RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 06/30/2009

[Old Dog]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 05/19/2009

Sorry to interupt,

Just had to show you what I saw in this one...

 

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[desertmoons]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 05/19/2009

You certainly are not interrupting Thom You are most welcome at anytime. Wow... you have good eye. I was thinking this might be a special trai.l It leads past the eagle and I've not gone to the end of it. You've given me more to look for. I would never have seen that...

I am tending to think it is a snail in the other pic.

Well what could it mean...

1. water the way the snail head is aligned
2. Slow trail ahead. Go slow..treacherous.
3. Go slow, get off horses or mules..as you will need to lead them ahead. (there is short steep area you would need to lead horses)
4. Slow trail off to the right, this is the fast trail.
5. Some common phrase or saying in Colonial Spanish times might give this a completely different meaning.
6. Something bibical
"Let them be like a snail (or slug) which melts away as it goes, like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun. "

On other words..take this trail to be hidden...or....mmm...perhaps what is carried will "melt" away into various nooks and crannies...as one travels the trail. Or...yes..you feel like you are melting in the hot New Mexico sun if you continue on

 

[desertmoons]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 05/19/2009

Welll..we just arrived at the eagle. The exam has not begun yet to see if it is a hoyo or not

 

[desertmoons]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 05/19/2009

Well......
Guess I should have not been surprised at the trail. Came across a picture from 8 months ago... from a different angle.

Looks like those monuments line up in a nice curve..along a trail.





Strange how you don't see things till later. Walked by this view quite a few times and it never stood out. I think i was focused too much on the eagle formation and just missed it.





A little closer..well looks like it could be a skull, an elephant and what i call the bishop, all in a row. The bishop is what i call a face with a piece of pie shaped hat. It just seems ecclesiastical to me. But... at this range they could be a lot of things. Closer exam from different angles needed to see what they are suppose to represent.

There is a little squat thing that looks like a little rock snow man up front. I think i saw another one of those over on Thom's thread..nestled between a couple of boulders. But I know pictures can be deceiving so it all needs a closer look.





As i will post later...I lost the trail. But perhaps now i can refind it using these markers..

 

[desertmoons]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 05/19/2009

Spent some time examining the eagle structure but the pull of that trail kept nagging at me the whole time.

The eagle seemed to say.. "look through me" like a hoyo but at any angle it did not work out. I did not see anything remarkable about it exept some possible carvings. Llack of knowledge on my part I am sure.



I did take a look at it.




As I walked around it, kept glancing up the trail. That is the third trail marker that I called the bishop earlier on. Looks like it has a beak now.





Okay..I am convinced it was stacked on purpose.



Up the trail I go. The bishop looks a lot different now. Perhaps a bird beak, perhaps a turtle beak. Maybe that is a scepter on the left side of the formation. That notch on the rock to the right I will save for another day. One trail at a time.




Hike on further.....
Ah....look at this.



I wonder what everyone is looking at. I think the trail should go straight ahead..not to the right. Hmmm..
Maybe they are looking at the heart..or maybe they are looking farther up the slope.



more

 

[desertmoons]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 05/19/2009

Took a closer look at the heart... I would have never seen it if not for Thom's comment earlier. Now am keeping my eye out for them . That is..if it is a heart. Nice little bird at the bottom of it.


Well..the trail must go straight not curve. Just had that in mind. Walk a little further....


Mmmm...okay..okay...I get the message. Will look upslope the way the possible man is pointing.
Looks like a pile of rocks to me.



This looked like a pile of rocks to me too at the time. After seeing the picture...I've changed my mind,





But the trail must go straight on...I keep thinking. Perhaps I knew if i turned right I would be in Spanish marker wonderland and get hopelessly confused. I'd wandered that slope before. My mind..just was set against it. Probably not a good mindset to have when tracking trails. And something to watch out for,/

So I ignore this too..and keep going straight.


Right about now..I get the feeling i am off the particular trail. Not sure why..things just feel different. I come upon this..but I somehow "know" it is not the same trail. Been wrong many time before though. Yes this is a trail,...but probably not the same one. Should have made a right back there.




The frog was cute.



The trail curved around a bit and more....stuff.






Well this is where the trail ends. A fork in the trail... and done for the day.

 

[goldguru]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 06/04/2009

not just a pile of rocks

 

[Springfield]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 06/04/2009

logic would say that ...the reason she posts so many is that she is following a trail

Seems to me she is creating one.

 

[desertmoons]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 06/04/2009

Hey goldguru....

I see what you mean but I discounted that heart and that pile mainly because that pile is not the norm for area markers.

Also the heart does not have any sort of cleft in in that i can see....so i did not consider it a heart. Could be wrong though.

Yes this area used over hundreds of years by various groups as Thom so rightly surmised. It is riddled with trails for various purposes.

Documentation will not be forthcoming here. Not my purpose to detail out any research I've done.


As I said in the very beginning of this thread...no ego here. I will post my explorations and how my thinking has changed as i try to figure it all out.

Perhaps it will be educational..or perhaps it will be good for a chuckle. I do know I have appreciated so much the pictures others have posted...and how could I do other than post my own even though I am no expert at all.
It might be helpful or at least entertaining to some one else.


Springfield..,I think it was you who said carvings is where it is at. Well I will not be posting carvings here of a significant nature unless through ignorance.

The trails are marked by markers you do not see at random in non-trail areas.

DM

 

[Springfield]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 06/04/2009

... Documentation will not be forthcoming here. Not my purpose to detail out any research I've done. ...

Springfield..,I think it was you who said carvings is where it is at. Well I will not be posting carvings here of a significant nature unless through ignorance. The trails are marked by markers you do not see at random in non-trail areas.

DM

Well ... okaaay. Wear sturdy footwear, take plenty of water, watch where you put your hands and enjoy the great southwest landscape. This will be your lasting treasure.

 

[truckinbutch]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 06/04/2009

Gal , pay no attention to the naysayers . Thom and I agree that you have a grand area and such a fine eye for the land .
We love your photos .
Please don't give up enough for a sniper to run in and hijack all the work you have been doing .
Jim

 

[Old Dog]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 06/04/2009

Kim,
Your eye has once again picked out the trail.
You are seeing the subtle markers on either side as you go.
I am enjoying your adventure very much.
I am grateful to you for sharing

thanks
Thom

 

[desertmoons]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 06/04/2009

Hey Thanks Thom.

I missed that face....


Hope to get up there this. week and follow those elephants.
A pair of them i think - reminds me of the pair at the other site.

Its clear someone has been poking around before..but the trails are worth while in themselves.

 

[Old Dog]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 06/04/2009

They sure teach you about signs.
And there is no better teacher than boots on the ground.

Enjoy,
Thom

 

[desertmoons]

how a good woman is led astray

Yay! Finally get back out. I will follow that eagle trail today.

Got an early start..walk straight ahead ... ignoring things that look tempting.

pic1


And this.

pic2



Feet slow down as this approaches. The woman hesitates, looks toward the eagle trailhead direction then back at this. Does the same a second and a third time.

Then leaning slightly on hiking pole, just studies it for a few minutes. Foot slowly takes a step in a different direction. Then the other foot. And there ya go...temptation has won again. She has gone astray.

pic3


Just one quick detour.....

Looks very interesting indeed! . Another hand to add to my collection this time a shadow one.. Taking pictures at the right time would help but ..hard to get out here at that time. Spent 30 minutes checking out the surroundings. Got the impression things have been disturbed in a deep way.

pic4


Checked the sun and head toward the eagle trailhead again, this time on a slightly different path. But no matter it is in the right direction and i did not stray...too much. Vowing to keep on the right path I forge ahead.

This stood out. Looks like a pack animal sign. Think i saw one over on Thom's thread. And in back of it perhaps a calf with ears layed back with interesting carved "eye" that likely has double meaning. Maybe a snake.

pic5



Slink by this averting my eyes. Congratulate myself on my fortitude.

pic6

 

[desertmoons]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 06/04/2009

I start seeing white rock..
Different from the usual, heavier concentration of quartz i suppose.

pic7



I pass by interesting things but do not stop. You can see the difference in the rock colors here.

pic8


Note the color difference and squareness.

pic9


To me this is another sign that the Hunters have been here before. Must resist the temptation to turn it over.

pic10



Making good time toward the trailhead. Come around curve...and..... I am bemused. She won't stray from the straight and narrow path so temptation with a big T is plunked down right in the path.

pic11



Pic may not show it..but that formation is a lot lighter than usual. The path leads to or through it.. The face is different from the usual but it does remind me of a picture Rangler posted.

A few things catch my eye. Actually almost every single rock does. My first thought was these were dumped here for erosion control or something like that. Then ... maybe this stone was used for carvings or sculptures and this was a place to carve them. But darn it....just look at them!


pic12


Marked

pic13



I decide to just document and reserve any decision for the future. The stone type is not seen around this area, except in a narrow stringer emerging from the ground , a mile or so away. As I write this I wonder NOW if there was not an outcropping or perhaps it was quarried in the area and the excavation now covered.


Not a problem...probably not native..so different from the usual. Must be modern and just coincidence. I will snap pics as i pass by on the way to the trailhead.


Walk into the pile and see something to my left. Also notice a crust seems to have grown on some of the rocks. And there is something in the background.

pic14

 

[desertmoons]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 06/04/2009

Walk into the pile and see something to my left. Normal rocks in a circle. Could have been a little campsite or horse corral or something more interesting to some.

The trailhead is forgotten.. Would you blame a gal for that?

pic15



First time i have noticed a repeating sign like this. Well they may not be the same signs but from this angle looks like the same sort of x's with a little angled line on bottom left.

marked


pic16




pic17



pic18



pic 19




pic 20




pic 21




pic 22

 

[desertmoons]

Re: RattleSnake Hill - speculation welcome, new pics 06/04/2009

Spent a lot of time documenting..then take a last look back as I head up the trail.

pic23



Regretfully decided the white rocks must be modern, the campsite older and meaningful. Quit letting your imagination go wild i think and push all the white rock unusual shapes to the side. It keeps nagging though.

As i look back i almost stumble over something. Another white natural rock formation. Its amazing the work mother nature does. 4 inches wide.

pic24



pic25


pic26


pic27



I take a couple of steps really..no more than 3 or 4 feet... and whoops, mother nature at it again. This
one an inch or so wide and also goes all the way through. Just a few feet from the other one.
Document it, gps it.

pic28



After such a display of nature's virtuosity I simple had to return to the campsite and ponder the wonders. I never did get to the eagle trail head.

Well that's the story of how a good woman was led astray.

 

[stevesno]

Wow...What a day you had. When I sign on I always look to see if you have posted in this thread...Thanks for taking us with you....The storyline and pictures were GREAT!......Keep-em coming...Steve

 

[cw0909]

desertmoons great pics
im prob wrong, as i have no experience or knowledge
other than what ive read on this forum
in the first pic from here/ Topic #102 Posted May 19, 2009
i made what i thought looked like a heart, as a negative, and put it in pic
and i have a Q about the square rock your snail is setting on, does everyone
think that is a natural formation, ive never seen a square rock, like that
in just piles of rock, like where it is at