Fatboy
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Walter Henderson's Rock Pile a hunting blind?
In November and December I went looking for the rock pile again. While I did not find it, I did come across several signs of people far off the beaten
path.
I found some pottery shards and metal cans far from any roads or trails. Then there was also a couple of old rusty cans on a pass in a small wash
leading into Arroyo Grande, again in an area with no signs of roads or trails for miles.
Then there was what looked like some camp circles on a bluff about a mile south of Arroyo Grande, again with no roads or trails in sight. There was
two cleared areas about 10 feet across where all the rocks had been removed and it was in any covered in medium size rocks.
There was two of these circles and they were about 4 feet away from one another.
Now based on a couple other trips in the area where I have come across other signs of people it made me wonder, why was there so many signs in such a
large and rather desolate area?
Of course cattle could be one reason, but I saw little sign of cattle, but saw several signs of Horses, Mountain Sheep and other animals.
Two things then occurred that made me think of a hunting blind as a possibility.
One was that I came across what seems to be a hunting blind on the base of the hill with the rock walls that Erle Stanley Gardner wrote about down
near Las Animas.
The second things was while reading about arrowheads one of the sources the writer listed was a article about hunting sheep around Arroyo Grande in
the 1920's.
Doing some quick research lead to several references of hunting sheep in that area in the 1920's and earlier.
So back to square one, until somebody finds it, we just will not know.
Rancho Arroyo Grande
Pottery Shards
  
Water in Arroyo grande
Deer shed found in a small wash on the hike back from Arroyo Grande
[Edited on 2-16-2018 by Fatboy]
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woody with a view
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Nice rack!
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Fatboy
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THANKS!
But not really 
I rarely find sheds but in 2017 I came across 5 elk sheds and 6 deer sheds. Prior to this I have probably only found 3 or 4 sheds in the last 40
years.
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mtgoat666
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Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy  | There was two cleared areas about 10 feet across where all the rocks had been removed and it was in any covered in medium size rocks.
There was two of these circles and they were about 4 feet away from one another.
Now based on a couple other trips in the area where I have come across other signs of people it made me wonder, why was there so many signs in such a
large and rather desolate area?
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cleared circles are pretty common in the desert.
if you find water in the desert, you will find signs of habitation. people have been living here for thousands of years, leaving their trash since
dawn of time.
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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msteve1014
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| Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy |
THANKS!
But not really
I rarely find sheds but in 2017 I came across 5 elk sheds and 6 deer sheds. Prior to this I have probably only found 3 or 4 sheds in the last 40
years. |
you need to look at places called " buckhorn flats" on the topo maps.
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Fatboy
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| Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666 | | Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy | There was two cleared areas about 10 feet across where all the rocks had been removed and it was in any covered in medium size rocks.
There was two of these circles and they were about 4 feet away from one another.
Now based on a couple other trips in the area where I have come across other signs of people it made me wonder, why was there so many signs in such a
large and rather desolate area?
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cleared circles are pretty common in the desert.
if you find water in the desert, you will find signs of habitation. people have been living here for thousands of years, leaving their trash since
dawn of time. |
Guess we would have to agree on the definitions of your words.
As to "...pretty common..." I would say no.
I hiked almost 50 miles in that area and these are the only circles I came across and they were not near any water but high up on a bluff or mesa.
If there was all these signs of habitation and all this "...trash left since the dawn of time..." then it seems we would know more of our prehistory.
But of course you just like to be who you are.
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mtgoat666
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| Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy | | Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666 | | Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy | There was two cleared areas about 10 feet across where all the rocks had been removed and it was in any covered in medium size rocks.
There was two of these circles and they were about 4 feet away from one another.
Now based on a couple other trips in the area where I have come across other signs of people it made me wonder, why was there so many signs in such a
large and rather desolate area?
|
cleared circles are pretty common in the desert.
if you find water in the desert, you will find signs of habitation. people have been living here for thousands of years, leaving their trash since
dawn of time. |
Guess we would have to agree on the definitions of your words.
As to "...pretty common..." I would say no.
I hiked almost 50 miles in that area and these are the only circles I came across and they were not near any water but high up on a bluff or mesa.
If there was all these signs of habitation and all this "...trash left since the dawn of time..." then it seems we would know more of our prehistory.
But of course you just like to be who you are. |
I have seen cleared circles quite a few places in BC, from san Felipe down to BOLA. If you go up the road to Anza Borrego, there are many, seem to be
very common in Anza, imperial valley, Mohave, etc. The cleared circles are usually on hills, not in valleys. Reading the literature, I hear they are
all over the SW.
Re trash,... I find pottery (and less frequently arrowheads or stone working debris) on just about every desert hike. Indians have lived all over
baja for thousands of years, seems to explain to me why it is so common to find pottery. Most of the really interesting Indian artifacts were looted
long ago, so what you find now is usually pottery bits and pieces.
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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David K
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Sleeping circles are pretty common... and often up, on mesas, not by water. The pottery may have been for water at there camps? They knew animals come
to the water to drink and that is how the Indians got dinner! You don't sleep in your grocery store, do you?
Baja Angel at one of the sleeping circles at the Mystery Walls near Bahia Las Animas (see the bay in the background)...
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Fatboy
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| Quote: Originally posted by msteve1014 | | Quote: Originally posted by Fatboy |
THANKS!
But not really
I rarely find sheds but in 2017 I came across 5 elk sheds and 6 deer sheds. Prior to this I have probably only found 3 or 4 sheds in the last 40
years. |
you need to look at places called " buckhorn flats" on the topo maps.
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Funny I never thought of that, so simple and I even use that trick when looking for places to pn for gold up here in N. California
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Fatboy
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| Quote: Originally posted by David K | Sleeping circles are pretty common... and often up, on mesas, not by water. The pottery may have been for water at there camps? They knew animals come
to the water to drink and that is how the Indians got dinner! You don't sleep in your grocery store, do you?
Baja Angel at one of the sleeping circles at the Mystery Walls near Bahia Las Animas (see the bay in the background)...
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Again, pretty common? Would disagree, since they are fairly permanent, if they were so common you would find them on almost any hike in the desert and
that just does not happen.
Are they out there, are there a fair amount of them? Yes, but not common.
Show me pictures of all these common ones in Baja.
While there are thousands and thousands of documented prehistoric sites in the SW it is in an area of 500,000 square miles and only a small portion of
those sites have circles.
Also, the pottery and circles were in two different locations and neither had any close source of water that I am aware of.
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msteve1014
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some of those areas are thick with sheds. I have found more than a few pairs close to each other over the years.
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wilderone
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Where did you begin into Arroyo Grande? How far to the stream and green wooded area in the photo? Following a trail?
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Barry A.
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Some really remarkable "sleeping circles" on the southeast coast of BOLA, as well as all over Anza-Borrego State Park, etc.. I have seen dozens of
them over the many years. The ones I have seen are all strategically located with expansive views, presumably to see game and/or potential
enemies?!?!?! It's all very much fun to find them, and the associated shards, but we never collected any shards so that the fun will continue of
finding and just seeing all this neat stuff in place where it was deposited.
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David K
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| Quote: Originally posted by wilderone | | Where did you begin into Arroyo Grande? How far to the stream and green wooded area in the photo? Following a trail? |
Because of the reported chained gate near the ranch in the upper end of Arroyo Grande, the only way in is from the road west of La Ventana and just
follow the canyon on past where we have been looking for Melchior Diaz' grave (Walter Henderson's rock pile)...
Wet area is about where Arroyo Grande (on this map) reached the scale bar:
In the winter, water will be flowing out to the desert. We drove in some water on our last trip up there (My 2017 TRIP #1) in late December 2016.
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