I Found an Ancient Fortress in the American Southwest

I had to watch your video twice - I couldn't shake the feeling that I had seen those three pictographs before. I got out my 35mm slide collection. Where you were standing @ 1:30 in the video was within feet of where I stood in April 1973! I never made it to the upper level. Talk about a Kodak moment! Your videos are amazing! Thanks for the armchair adventures!

I'm a 76 year old woman, and i find your videos riveting! I no longer hike and i find every one of your episodes like a little mini vacation. I love the way you talk to me even sharing how you prepare your dinner. Thank you! Thank you! Stay safe out there!!!

Thank you so much ‼️ I love what you do. I’m 63 fighting cancer and you are allowing me to see things that I would never have the opportunity too. Thank you so much ‼️😊 Be safe ‼️😊

Jack Skellington is older than we realized! That is spectacular.

Well done. Colorado, Az. and New Mexico are FILLED with those. Many are on private land, and many have been left pretty much untouched. They are everywhere, which shows how many people were throughout the landscape back then. I was raised in Southern Colorado and went to school with a kid whose parents owned a huge ranch. There were 3 small cliff houses on their property, and we walked by them every year deer hunting. I was pretty young and didn't realize, or at the time, really cared about it and we walked on by. His dad said archeologists had been through them a long time ago but had just taken photos. Those folks built huge stone condo complexes all over the place. Some were really small, (looked a family or two) but some were HUGE and must have accommodated dozens. This guy is a good explorer. He's VERY careful to not disturb anything. Good job.

The up close of the petroglyphs and the views through the holes up top were so cool to see! I felt like I was up there defending my home. Thanks for that extra effort climbing up there!

The big petroglyph had an owl feeling. It was watching and could see all!

Retired archaeologist,Norfolk ,England. Binge watching. Fantastically exciting to see so much preservation. The romance and atavistic feelings inspired! The beauty of the land, the thrill of your scary climbing and the awesome photography. The sensitivity you have to maintaining the archaeological record. Do you report the positions to your nearest university? Very impressive. We have in Norfolk,loads of Prehistoric,Roman,Saxon and Medieval sites but it's all underground,after 2000 years of ploughing,and when I dug them it always seemed to be raining,cold and windy!

I’m a navajo born n raised in ganado,az, for years I helped with ranch work at my grandparents ranch summer/winter homes in the late 70s to mid 80s, located just north, about 4 miles north of Burnside (intersection/roundabout). As I tended to the livestocks on horseback I came across so many areas with the same pottery designs, picked up many flints but left it and many broken arrowheads, grandpa said it was ok and a blessing to pickup a full unbroken arrowhead, spearhead or tomahawk head….grandpa throughout his years on this Snakeflat had a full unbroken collection, do not know where it went after he passed in 2010. But this was a prairie landscape that these people lived, I’m pretty sure there is very little to see this present day, haven’t been back for about 20 yrs.

your crawl at the height you were at put my heart in my throat. I am glad you made it in and out safely!

I grew up and spent most of my life in metro-Atlanta, but my family lived in Los Alamos, NM for around 3 years when I was young. My mother hated everything about it, but I thrived there. The desert and the canyons are such a unique ecosystem, and I've always found it so breathtakingly beautiful. The verdent forests of Georgia are gorgeous, too, but it's hard to understand the vastness of it all until you stand atop a plateau in the middle of an expanse of table land. I loved hiking out with my dad in those days. I was only around 5 or 6, so it was never anything too extreme, but 8d like to believe if we'd stayed out there, I'd be a pretty avid desert hiker today. I remember school trips into the canyon where we could see old dwellings like these. I remember massive complexes, still complete with intricate ladder systems. We could only look through binoculars, which I assume is why the structures are still so in-tact today. I'd love to go out there again some day. Your videos have inspired at least that. Keep it up. I love watching what you do. It reminds me of the little piece of the Southwest that will always be a part of my soul.

Those 5 lines are interesting, and my mind runs wild with possibilities. The most mundane could be, like, "Tonight you're assigned to guard post 5" but the wildest idea could be "5 men have died defending this spot" or even "5 attacks have been fended off from this position."

I'm an archaeology geek, now unfortunately disabled. I just found your channel and I want to thank you for the videos. I can't get out there so it's wonderful to "come along with you" on these explorations! I subscribed... looking forward to more adventrues.

I've been there back in the 90s. Like you, I often travelled alone. One of my rules when alone was not to climb up steep surfaces like you have. It was a different story when someone else was with me to help spot me. Back then, we did not have cell phones, internet, etc. Paper maps were the thing back then. I do appreciate the fact that you don't provide location data. Many sites seem more trampled now than when I was hiking.

He has a Bradly Cooper look. A sometimes Mr. Roger’s tone and an adventurous soul. 4 videos and I am hooked on these adventures.

Be careful, dude...I've been exploring this stuff for nearly 40 years and I'm a real good climber. I gone up to some ruins that were near death experience coming back down. It's coming down that'll get you. On public land, there is nothing to find in the way of artifacts. Every single ruin has been combed over. Back in the 20s artifacts were popular and valuable so the cowboys rode the rims with a telescope and found them all. The only places you can see ruins in outstanding "as was" condition are on Navajo and Apache land and they won't let you in there anymore. I saw quite a few of them back in the early 90s before they closed it all down...particularly east of Kayenta and south of Show Low. Don't even think about sneaking in there...the Apaches will shoot at you! The only artifacts I've discovered were in tiny little alcoves deep in the wilderness where they hunted but didn't live. A pot (fully intact) a basket, numerous tools, a sandal and part of a belt. They are fun to explore and find, but unfortunately the best of the best outside of what is visited regularly if off limits. For good reason, too...over the years I've seen places that were littered with potshards and lithic chips picked clean. Anyway...be careful. I know exactly where you were and I went up there myself a long time ago. I don't do stuff like that anymore...30 feet onto the rocks is going to bust you up real good.

Feeling anxiety watching him squeeze through tight spaces and being up high, but so interesting to see it!

That was absolutely one of the coolest things I’ve seen

I have MS and vertigo and I can’t do even the little hiking I used to do with my husband. This feeds my interest in how ancient people lived and I can imagine their daily lives. They were very intelligent and set the foundations for the way we live, they created walls, granaries, vents for smoke, fortresses, weapons, I could go on and on. I am fascinated about how they first did all of these things and how they accomplished daily life, often in hostile environments. I can create so many stories in my head but I would love to travel back in time and see it first hand….somebody needs to create a Time Machine or better yet a time window that one can open and just observe and not interfere.

This video is by far my favorite! You actually took us to a different time in life. I also appreciate you risking your life for these amazing shots. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼