I Found An Impossible Ancient Ruin While Flying My Drone

[Music] recently I was hiking in a remote Canyon of the American southwest I had been flying my drone getting Scenic shots of the area all of a sudden I spotted something I flew in closer I could tell quickly it was an ancient cliff dwelling then I realized there were two I was immediately confused there seem to be zero access points to these ancient [Music] structures but somehow people had gotten there even lived there in the past but how what I found was mindboggling hey everybody it's Andrew from Desert Drifter thanks for tuning in so we need to make some moves because the Shadows are starting to grow long and we got to go see what this thing is I've been out here most of the day and starting to think okay I should probably head back pretty soon and then saw these things it definitely looks pretty wild but I've also had a lot of instances whether it was looking at it from a drone or just my own eyes but from a distance you know looking at something and either thinking wow that looks really hard and then you get up close and you know it's really not or vice versa where sometimes you underestimate things and it turns out to be a lot harder so I don't know what this is going to turn out but we're going to find out I've got a contour around this band and get out into the sun again and it looks like they're kind of out on a corner of the canyon okay so I believe it was somewhere over on this Canyon wall just got to find a way through the brush [Music] here okay so here they are the sun is like right on them so it might be hard for you guys to make out but I'll get up closer gosh initial look is like what the heck so just to the left the plot thickens so look up in this shaded spot I just saw those I think we got enough time let's go look at them real quick bit of a conundrum with a time but I think if I hustle we can hit both spots so let's try it real quick okay so here's the approach to the little side ruin off of the main two so this little window is what caught my attention it's probably about 12 ft off the ground just a sheer face but it kind of continues over there so let's go see if there's a way up back there there's a little structure in the back here that's falling down but the main thing is just right up this little slab it's not bad at all so first thing that really sticks out to me are all these Port holes so quick count gives me one two three four I see 10 10 different port holes and they all seem like they're facing a different direction so that you can have like a overall commanding view of the field before you but it's just kind of like a rubble filed slope below you let me try to give you guys a quick rundown so right back here is where I came up just a little ledge the wall begins here but I would guess that at one point it carried on further and it's just fallen down and then once you get into the wall is where you start getting all the port holes wow that's actually really intriguing so this one faces right down the ledge that you have to walk up to get here it also looks out so that first little door of the Grainery was like it's like right here maybe 12 ft away from me and so you'd also be able to see any approach to that so you got the end of this wall and then there's another doorway here and this would eventually lead you into that second Grainery but this one's fully closed up there's no you know Port holes in there which makes me think that was just purely a a storage spot it's an intriguing spot for sure with um with all these like Port holes you know I've seen that a few different places here in the southwest um and sometimes people say like oh that must be like gun holes and stuff these ruins here I mean this thing's at least 800 years old um so it was long before Firearms ever came uh into the Americas so my guess for these is they're not like firing holes because you couldn't get a bow and arrow you know lined up and shot out of that I don't think I think it was more just to to spot it's definitely intriguing but I want to make sure we have plenty of time to check those others out wow they're up on top of that thing there's one and there's the other my first impression is what the heck but I also haven't gone over here yet so let's go look at that here's another angle we're definitely starting to lose daylight so I don't want to speculate too much I just want to see if it's possible gosh I don't know see if it's possible to get up there So Below the ruin I'm starting to see a number of just pieces of broken pottery old broken stone tools as well wow definitely a big piece concealed by The Sage Brush wow look at that design that's a big that's a much thicker chunk than most Pottery I've seen huh here's another big chunk next to it always leave this stuff where you find it so although I love looking for piece of pottery and stuff let's get to business okay I think the sun's going to give us one last Harrah so I'm going to drop the pack if you guys watch the channel normally you know how it goes um I think I'm just going to bring my little action camera so there's definitely access to this first ledge up here beyond that I don't [Music] [Music] know [Music] okay there's the [Music] ledge [Music] it's getting pretty thin take a look at that there's an old wall here I would imagine it was maybe to block block this or at least just make it harder make it narrower Force you out on the edge [Music] more have to crawl under this section here okay so like those Boulders you know I wouldn't want to put weight on them I don't know how I don't know how sturdy they are so this one that I'm on I'm hesitant to put too much weight on it but it makes it quite awkward I think I'm going to have to think I'm going to have to put a little weight anyways on it [Music] this is uh wow this is getting kind of nuts [Music] [Music] okay little wider here so there was definitely some old wall right here what it was for I don't [Music] know huh there's one of them what do we have up here so so I'm [Music] probably 40 plus feet off the ground at this point [Music] this is the Crux here you guys hear how hollow that chunk is out here and this is this is broken off at some point yeah that's sketchy it is so crumbly out here just like Hollow look at that I can break this rock man there's no way that's I mean you'd have to be like incredibly tiny I don't think I don't know that anybody truthfully could really do that so yeah you got to step down onto that ledge and then walk up there almost looks like down there this little walkway is Hollow like it's like a floating Arch almost huh I don't know I don't know guys I don't like it um I think I'm going to bail it was super awkward up there I want to get the Drone out because one I want to take a look at it but when I was up there I looked I could kind of like look around the corner and I was like I think the ledge ends but yet there's another ruin over there so we got to take a closer look as you guys can see Sun is setting it's beautiful um I'm just going to hike back in the dark that's that's the moral of the story cuz we got to take a closer look at this okay so I probably just flew the Drone for like 20 minutes trying to get every angle every possible approach um let's go take a closer look down here what I saw it's it's crazy like I I don't I don't really have words for it okay so this is the bottom view of where I bailed I bailed right like right there and I don't know how well that camera picked it up but The Rock was like super Hollow up there it was like just crumbly yeah I mean most likely it's going to hold um I've had friends that have had some really close calls um with just stepping on or rock at the wrong time and just if my life depended on it and I had to get across it yeah I would totally do it you know on the spice Factor like I don't know maybe it's like a three out of five like it's a little heady but you know that honestly so I should probably clarify so getting okay let's let a more sane and collected desert Drifter break this down because what I found out there deserves further explanation on the right side of the screen you'll see the ramp I scrambled up to gain access to the ledge along the ledge you'll see the first small wall here and then beyond the sketchy balanced Boulders the remnants of the second wall I came across next I crawled to where the really Hollow Rock was as I assessed it I could see that the ledge became unsupported I estimated this section was only about 5 ft thick not exactly confidence inspiring the move to get down onto this ledge and then up to the Rune looked challenging and if you messed it up you were likely falling to your death but overall it was doable for someone with climbing experience I would have considered it but the quality of the Sandstone made my decision easier I didn't trust it to hold my weight however if my alternative was to risk capture death or cannibalization at the hands of my enemies below I would have definitely taken the chance that might have been the situation for the people who originally built this so let's take a closer look at this specific ruin it's not the one that blew me away that's the second one but we'll get to that shortly this first Rune had a clear way to it even if difficult it's not a dramatic departure from what I've seen in the past sure it's dangerous to get to sure it's impossible to imagine living on a Ledge like this but once you spent time in the southwest you understand that these defensive Cliff Dwellings are common from about 8 to 900 years ago it appears very desperate things were going on as I flew the Drone around the structure I was intrigued to find faint rock art next to it what it means who Liv lived here and why are questions we can only speculate [Music] about okay so I'm at the base of the second pillar because these are basically like built on pillars so the the one ruin that I almost got to is right there and then I had thought okay well that ledge probably you know continues on to this one but I mean look up there guys there is nothing that's that's completely sheer face rock face okay so I'm on the ledge here basically the last nonvertical section before the ruin up there so I came even further down on the ledge just to see if this was at all possible but no that's totally vertical huh not that it solves the mystery but there's a really pretty piece of pottery down here right below look that's where that was follow it up 50 ft up there the Run sits right up on top of that pillar you know like if I was to grade this on the Yus deciel system which is how um climbing routes are graded and you can you can Google that and look look that up if you want I mean I don't know 511 Trad like it's it's serious honestly I said 5'11 and I'm like looking closer 512 I I don't know hard like Elite hard particularly with no rope like insane really I mean what I'm seeing here is like yet to gauge I want so I mean what I'm seeing here is like another level like it's it's not even to say that's not even a good way to saying it I really want to look at that uh okay let me interject here clearly I was flustered by what my brain was trying to comprehend out there let me try and break this down for you because I know camera angles only do so much basically this ancient construction appears to be a superum feet and that's what I'm prone to believe but we're going to examine every possible [Music] explanation my drone tells me it's height off the ground and when it was flying near the Rune it said it was about 55 ft [Music] up it's surrounded on both sides by sheer walls let's address some common explanations people will suggest the first theory is the use of ladders if this was a 10 to 20t climb I'd be prone to believe this but we're talking almost 60 ft here even with all of our modern Metals I don't think you can buy a freestanding ladder that would reach that high today you need a bucket or a fire truck not to mention you're not just going to pull up a 60t wooden ladder after you all your enemy has to do is pull it down or set fire to it and you'll die a slow death on your ledge second option the ground level used to be higher up but due to soil erosion is lower now it's true this happens but the most dramatic example of this I've seen was only about 15 to 20 ft Max I'm not buying 60 ft of soil erosion here in 800 years not even close the third option the only one I see is remotely plausible is significant Rockall perhaps the ledge that vanishes into thin air used to run all the way to this second ruin let's examine that when rock falls out here in the desert it takes Millennia to a road so if there was significant rockfall I would suspect we could look below this ruin and see the massive Sandstone blocks that once formed this ledge it's just not there sure there are Fallen rocks below but this is Canyon Country there's Fallen rocks of this size everywhere there are no massive blocks in sight that would be left from a rockfall event of this size because of this I have to conclude that rockfall has not significantly altered this area since the time of the buildings for anyone wondering if there was a way in from the top or the left side I can assure you there's not I looked closely they are completely sheer and overhung so after all my observation I had to conclude that these ancient people performed an elite climbing and construction feed exactly why and exactly how are mysteries of course there are theories I do believe they used ropes and possibly jammed logs into these crack systems to help their Ascent but even with that the danger of what they did here is still extreme why take these risks perhaps a massive drought during this time led to a breakdown of the social and political fabric of this culture desperate times may have led to some very desperate actions But ultimately to me this is a story of human Ingenuity and adaptability these structures stand as a testament to these people's lives and hard work we may never have all the answers we want or agree upon the various theories but I hope we can honor those who have gone before us and remember that we are on the same Journey that they [Music] were all right guys it's it's pretty much dark I'm just sitting here just you know mind blown um I'm going to force myself to start walking back man it was uh unexpected to say the least I'm glad you guys join me um hit subscribe if you want to keep exploring the Southwest with me I'll catch you guys next time

Channel: Desert Drifter

Views: 351,986

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Id: iwlwzhZwuKw

Length: 23min 16sec (1396 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 09 2024