Superstition Mountain Markers

[Springfield]

This is my house,

No one will ever know where I have been unless they were with me. I leave it all as I have found it, markers, signs, symbols and the secrets. I GPS the places I have never been. Most of the time I know exactly where I am. I have walked, rode and 4X4ed all over these deserts. Raised in Newhall/Saugus area of Southern California found my first Spanish canon when I was 14 years old. I have been all over Vasquez rocks looking for treasure. Traveled the Mojave, Kern County, Death Valley, I could write another book.
My wife never liked one of my habits; I marked my yard at night... I love to mark where I have been just like a wolf. If you have a very keen sense of smell you may have gotten a wiff of my essence. I have had to kick all of the critters out from their homes to nestle under the creosote bushes to find protection from the sun while I slept. Do not mess up my house! I live here.

Ellie Baba

What if you decided to bury a bunch of gold coins way back in the hills and needed a permanent marker, or maybe a few or several in order that some family member could retrieve the stash after you've taken the dirt nap? GPS waypoints don't count because of their potential transitory nature. Your piss spots would be long gone too. Rock cairn? Tree blaze? Deformed cactus?

 

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[assistanttoauthors]

We often set out with a planned route on a hike but wander off in different directions - unknown to the folks back home. Anyone hiking in remote terrain should consider carrying a communication device. Your cell phone may not allow a voice communication in the mountain shadows, but text messages are often possible. A ham radio is a very good choice - the license to operate one is easy to get. There are also various GPS-enabled monitoring devices available - check your hiking gear suppliers.

I have one thing to say to all of you as someone who has been rescued before, take a topo map use your GPS to find out where you are and then chart your progress. I have relied on others to read the GPS and I have almost lost my life 2 different times. Take a camelbak and pills to treat water. You cannot carry enough water. I walked 14 miles, 25 miles and recently 29 miles because someone cleaned their GPS and took me on a very steep climb. Also do not take the Lost Dutchman Trail from the Peralta trailhead marker and the Dutchman 104 at the end near the needle between Palomino and Black Top Mesa. I did a lot of bushwhacking and I am on my way to the hospital to have the cactus taken out right now. There is a Lost Dutchman Gold Mine, and it will be revieled soon. There are seven other Peralta mines, do not lose heart. The white man has eyes but cannot see, except for me.

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

"The white man has eyes but cannot see, except for me."

ok, i'll play this silly game.

GPS is the bane of urban dwellers.http://www.gps.gov/support/user/mapfix/
if you can not find your way back...don't go.
I got "lost " in those mountains, every afternoon for years...always found my way back...deathly afraid to have had anyone come "find"me...how embarrassing.
and now, with the damn city up against the mountain...light blinding one miles into the maze....
really...only your white eyes can see?

what color is the sun on your planet?

 

[cactusjumper]

"The white man has eyes but cannot see, except for me."

ok, i'll play this silly game.

GPS is the bane of urban dwellers.GPS.gov: How to Fix Map Errors on Navigation Devices
if you can not find your way back...don't go.
I got "lost " in those mountains, every afternoon for years...always found my way back...deathly afraid to have had anyone come "find"me...how embarrassing.
and now, with the damn city up against the mountain...light blinding one miles into the maze....
really...only your white eyes can see?

what color is the sun on your planet?

Don,

I always took a GPS, once they became available, into any back country adventure. I seldom needed it, but there were time when it sure came in handy. Seeing the terrain that you would run into when going into a new path can save you a lot of cliff climbing. Coming back to camp after dark, from a new direction is one such place where a GPS is valuable.

In the Superstitions, it's a must have tool.

Just one man's opinion.

Take care,

Joe

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

well...I guess one needs to afford the tool prior to using it...

an how'd I know you'd be the one to disagree with me?

just have to ask this one...when I was a boy scout...we had camped up by cave creek...to do astronomy studies...
an one of the guys just HAD to jump over a cholla...
we{ several of the other scouts} told him not to...alas, children being what they are...
I was accused of being rather cold blooded when after the specular failure...all I did in the way of first aid was to toss him my comb...

would that event have led to your online name joe?

 

[cactusjumper]

well...I guess one needs to afford the tool prior to using it...

an how'd I know you'd be the one to disagree with me?

Don,

Price is not part of the equation when considering the usefulness of a tool. Price only becomes a consideration when you can't afford the tool.

A GPS is an important part of SAR equipment. When doing a search in my truck or ATV I would always carry a laptop with a map program and GPS hooked into it. Huge time saver which could mean life or death to folks lost in the desert. Once you learn how to use it, it becomes very valuable.

I don't disagree so much as just wanting to present the "Pro" side. Nothing takes the place of experience and hard won knowledge of the terrain.

Take care,

Joe

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

I know how useful they are joe...just being contrary today...sorry...

{ I can not afford a decent model of GPS...great tool for mapping historical/pre historical site...
next would be a drone with all the capabilities for snooping on the same sites.
ground imaging, UV, side scan..ect...

guess that is what the university is for...buying tools.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Hola Joe & my missing steak: Just the cheapest, lightest, with a stong case GPS with no fancy directions on how to go to the nearest Kentucky fired chicken is best. Until you know how to navigate in the Supers, especially in the deeper canyons, Keep it simple.

Use loose fitting, floppy clothing, they are much more efficent in utilizing your extremely valuable sweat to cool off, avoid tight clothing like I avoid physical labor, this includes belts.

Look at the old timer's pictures, they weren't backwards with their suspenders and floppy shirt tails.

But as Cactus, and others, have said, read your topos and understand them as well as memorizing them 'before' setting out into the supers, might even take you 15 minutes to do so, but beats the heck out of a day of frantically clambering around tying to see where you are.

I, and my partner, once had to hike for 3 days with #60 packs with no water, so believe me, I know what it feels like. Spare yourself the experience with proper training on how to avoid it in the first place.

Don't ever count on finding water where it has been reported to be, so make your plans with an alternative if necessary..


Final thought , always leave a little for the mass of wriggly, crawly lil creatures that you will find in any water hole. Take just what you need, and don't mess up the rest.

My partner is in this picture which needs no clarification.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[Springfield]

For years (decades), all I took with me was a topo map and a compass. Still do, but now I also carry a GPS, a ham radio and my phone. Why not make life easier?

 

[Ellie Baba]

What if you decided to bury a bunch of gold coins way back in the hills and needed a permanent marker, or maybe a few or several in order that some family member could retrieve the stash after you've taken the dirt nap? GPS waypoints don't count because of their potential transitory nature. Your piss spots would be long gone too. Rock cairn? Tree blaze? Deformed cactus?

Springfield,

I just realized that this post was here; My son Travis knows exactly where the crescent moon Sara Monument is located. A few of my friends and associates know where it is located. By the way, the Stone Maps had given me instructions/directions on how to locate it. Once you know where it is you will never forget where to find it.

The crescent moon is made up of three different geomorphic structures. Like a picture puzzle it must be put together and that will only happen twice a year. The crescent is shaped just like a "C", it's backwards and it's black, not white. The upper end point of the crescent was placed on a mountain range about a mile behind the other two sections of the crescent. Of course the upper end point is very large because of the distance between it and the other two sections and this keeps the crescent to scale and it looks very awesome, just like someone had drawn a perfect crescent moon.

Once the sun is located in the proper position in the sky the lower section and the middle section will be ready to connect. You now will have to drive east or west depending on which side of the crescent you are approaching until the lower section and the middle section fit perfectly together. At first I didn't realize that there was a third upper point. I found out about the point a year or so later by looking at a bunch of newer pictures that I had taken.

We now discovered that we would have to walk north and move a little further towards the east to perfectly line up the three sections of the crescent. We always take GPS readings on all areas of interest. I came up with an idea and started walking away from the center of alignment by first heading to the east, then west, then north and south. If you moved more than 20 feet in any of these directions the crescent would start distorting itself. The proper alignment of the crescent actually produced its own type of GPS point! You know what we thought? Yes, we grabbed the equipment and searched the area for whatever. We decided that it must be a primary point centered on a viewing corridor as there is some other information we had yet to see and learn.

I would bury my gold right on that spot nine feet down, but above that I would bury an empty steel vault 3 feet above. The gold would be placed in a wooden box wrapped in heavy duty plastic and I would put a number of large rocks above it. I have also learned this trick from them.

So there you have it. This scenario works for them so why not me. Unless I take someone to see the crescent moon no one will ever find it. Plus, they would have to know that it consists of three (3) sections. My son Travis knows and he does not need a map.

Later,

Ellie B

 

[Ellie Baba]

Springfield,

I am glad you asked me that question. You made me switch on a light when I started to describe to you the crescent moon process. Why is the crescent presented backwards? Because I am located on the wrong damn side!



Time to do some calculations...

Will let you know what I find. By the way this photograph is only about 92% in phase. Another few weeks (or so) and it will look perfect.

Ellie B

 

[Springfield]

Springfield,

I am glad you asked me that question. You made me switch on a light when I started to describe to you the crescent moon process. Why is the crescent presented backwards? Because I am located on the wrong damn side!

Time to do some calculations...

Will let you know what I find. By the way this photograph is only about 92% in phase. Another few weeks (or so) and it will look perfect.

Ellie B

First, in the original context of this thread's topic, my question in Post #21 had to do with 'normal folks', ie not people with exceptionally complex knowledge of topographical features such as you've described. Would it be OK to carve a proprietary symbol on a rock outcropping in the wilderness - associated with a map or other set of instructions - for personal reasons? I still say, "Yes." In the big picture, I suspect such a subtle mark leaves far less 'damage' to our pristine planet than hiking/horse trails, campfire rings, section corners, archy rebars and other 'acceptable' man-signs.

Now - your moon. I must say that's an impressive photo, as are some of the other 'saras' you've posted. I'm hoping your book will demonstrate not only their existence but also their relationship to each other and other things, including, I guess, those stone maps. I've personally seen evidence of 'layouts' of man-made signs in NM, KS and CA that are so extraordinarily complex and brilliantly engineered that it strains one's brain to think about them. Bottom line: these things are widespread, related to one another and clearly weren't done by a bunch of Mexican miners or padres in sandals.

Again, I'm looking forward to your book, not only for the evidence that you've found, but to address the more important question, IMHO: who were the people that did this, and why did they do it?

 

[Ellie Baba]

First, in the original context of this thread's topic, my question in Post #21 had to do with 'normal folks', ie not people with exceptionally complex knowledge of topographical features such as you've described. Would it be OK to carve a proprietary symbol on a rock outcropping in the wilderness - associated with a map or other set of instructions - for personal reasons? I still say, "Yes." In the big picture, I suspect such a subtle mark leaves far less 'damage' to our pristine planet than hiking/horse trails, campfire rings, section corners, archy rebars and other 'acceptable' man-signs. The people that created the Stone Maps were not normal folks but were exceptionally complex in who they assigned certain tasks who would not understand the knowledge imparted to them...like those who made the stone maps.

Now - your moon. I must say that's an impressive photo, as are some of the other 'saras' you've posted. I'm hoping your book will demonstrate not only their existence but also their relationship to each other and other things, including, I guess, those stone maps (the Sara like the Stone Maps are common to one another as they have both been carved/enhanced). I've personally seen evidence of 'layouts' of man-made signs in NM, KS and CA that are so extraordinarily complex and brilliantly engineered that it strains one's brain to think about them. Bottom line: these things are widespread, related to one another and clearly weren't done by a bunch of Mexican miners or padres in sandals (sorry, but a few of the Padres had a vast amount of "exceptionally complex knowledge").

Again, I'm looking forward to your book, not only for the evidence that you've found, but to address the more important question, IMHO: who were the people that did this, and why did they do it?

Springfield,

Professor White (White Jr, Raymond E (1964) Distinguished Professor; Professor, Astronomy; Astronomer, Steward Observatory; BS, 1955, PHD, 1967, University of Illinois) with the U of A in Tucson visited my site and brought along a number of PhD students to evaluate the anomalies found in the area. I had shared the infrared high altitude satellite images with him as we sat in the shade by the river. Many of the patterns depicted on the site had never before been deciphered as we had no idea what these patterns represented.

Dr. White explained that these patterns are commonly used to identify the constellations found in our night sky and they were all there but one; Orion! The reason we could not identify them earlier was due to the fact that they were placed in a very mountainous area and were all scrunched up as we were looking down at them from directly above. These constellations were meant to be viewed from two specific mountain peaks (each peak afforded a view of the chosen constellations on a particular compass heading). From each peak one could recognize each constellation as it was displayed in a typical recognizable format.

Professor White looked at his fellow students in dis-belief and then looked at me and said something I will never forget; You are in way over your head! Whoever did all of this work did it for a very important reason. There were a number of disciplined sciences used on this site and the work performed here was not accomplished overnight, in fact it may have taken years. You are going to need a lot of help. What reason could they have had? When was this work undertaken and WHO created this complex puzzle?

Talk about complex? These Stone Maps are the definition of complex. Maybe now some of you may be able to understand what we have been dealing with. None the less you have been given a little preview of what is inside my book.

More later,

Ellie Baba

 

[Springfield]

Hey, Ellie - looks like the kabbalah boys running wild in the hills.

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

mr baba...are you in Arizona?

 

[Ellie Baba]

mr baba...are you in Arizona?

Hi Don, Secretcanyon,

Yes, I live in Laveen, AZ. I lived in Apache Junction for many years before moving here. I had to move to this side of the city (Phoenix) to avoid the major traffic jams that I would encounter on my way to work in Buckeye and the Woolsey Peak area. This state is my home.

Later,

Ellie B

 

[pippinwhitepaws]

thanks...

yea...the valley of the sun has turned into east LA...

my mom was editor of the apache junction newpaper back when they used rocks and pictographs...


library is closing early...gotta go.

 

[Ellie Baba]

Hey, Ellie - looks like the kabbalah boys running wild in the hills.

View attachment 792622

Springfield,

You could have used a little Visine...I can take a hint. Good job, you are learning.

Take care,

Ellie B

 

[sgtfda]

EB I'm impressed!

 

[Ellie Baba]

EB I'm impressed!

Hello sgtfda,

I wanted to thank you for the comment. I would have posted with you earlier, but I had to think long and hard about Somehiker's situation. Most people will laugh and tell me that I do not know what I am talking about. I will be the first to admit that I will learn something new each day of my life. I must however, put myself on the line to let someone know that they may be in grave danger, if they, for whatever reason have no idea of said danger. I for one do not want to see anyone's obituary in the paper because I failed to alert a friend or anyone else for that matter. Now that I have expressed my honest opinion we shall see how the others will react.

Have a great weekend,

Ellie Baba