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Things That Go Bump in the Night
It had been a long day of driving. We made it through Las Vegas without incident - we hate urban centers - but now the day was waning and we wanted to be settled into a campsite before dark. I had the intersection marked on our Gaia mapping program and asked the Lady to watch for it. It was a relief to pull onto dirt with daylight to spare. The intersection was marked on our mapping program because this spot was on “the list.” After several turns, we made it to the end of the road, found a spot, stacked rock to drive up on to level the truck, and set up camp.
We took a relaxing walk to orient ourselves and then enjoyed a simple dinner as darkness descended upon us.
We were camped near the mouth of Keyhole Canyon.
Three vehicles were parked at the end of the road. With no sign of camps set up, we figured they were still in the canyon, would return to their vehicles, and soon leave. As I’ve mentioned many times in these stories, we enjoy walking in the night without artificial light. We move quietly and allow our night vision to develop. If there’s other people about (not often with our preferred remote dispersed sites), it’s rare they ever know we are out walking. And, we are very careful not to surprise or startle. This is not our intent and we realize most people are not comfortable with dark and night as we are.
As we walked in the dark, a bright light appeared in Keyhole Canyon. Shadows played across the canyon walls in pantomime. There were voices. It’s at times like this people’s imaginations can go wild. Who were they? What were they up to? Kids partying? A satanic ritual of some sort? Or worse yet, trumppanzees, magaholics, and christian nationalists sacrificing a liberal?
It’s our nature to stay calm as we did. We remained quiet and observed. The light went out. Several small lights now swept the canyon walls - headlamps that were moving down and out of the canyon. They exited in single file through the slot, seven of them. Doors opened and shut as they reached their vehicles. One vehicle started and moved down the road in our direction. We stepped further into the shadows and were not seen as they passed. A second vehicle’s engine started. The headlights came on and the small SUV moved forward. The headlights suddenly dropped. A loud crunching bang echoed across the canyon.
“That’s not good,” we said in unison.
Doors opened. People climbed out. Voices, but no swearing. They were calm. A very good sign.
“What do you think they did?” the Lady asked.
“I believe they drove right off a cut bank and into the wash. Sounded like the front end slammed into gravel.”
“Will they be able to get it out?”
“Don’t know that unless we go up and look,” I answered and added, “We are happy to help but let’s wait and see if they can get it out on their own. They may be very experienced or this could be a really good learning lesson for them. We’ll help if they ask. Let’s go back to the truck and sit out and watch the stars. Maybe you’ll see a shooter!”
The Lady loves to see “shooters” - her name for shooting stars, meteorites.
The SUV drove out about an hour later. The third vehicle followed. They had freed the vehicle without needing extra help. We’d look at the evidence left behind in the morning. We were now, delightfully, all alone up here.
Coffee was ready early the next morning; exploring Keyhole Canyon would make an excellent morning coffee walk. Large boulders near the canyon’s mouth were adorned with petroglyphs.
We entered the narrow slot opening and looked back.
Petroglyphs lined the canyon walls on both sides.
It is only a short way up canyon to the high water sculpted pour over. Water was flowing, a special treat to see.
We also found the “Shaman’s Workshop,” I believe some call it. A boulder with cupules and a bedrock mortar was beside a huge boulder.
Under the boulder was a shelter. Inside was a large work station covered with cupules.
The sloping face of the boulder held pictographs that the Lady illuminated with her headlamp and photographed with her phone. DStretch helped bring out the details.
We found that the SUV the night before had driven off a cut bank and planted the nose of the vehicle in the wash below. A lot of digging and rock stacking to build a ramp and they managed to extricate the SUV. We also believe it was a group of rock climbers bouldering in the canyon with a bright light. Climbers moving up rock explains the eerie shadows and new chalk on handholds confirm it.
We continued our drive south and into Arizona. With our interest in the old Air Mail Routes and beacons, we stopped at the Quartzsite Rock Alignment.
Many believe that this large “QUARTZSITE” visible from the sky above was associated with military aviation training during World War Two. This is older and dates from the early 1900’s when this was an airmail route.
An arrow pointing north.
I was disappointed later that I did not pull out my handheld compass to check two things. Does this arrow point to magnetic north or true north? Magnetic declination changes over time and the land underneath us moves. How far off is it from current alignments? Why didn’t I think of it at the time instead of waking up with the thought in the middle of the night, many miles away?
Our next stop was the Bouse Fisherman intaglio.
The intaglio was created by clearing the ground. It’s small and faded but is still evident. Someone, at a later time, placed white rocks in the spear point.
We had one more night out in the wild before we joined with cousins in the Tucson area for Thanksgiving. We returned to a favorite campsite just inside Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.
We took in the dazzling light show at sunset.
The area, only a day or two before, had been hit with heavy rain. The next morning the ground was dark and wet with moisture and moist haze hung just above the ground. This was amazing to see in this arid place.
And the response by the plants seemed almost instantaneous. The occotillo appeared to be growing new green leaves right before our eyes.
Our morning coffee walk was up Kofa Queen Canyon.
We stopped on the drive out - heading for Thanksgiving - as the vibrant plant life overwhelmed us.
The Teddy Bear Cholla always looks so dang cuddly.
Our adventure continues. Please click here for - Part Two.
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