Home sickness is setting in for some of the weary band of travelers.  Today the convoy of two RV's pulled into the State Park at Escalante, Utah.  Yesterday was the last day at Kodachrome State Park. Kadizzle's has hiked so much his heel is causing pain. Sisters Patty and Melissa headed back to civilization. The plan is to work our way north on the west side of the Rockies home.

Rescue Belt made on craft day.

Many years ago Kadizzle came up with the idea of making a belt from rope.  The belt could be unraveled and used in an emergency. Kadizzle floated the idea to many outdoor stores.  Many of the stores liked the idea, but Kadizzle never pursued it. 

First Attempt at rescue belt

Now a few different outfits are selling rescue bracelets with about twelve feet of paracord.  Yesterday Kadizzle decided for craft day to make a prototype rescue belt. The rope used for the belt has a breaking strength of 1300 lbs, and the idea is to get sixty feet of rope into the belt.  Since we do a lot of canyoneering, and sometimes dangerous hiking the belt may some day do the job.  Actually doubled you could have thirty feet of small diameter rope that might pull a truck or car out of the ditch.  The picture above shows the prototype that did not work out right. 

Kadizzlites waiting for Weather Break

The Kadizzilites are enjoying electricity in the Zion campground. The television, a rare luxury, is blaring CBS Sunday Morning. The laptops are clicking away. Soon The Commander will make an omelet. The poor college kids on spring break are getting soaked.

Hopefully by Thursday the weather will break and we will be headed to Kodachrome State park. Two sisters will join Kadizzle to explore some old areas we have visited before.

It is a real place, it is a spooky place, and no one cares what they do

Today for about the tenth time I drove through Colorado City. Colorado City is where the United States tolerates the strangest cult in our country. Remember Warren Jeffs? This is the guy who was forcing twelve year old Mormon girls to marry eighty year old men. Colorado City is a strange town full of polygamist where children are raped and oppressed every day. Will Mitt Romney clean up this mess?

The town looks like a place where someone deliberately built a slum. It is sad our country looks the other way while this cult abuses children. If you think putting Jebs in prison ended this nightmare drive through this town.

Cold Spring Ruin

Yesterday Kadizzle and company set off on an adventure to find the Cold Spring Indian Ruin. This was the most difficult site we ever encountered. The night before GPS routes and points were loaded, and maps were consulted.

After driving 20 miles on gravel roads we had a stroke of luck. The two elderly Elison's were on the road out for their morning walk. Mrs. Elison, who appeared to be in her late seventies had a genuine Colt Revolver Stuck in the back of her pants. Kadizzle warned Mr. Elison not to piss her off. He said that is why he had one also. Mr. Elison told us how to get to Cold Spring. His country directions were so confusing they did little good. The main thing he did was dissuade us from going to our original destination, Pueblo Canyon.

After driving for a few miles past Elison's ranch on the most treacherous road possible, narrow, and full of fallen rock pasted to the side of a mountain, we had to stop because of a deep place where the culvert has washed out.

After a two mile hike down the road we found the old uranium mine road that got us on the trail. Even with the GPS finding the trail to the site was hard. After we rounded one point we could see the doorway of the site about half way up the 7,000 ft mountain. Immediately we knew this was not going to be easy. About 1,800 feet from the site the trail turned into as steep a rock scramble as you could make. After the scramble there was a traverse across a rock ledge. A slip would result in death.

Finally we reached the little doorway that led into a cave. Three stories of rooms were in the cave. One room had a very unique feature, a balcony from a cliff face. The veiw from the site was commanding, and many people speculate it was a lookout site of some sort. There were absolutely no pot shards or corn cobs. The site had been picked very clean. To see more pictures and get more information look up Cold Spring Ruin on the web.

On the way back, Cissie got a head start. It turned out lucky for her she did. Ruth and Kadizzle went ahead of Rodger. Rodger dislodged about a 75lb boulder that rolled strait down at Ruth, then Kadizzle. The boulder narrowly missed Ruth and then flew about a foot in front of Kadizzle's belt. Not sure how far ahead The Commander was Kadizzle shouted to warn her. Luckily she was out of the way and the rock shot down into the canyon.

The entire area is full of sites and the scenery looks like something you would see in the Andes or Vietnam. Next year we plan to make the hike to Pueblo Canyon which has 75 rooms, and has very good reviews. The country North of Mesa in AZ is far more interesting than one would ever suspect. Our group has probably hiked well over 200 miles this year and have so many more places to check out. Ruth and Rodger have not seen the sites around Cottonwood so we may head up there today

Let no goog deed go unpunished

Yesterday as the wind came up Lord Kadizzle thought the absent neighbor's RV awning might be destroyed. In an effort to put it away and save it Kadizzle about cut the end of his finger off. A wind gust hit at the wrong time. After a six hour wait in the ER the finger was finally sewn back together with great pain. Now, the fingernail torture is real. Kadizzle told the doctor as he put the needed through the fingernail three times " Try getting some information out of me". The doctor said "Where is the gold". I assured him I would tell if I knew. The neighbor rewarded me with a glass of scotch today. An unhurt finger would be better.

Pot shards everywhere, of excellent quality.

As the intrepid group hiked high into the mountains near Four Peaks none of the amateur Indian site hunters was awake enough to notice the evidence. On the way up the mountain all of us passed by many pot shards right at our feet. The trail actually was on the edge of a major site, we were too dumb to notice. However, another 300 yards down the trail the path went right through the middle of a site. The site had an amazing number of large pot shards. We found a few black on white pieces that are always rare.

As we continued the hike Lord Kadizzle noticed a possible site off the trail about two tenths of a mile. On the way back The Commander made a foray to the area and found some the pot shard above. This tri color piece is very rare. The shard is probably the first polychrome one our group has ever found. In addition The Commander found a very large nice grinding stone.

While The Commander inspected her site Ruth, Rodger, and Kadizzle checked out the first site we had failed to notice. Circles of stone laddered their way up the hill in a fashion that formed a small conic pyramid structure. We have never seen anything like it. This site also was very littered with good large pot shards.

Why were these sites here? There was no nearby water, there was no place to garden, and no good explanation of why these sites were built. Possibly it was a ceremonial site, it may have been a half way rest area for moving goods back from the Four Peaks, or it may have been some sort of seasonal hunting site. The view was fantastic and that also may have played a role in it's location.

Ancient Flintsone Site Discovered.

The crew took off deep into the mountains North of Roosevelt Lake in Arizona. After hiking to nearly 7,500ft through light snow, and some mud we made it to the top. On the way up we say turkey tracks in the snow so large we thought perhaps there were dinosaurs on the loose. After we visited the fire tower we looked for a warm place to have lunch. This is when we came across what must have been a Flintstone site. Rocks were carefully arranged to form two or three nice lounge chairs with rock arm rest, and there was a nice coffee table made out of stone.