ksanders
Moderator Emeritus
Imagine for a minute you are driving down a highway in Baja California and you see a sign.
What does it mean? Why is it there?
Thats what happened to us yesterday. We saw a sign and decided to see what was up the road. About a hundred meters into the journey we saw another sign telling us there were cave paintings 30 kilometers up this little dirt road.
Up the road we went... At about 8 KM the road stopped at a ranch. A man weathered from the sun came out of the barn and talked to us. His family has been living here for generations.
Yes there are cave paintings up in the mountains. We can go see them but we need him to show us the way. He warns it is many kilometers, and the road is very bad. We will need the four wheel drive. He opens a gate and we start off on a trail. You cannot call it a road, that would be incorrect. It is a trail for cattle, and servicing the ranch.
We continue for 26 more kilometers. Through ravines, up river beds, over huge rocks. We felt like we were on one of those jeep excursions you see videos of. Then we stop, and start hiking. 1.5 kilometers up the mountain.
And this is what we find. The oldest cave paintings in North America. Carbon dated to 7500 years old. The man told us that after the discovery by modern archeologists there was a lot of activity. Now he helps one or two archeologists up to the site on a average week.
I cannot believe we made it, and I am so happy to have had this wonderful adventure.
What does it mean? Why is it there?
Thats what happened to us yesterday. We saw a sign and decided to see what was up the road. About a hundred meters into the journey we saw another sign telling us there were cave paintings 30 kilometers up this little dirt road.
Up the road we went... At about 8 KM the road stopped at a ranch. A man weathered from the sun came out of the barn and talked to us. His family has been living here for generations.
Yes there are cave paintings up in the mountains. We can go see them but we need him to show us the way. He warns it is many kilometers, and the road is very bad. We will need the four wheel drive. He opens a gate and we start off on a trail. You cannot call it a road, that would be incorrect. It is a trail for cattle, and servicing the ranch.
We continue for 26 more kilometers. Through ravines, up river beds, over huge rocks. We felt like we were on one of those jeep excursions you see videos of. Then we stop, and start hiking. 1.5 kilometers up the mountain.
And this is what we find. The oldest cave paintings in North America. Carbon dated to 7500 years old. The man told us that after the discovery by modern archeologists there was a lot of activity. Now he helps one or two archeologists up to the site on a average week.
I cannot believe we made it, and I am so happy to have had this wonderful adventure.
