Journey Through Time: Unveiling Stories of Capitol Gorge Trail

Have you ever wondered what stories ancient petroglyphs and pioneer registers hidden in canyon walls might tell? Join us for an exhilarating trek through Capitol Gorge Trail where we uncover the captivating tales etched into this natural wonder. From the artistry and language of Native American petroglyphs to the names and dates left by pioneers, this episode promises a deep dive into the historical layers of this stunning landscape. We reflect on the fascinating debate between art and language, and invite you to share your thoughts on the matter.

As we hike, you'll experience the awe-inspiring scale of the canyon and the surprising abundance of life thriving in this arid environment. We'll explore natural water tanks, home to unexpected aquatic creatures, and point out intriguing historical remnants like old telephone line poles and mysterious chiseled markings. The journey wraps up with a discussion on the significance of these natural and historical features, leaving you with a profound appreciation for the intersection of human history and nature's resilience. Don’t miss this immersive adventure filled with natural beauty, historical intrigue, and a touch of humor.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

all right. Going down to the petroglyphs, narrows, pioneer register and tanks here at the capital gorge trailhead. Why do they call this a gorge? Because it's gorgeous, baby. Yeah. Yeah. Walking down the gorge trail headed to some pictographs and pioneer register areas. First, native people in the area left behind pictographs which are basically chippings out of the rock to make paintings. I consider them both art and language. I think there's an argument between the two and I think they can be both. What do you think? Leave me a comment below about it.

Speaker 1: 0:41

For now I'm going to be heading down this way. It's about a mile trail round trip takes you to some pictographs and pioneer register and then there's a place called the tanks, which are some basically natural water bodies that are down there. Follow me and find out what we find. So come to the very first pioneer register. It's way up there on the cliff. Hopefully you can see it. There are six names up there. Looks like I make out John Stewart, quincy Stewart, isaac Hayes, jazz Allerton, sam Gifford I can't make out the first name in the fourth name, but that's pretty cool. Just to give you an idea of scale, look at these people in front of me and how small they are compared to the canyon walls, it's crazy. So right here You're seeing a lot of recent graffiti that's there Doesn't fit, just leave it alone, people. Yeah, so more pioneer etchings in the rock. Here You've got stuff from the 1800s, stuff from the 1900s Super cool. It even looks like up there. It looks potentially like it could have been bullet holes, but it was probably some kind of chisel, is my guess. So as you walk through the canyon trail here through the gorge, you'll see these kind of metal poles sticking out of the side of the rock. When they had a telephone line through here side of the rock, they had a telephone line through here. They used that as the support for the telephone. Beautiful tree here. Don't know what kind it is, necessarily, but just the growth form of it is really interesting. What a harsh environment to live as a tree. But nature always finds a way and that's the amazing thing.

Speaker 1: 2:49

Last part of the hike in the gorge is going to that what's it called the tanks. So there's these big depressions in the rock that water has dwelled in, or water been in for a while. Reliable source for desert creatures, but we're not supposed to get into it as humans. So at the end of this particular trail there is what they call the tanks, and the tanks are these water-filled kind of bowls that have all kinds of unique aquatic life, got a lot of water striders, water boatmen, etc. And in some cases you do have shrimp in here. Sometimes these shrimp will wait a long time to hatch out when a good rainfall comes. If you walk down from where the tanks are, as I saw earlier, there are some more tanks over here, deeper ones, and there's also an arch. The trail that I came from is down there. I'm going to head back to it, cool Hiking back out of the canyon.

Speaker 1: 3:58

Really, the only elevation gain on this particular trail is going to the tanks area, but wow, look at the views you can see. Going to the tanks area, but wow, look at the views you see, and it's amazing to me how much plant life is down here despite the lack of rainfall. It's pretty amazing, pretty amazing. So far covered almost two miles, I believe. It's about a mile into the tanks, cut off, where you go up the hill to, uh, view the tanks, and then about a mile into the tanks, cut off, where you go up the hill to view the tanks, and then about a mile back on the trail after you come back down. So probably looking at about two and a half miles for this trail, I knew they were here somewhere. So you've got some figures very faint on the rock right here, got the sun, all kinds of stuff all up in here, some kind of uh, almost like a canyon or a tree shape all up in here. It's very cool.

Speaker 1: 5:04

Okay, back somewhat to civilization At the back of the parking lot here for Capitol Gorge Remember they put Gorge as the first part of the word gorgeous. Hey, if you like this video, make sure to like. Give it a thumbs up. Subscribe to the channel for more videos like this. Hope you enjoyed it. Leave me your comments below. Bye.