The Chimneys

Here's our target: Those standing formations on the near horizon on the right. (On the far horizon is the Mesa de Anguila, with Santa Elena canyon on the far left.) This is actually just before we reach the trailhead, as the view is better at this point. The camera is zoomed in to actual size to show just how far away it is.


I'd seen this strange object approaching me that seemed to get larger and smaller and I couldn't figure out what it was. Finally, this lady hove into view carrying a golf umbrella to shield her from the clouds, so apparently she had been moving it around and the light and dark panels gave the impression of the size diffrential. In all fairness, she was probably sensitive to UV radiation, as she also had her face wrapped -- or she could just be one of those weird desert rats that run around out here.


While stopping to shoot a purple-tinged cactus, I came across this curious thing all wrapped up and suspended between the palms. I studied it for quite sometime, but couldn't come up with any ideas. Cocoon? Meat sack? Alien from another planet? I dunno. The odd thing is, I found another one on down the trail. Huh.


After taking photos of the previous purple-tinged cactus, I came across this almost electric version of it. Some of these guys are really brilliant. And, no, this isn't a regular cactus that has somehow changed color, it's a completely separate species . . . example . . . version . . . Whatever the case, they're everywhere.


Okay, back on the trail. We're almost there, or so it would appear. Distances are funny things out here; you can't trust them. I think at this point we're still about a mile away. It seemed like it took forever to get this close.


"Who Lives Here?" I remember a book by that name and wondered the very same thing when I came across this hole. I put my hand down there to give it some scale, then later thought, "Wouldn't that have been funny if some irritated critter had taken umbrage to my invasion of their personal space and jumped out and bit me?" Ha ha. Yeah, funny!


And we are there. In the previous shots of this area, you saw this tower and a string of other formations, but as it turned out, this is the only one with any rock art on it that I could see. Upon further inspection, I found a dwelling on the opposite side of the tower, as well as one on a rock just downhill from it.


And here we are. These are what are called petroglyphs (rock carving), as opposed to pictographs (rock painting). The Red Buffalo I wrote about in my last blog was a pictograph, and a very fine example of one, too. These -- or this -- seems to me to be just random tracings, except for the medicine wheel on the far right. I can't really make sense out of any of the rest of it. There is one area, though . . .


What struck me about this area was the two circles at the bottom and the apparant bulge of the image just above them. Could this be a depiction of a stagecoach? The fact that all the "images" area all strung together makes it a bit difficult to make anything out, especially to someone so ill-versed in such things. (Me) I'll ask around.


Okay, here we have evidence of the ignorant White Man in action. No self-respecting Native American would have ever performed such a sacrilege as to shoot anybody's Medicine Wheel image, even another tribe's. As I roamed around the area, I came across yet more evidence of the rancher's existence -- barbed wire -- so it just fits, I'm afraid. It does look like a perfect target, I'll hand you that, but what a shame. From the size of the holes, I'd have to say it was a lever-action Winchester, typical for the time.

Well, that'll just about wrap this entry up, as this has gotten quite long enough. Don't worry -- there'll be a Yahoo Photo album with these images and much more coming soon to a computer near you, so stay tuned. Adios for now.