conditions. I've hunted that general area and the winters are damned cold.
In any case, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for sharing your adventure! Awesome.
Good hunting. El Bee
edit: PS there are a couple beers that I decline to drink, both Mexican. Especially Tecate in a can. Then, Corona in a clear bottle. The best Mexican beer is Pacifico followed by Dos Equis.
edit: that's ^ a Tim type comment and completely inappropriate considering the high quality photos and what I know for a fact of Dave's excellent taste, he's an interesting guy, for sure.
[ May 11, 2013, 08:26 AM: Message edited by: Leonard ]
Posted by knockemdown (Member # 3588) on May 11, 2013, 08:29 AM:
Dave, you have a way of personalizing your adventures in your posts and it really comes through in your photography!
Thanks man...for allowing us all to enjoy them!
Posted by Frank (Member # 6) on May 11, 2013, 09:01 AM:
Appreciate to pics.
I've always been fascinated by the Anazasi story, like the continuing mystery of why they left this place.
Here's alink to more info on these people's history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anasazi
Posted by Lone Howl (Member # 29) on May 11, 2013, 09:11 AM:
"they started to suffer an acute lack of resources. So they had to get defensive in their habits"
Sort of like us under the dipshits in charge nowdays.
Dave, another set of spectacular photos! I especially like the (what I percieve as) a face, in the first photo, awsome the way you shot it. The little handprint is especially cool.
Hey could you talk a little about what backpack, sleeping pad and tent you are using there?
Thanks,
Mark
[ May 11, 2013, 09:17 AM: Message edited by: Lone Howl ]
Posted by JD (Member # 768) on May 11, 2013, 09:21 AM:
Very cool Dave, as always!!! I missed my spring trip out there this year, it was gonna be less jeep trails and more hiking this time....damn!!!! Now I regret missing it even more!
Awesome pics but we all know you have many more.... come on now, lets see em.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on May 11, 2013, 09:26 AM:
I know he smokes decent cigars, I have bummed a few.
Yeah, Dave. Give us the inside stuff. I'm wondering if you sally'ed forth, unarmed? Also, did you have to get a permit and sign in and were you shadowed, at all? Freeze dried stuff, I suppose? Give us a little about the logistics in case we might want to try something similar.
Good hunting. El Bee
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on May 11, 2013, 09:50 AM:
Noooo sweat on the beer thing Leonard. I'm not much of a beer drinker. Go months at a time in the winter without touching one. I do like a cold watery Mexican beer when it's hot though.
Mark, my pack for a trip like this is a ULA Circuit. Weighs 39 oz. all in. Can't fit a ton of gear in it, but, that's kinda the point. For me, it's good for a load up to about 25 pounds. Much more than that, and I'm more comfortable adding another couple pounds worth of pack and use an Osprey Aether 70 for heavy hauling.
Sleeping pad for all my backpacking trips is a Exped Synmat UL7, weighs 16 oz. all in with stuff sack and repair kit. Very comfy air mattress for only 16 oz. On a trip to a place where most everything has a spine or a thorn, I carry a really light piece of foam, that weighs another 2.5 oz., that I put underneath the air mattress for no other reason than to hopefully help keep it from getting a puncture. The light foam makes a nice butt pad on rest breaks too, and worse come to worse, would be better than sleeping on just a popped air mattress if that does happen and I can't repair it. I don't bother with the extra foam in the mountains though.
I only have one sleeping bag for backpacking, it's a Feathered Friends Swift, rated for 20*, weighs just under 32 oz. in a very light stuff sack. Packs down to about the size of a football. It's too warm for trips like this. Next piece of gear I buy will be a less warm - and lighter weight sleeping bag. Something rated at 30* and weighing no more than 24 oz. or less.
My new solo tent, this was my first trip with it, is a Six Moon Designs Skyscape Trekker. I liked it just fine and see it being my every trip solo tent for some time to come. It is designed to be used with trekking poles for support, does not come with its own poles. I mostly prefer not to use trekking poles though and especially don't like them in canyon country. So I added a pair of dedicated carbon fiber Easton poles to it. All in, with stakes including two extras, poles, all guy lines and stuff sack it weighs 31 oz. When my Son is with me, I carry a two man Big Agnes Copper Spur UL2 that weighs 55 oz.
For cooking I carry a JetBoil Sol Ti, a titanium mug and a titanium spoon. All of it, along with a 100 gram fuel canister, comes in at 19 oz.
The starting weight of my pack for this trip, including 11 pounds of food, water, whiskey and cigars was 27.5 pounds.
- DAA
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on May 11, 2013, 09:58 AM:
Oh, another piece of gear worth mentioning - the camera!
I don't carry my "big" DSLR on a backpack. All of the above was taken with my little point and shoot pocket camera. A Canon S100. About the size of a deck of cards and weighs about 7 oz.
For comparison...
One of my friends I go with a lot, is a REAL photographer. Really knows his stuff, has really high end equipment, makes incredible pictures. On a trip like this, he carries about $8K and 12 pounds worth of camera equipment.
My buddy Jared that went with me on this one, carried about six pounds worth of camera himself. I really like taking pictures, but not to THAT level!
- DAA
Posted by Lone Howl (Member # 29) on May 11, 2013, 11:55 AM:
Awsome! Thanks for the details..I was particularly intersted in the sleep pad..Ive heard good things about the Exped UL.
Good stuff Dave, thanks for sharing your adventures with us : )
Mark
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on May 11, 2013, 01:14 PM:
Leonard, just saw your questions about permits etc.
I never carry a gun backpacking. Just don't ever see enough people while I'm out there that I feel any need to burden myself with the weight of one.
This particular area on this trip, Grand Gulch, is a "primitive area" administered by the BLM and they DO very much regulate and limit access. They say that they have a limit on how many people they will even let into the whole huge area at any one time. I've tried, and never been able to get anything like a solid number on just how many people that might be though. And the supervisor types I've questioned directly, have said things that lead me to believe they just make it up as they go along to suit their own agenda.
There are all kinds of regulations, too. No fires. No pets. Carry out all trash - seems obvious enough until they hammer you with the fact that "trash" includes used toilet paper...
Getting a permit for a multi day trip like this one can be difficult. I tried to do the same trip last year but wasn't able to get a permit - no explanation other than "no openings". I reserved the permit for the trip this year three months in advance.
Then they make you pick up your permit in person, at the ranger station, during their bankers hours of operation, of course...
When you go to pick up the permit, they make you watch a 20 minute propaganda film before they issue it.
Etc., etc., etc...
On the plus side, in all my extensive wanderings of the area, I have NEVER seen a ranger anywhere but the parking areas. And, once you do jump through all the bullshit and get your permit and start hiking, you rarely see anyone, even during the times when the most people tend to visit.
All this just for Grand Gulch though, mind you. Most of the places I go most of the time, it's just plain old public land that you can come and go as you please.
And, as far as that goes, while I wouldn't try to sneak in a backpacking trip without going through all the bullshit, I've just hiked in there for the day lots of times without bothering to get a permit.
- DAA
Posted by DanS (Member # 316) on May 11, 2013, 02:40 PM:
Those are really cool pics Dave. God knows sometime I seriously debate packing my trash, selling the rest, and moving out west. But My investment in occupation is here.
However I surely enjoy seeing the world even if through someone else's eyes "so to speak". Please keep the pic's coming. There was a guy called Yehti I think on the "Gods" board that was from the UK I think. He took many pics from abroad, and they fascinated me too.
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