Those of you following this thread, I made it back down to Ollie's yesterday,[Sat., Mar. 16] and as I hoped he took me and a friend Pam to the spot where the stone was found. He was able to show me exactly how it was positioned. so if need be I can take compass readings to aid in the hunt. We sat down there and rested as we waited for Pam to catch up. The mountain it was on didn't look that steep or that tall from his yard, but my legs were feeling the burn as we climbed further and further up that mountain. Then when we were just short of the summit he stopped and pointed down at a small out cropping of schist and said "right here is where I found it." I breathed a sigh of relief and pulled off my backpack, grabbed 3 bottles of water out and we rested. The view was fantastic. Weavers Needle was visible over the top of one ridge, and Miners Needle was in full view. "Ollie" had his binoculars and we took turns glassing the area passing the glasses back and forth."Look at this" and point out some interesting feature of the landscape passing the lenses. Some of that terrain looked so rough, the only way to describe it would be"badlands". A mountain goat would have difficulty navigating that country.
That went on for a while and I decided to take a look around at the minerals in the area and gather some specimens. The rocks ranged from schist to limestone, and showed some degree of mineralization. After I had collected a hefty packs worth of rock, I suggested a different route down off the mountain that would pass by some rock outcroppings on the ridge which joined the other side of the peak we were on. Ollie said that would be alright with him and so we started the hike down off the mountain. The descent was much easier going and Pam was able to use her camera to take some pictures of the beautiful flowers and gnarly deadwood scattered about. Ollie talked about the huge Desert Mule deer he had hunted in the area and I made it my mission to observe every outcropping and collect specimens. I would guess that by the time we were near the bottom my pack weighed a good 60-70 lbs. We stopped at a spot near the bottom to rest a minute and Ollie pointed out a palo verde growing out of a schist outcropping on the opposite side of the small canyon.He said there was an Indian ruin there,and some broken pottery sherds. I wanted to check it out and see if i could find an arrowhead to add to my collection. Pam was not up for anymore hiking so we decided to split up. Ollie would take Pam back to the ranch while I would go up to the ruin, look around and then take a trail that would put me back on the one we had used to go up the mountain. We split up and I didn't get very far before I realized how heavy my pack had gotten. Thankfully, it was just a short climb to the ruin. I didn't find any arrowheads but, being the rockhound that I am, I added more weight to my already overloaded pack. At least the trail wasn't bad as it lead me down a cut made by a crew installing the power transmission towers. When I was almost to the point where the trail would join the original trail we had taken, and at the base of the mountain Ollie had found the stone with carvings on it, I noticed a Saguaro cactus that had the main trunk cut off in a perfect slanted cut. The slanted surface faced up towards the area where we had been where Ollie found the stone. I might of just dismissed it as being the work of nature, but, not twenty feet from it stood another Saguaro with the same slanted cut facing the exact same direction. At that moment I knew, my reasoning had been confirmed, the stone is a marker put there by someone a long time ago. The slanted cut surfaces were no longer reachable by anything but an extension ladder [25 ft in the air] . I looked at the mountain as I stood between those two Saguaros and tried to match the angle at which they were cut. I was looking right at the spot Ollie had said he found the stone. There was not a single white stone visible on that hillside. It would have stood out like a sore thumb.
I made the rest of the hike back to the ranch returning on the same trail we had left on. He was there kicking back with his boots and hat off in the comfort of the billiards room. He asked if I had found any arrowheads. I told him that I didn't find anything but broken pottery at the ruin. Then I told him about finding the Saguaros and I think I saw a look of surprise, like a light had blinked on up in his head and he smiled and nodded. He had seen them before but never realized the connection between them and his stone. Some other friends of his had showed up and as it was getting late in the day I told him that I needed to start heading back home. He was offering dinner but I thankfully declined and told him I would return when I could get a chance to, and when I had figured out the next move to make. Thats when he offered to let me take the stone back with me so I could get a chance to look at it closer. I was some what taken by surprise by the offer because compared to some of his friends that he has known for years I am still a newbie. I was honored by the offer and declined until he explained that he trusted me, everyone he had asked that knew me had given him good reports as to my character, and not only that, he knows where I live. We both laughed, and then I accepted the offer.
He had someone help me get the heavy stone into the trunk of the car and with a few good-bys and hugs I pulled out onto the dirt road that lead back to the highway home. All in all, it was a great trip. Alb
