Here a pile....there a pile..... everywhere a....

Ok, whats with all the piles?? What piles? All those piles of rocks all over Baja. Now I remember way back in the 70s seeing some piles of rocks in very obscure places but not like this.
Is there some common tread for these tiny to car sized conical piles.
What is the signifigance, if any? In the past year I have seen these oddities all over the BOC area and other off the beaten track places.
They usuall hang out in small groups, sort of like Chantrele mushrooms here in the NW. They are usually in the company of the same composition although I have seen piled Lava rocks hanging out near piled cobbles.


Could they be landmarks? Graves? Art? Caches? Messages from aliens? Given the severe heat and location of some of these sporadically placed monuments. One must wonder what the hell inspired someone to gather up rocks and pile them up out in the middle of nowhere.


My favorite one is near Catavina. It must be 300-400 ft high.


oops, wrong pic, but there is a pile there, actually there were maybe twenty up there.

[Edited on 3-15-2005 by Sharksbaja]

the first time my son saw that pile, he was amazed when i asked him how in the hell they put those last few rocks on the top of the pile, he said, in utmost seriousness, "duh, with a big crane when they made the road!"

good to know the boy has a vivid imagination

Spanish archives...

have revealed that the ancients in what is now Baja California told of a strange creature they called a 'Rocas-stackonus'.

This creature roamed Baja stacking rocks in piles whenever it stubbed it's bare toe on an errant protruding pebble or boulder. It had a bad temper and would stack other surrounding rocks upon the offending rock to make sure it was isolated from farther harm!

It is believed this creature arrived on a raft from Easter Island, with plans to carve more rock monoliths. However, it's chipping tools were lost at sea, and the creature instead took up painting figures on canyon walls using crushed plants for paint.

The many rock piles were just a distraction as the 'Rocas-Stackonus' moved about the pennisula....

You are full of caca, Mexray

The Truth (trust me):
These rocks are stacked over Newbies visiting Baja for the first time by the dreaded Chupacabra Rocas.

Stay away, Newbies, there is nothing there any sane person would be interested in anyway. Leave it to experts - do not try this at home.

I believe...

Neal has been stacking too many rocks in his britches...to the extent he now has several piles...

Bajalera...I think Ive read that the scientific name for the jumping Cholla is: 'ChollaStickus'. It's only been seen in the wild, as the scientific collecting teams, over the years, had placed samples in between catalog pages - and can't get them apart back home in the lab!

'ChollaStickus' has been know to survive hundreds of miles attached to various species of livestock in Baja. I'm told that a few scientists have been successful in removing a small portion of the 'skin' with the 'ChollaStickus' attached for later examination, and have thus created a new sub-species, known as 'ChollaStickus-Rawhideus'...

Be careful when approaching 'ChollaStickus' in the wilds of Baja. I'm told it's been known to 'strike' a distance of over 5-times it's length!...

Some rock piles are more artistic than others...