Unseen Mysteries of AGUA FRIA NATIONAL MONUMENT | Hidden Remnants of the Perry Mesa Tradition

[@leeguthrie2283]

It is so nice to see a new video up. I had a stressful day today and being able to travel in the ruins makes me feel much better.

[@CactusAtlas]

Thank you! I'm so glad to hear we could help. Hope your day improves and you have a stress free weekend. 😊

[@lzwnn]

The drone footage on this one was particularly spectacular. What a dramatic landscape. You’re a brave guy, in that wind at the edge of those cliffs on teetering piles of rocks! I wouldn’t have made it that far. Enjoyed the trip, Glenn and Amy, thank you!

[@CactusAtlas]

Thanks so much! I'm not sure it was bravery... 😂 The drone was really fun to fly here and get those perspectives.

[@craiggossmer6525]

🤠 Thanx, this is a must!! 😎🧡 🖐

[@CactusAtlas]

We couldn't agree more! It really is a great place to explore. 😊👍

[@Lizerator]

Thanks for this. I drive by the monument often but have never checked it out.

[@CactusAtlas]

It's a great place to spend some time! We have a few other videos in the area too. 👍

[@Lizerator]

@@CactusAtlas Just found your channel and am enjoying your videos. Your Chaco video was very well done. My aunt visited in the 20's and I have her photo albums.

[@gstiles7]

Thanks for another great tour of the southwest!!

[@CactusAtlas]

It is our pleasure as always! 😊

[@ronaldculpepper413]

Great and educational video. I now have another destination for my spring training trip to Phoenix

[@CactusAtlas]

Great to hear! Hope you have a fantastic trip. 😄

[@mcoffroadinaz4075]

Another good descriptive thougthful video of AZ. Thanks! I plan to check that area out. Cheers from Mesa.

[@patriciashirley7095]

Your footage inspired me to put my foot forward towards my new hiking adventures ordered my first promoter van Hope to someday meet you

[@elbertmoreno2159]

Hope you have a blast on your hiking 🌵☕

[@CactusAtlas]

Thank you! That's so awesome! We both wish you the best of luck on your new adventure! 😄

[@johns7785]

Really enjoyed this one. Your drone footage really showed the ruins in the best possible way.

[@CactusAtlas]

Thanks a ton! Happy to have the drone. Walking around and seeing old walls from the ground just doesn't feel as impressive as being able to really see the structure from air. 👍

[@SomeplaceOrAnother]

Great hike and tour today 🤠👍

[@CactusAtlas]

Thanks! 😄👍

[@fatmanhikes]

Long time lurker occasional commenter, this is a good very interesting well presented video. Different somehow from your other videos, good work.

[@CactusAtlas]

Thank you very much! Sometimes videos just come out slightly different. It's always hard to say what the finished product will end up being. 😅

[@SwiftyTravels]

The drone footage really highlighted the beauty of this place! I’ve never explored this part of Arizona. I’m so glad to see all that pottery pieces still in place👍

[@CactusAtlas]

Was one of the areas where having a drone really came in handy. Not sure the effect of those forts at edge of the canyons would feel the same from on top of them. 😊

[@markgorton5865]

Thanks for the video, some great footage especially with the drone. Which one are you using? Glad Glenn learned from the burros and didn’t try to pet or feed the cow 😂

[@CactusAtlas]

😂 I was thinking of the burro while editing. We currently have the DJI Air 2S. No complaints about it! 😄

[@brookingsbeachcomber]

nice adventure and awesome footage

[@CactusAtlas]

Thank you! 👍

[@alexandervoytov4966]

Thank you! You inspire me to hike AZ!

[@CactusAtlas]

That's awesome! That makes us so happy to hear! 😊

[@bcbconklin]

Took the Greyhound up and down I-17 a few years ago between Glendale and Laughlin (via Flagstaff), so I know where you're at...interesting trek, thanks.

[@CactusAtlas]

Our pleasure! Thanks for watching! 😄

[@rogerharris8081]

Hey Glen, very nice video. Back in the early 1990’s, my hiking buddy and I explored Perry Mesa (before it was a National Monument) in a Toyota 4x4 and the road was not maintained. As I watched your travels and wondered what vehicle you ended up with several years ago. Remember when you asked for in put? This is the road I was thinking of when my suggestion was a Forerunner!

[@CactusAtlas]

Haha! It was a long time coming for us getting a vehicle capable of traversing roads like what we have so far. Kind of regret not getting one earlier but times were what they were (and let's face it - there are still some shortages here and there with vehicles and parts). The 4Runner was still high up on our list but I'm pretty sure Glenn loves the truck he got now. 😊

[@SidetrackAdventures]

Really cool, I've always wondered about this place as I've seen it as I've gone up the 17 but never had a chance to stop. This place looks amazing, but I'm not sure about running into cows!

[@CactusAtlas]

We did the same for yeeeears. Always thought there likely wasn't much to it. Boy were we wrong! 😅

[@skater42543]

A lot of the scenery in this area feels Minecraft like lol. Planning to hit up badger springs soon!

[@CactusAtlas]

Very cool! And I can absolutely see the Minecraft reference. 😅

[@UKOnation]

12:36 Oh, such nice shaped clouds. You have them too? I think, the whole world has got them today ...

[@Elira-jr4tv]

Is this where the village from the song Big Iron is in?

[@CactusAtlas]

Oh, gosh. Not entirely sure about that, to be honest. 😓

[@Norseman-k6z]

I live in corded and explore the deserts all the time you would be surprised at all the neat stuff in the area. Mayer prospector.

[@CactusAtlas]

It's definitely surprising and yet once you learn about the history of the area not at all. 😅

[@LivinginNorway]

That’s a nice national monument

[@CactusAtlas]

Couldn't agree more. 😄

[@mojavemike6522]

What a nice and informative video. High quality! Most cultures throughout the world built forts/walls as defensive measures against a more warlike group. The Four Corners region and most of the southwest is no exception. The Zuni and Hopi have a lot of info regarding this. Keep up your fantastic work.

[@CactusAtlas]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you very much. 😊👍

[@neverendingmods]

Thanks man for showing us this. I would love to be able to make it out there before I get too old and out of shape. Was there any meteor strikes in the area long ago that you know of? With cliff side caves used over millennium and two story living structures with entries only on top requiring ladders or ropes makes you think about what was trying to kill them to build in such a way. Were they living structures reused over and over dating back much older than anyone knows?

[@CactusAtlas]

Only meteor strike I know of any old age is the one that formed Meteor Crator up by I-40. I'm sure there's been smaller ones in the area over time, though. 👍

[@marias3987]

😂 I saw a cow when I did that trail too, jumpscare! Lol

[@CactusAtlas]

Haha! They are EVERYwhere out there it seems! We saw a number when we drove along FM24 and out Bloody Basin Rd a couple months back. Just chilling and staring at people driving by. 😄

[@Norseman-k6z]

You should do a video on crown king and the drive up there.there is a wolf sanctuary across from cleater

[@CactusAtlas]

We have always wanted to explore there and plan on making it happen now that we have the ability to. 😄👍

[@Norseman-k6z]

Sounds good cactus I really enjoy your vids

[@kreggossmer2029]

Horse Thief Basin 😎❤

[@82dorrin]

Agua Fria is a great place. Very beautiful, and the people are friendly. I just wish they'd shut up about the "swiftness of the Ranger."

[@sandrarogers1200]

I'm thinking my dad and a very good friend of his may have done what you have done here. My dad used to do a lot of walking and was very interested in the ancient ruin sites.

[@CactusAtlas]

There is most certainly no shortage of them out here, that's for sure! 😄

[@mountainman6549]

Was at Agua Fria in February 2024. I read up on it and didn’t get good information so let me give you a heads up. You need a big off road vehicle not your normal suv. I have a Rav 4 and it dont cut it. Had to turn around before I wrecked it.

[@iguanaamphibioustruck7352]

Even in the descriptions by the Parks Dept or whoever, the timing is really approximate. Sometimes it is 1500 years ago, sometimes it is 15000 and sometime it is 50,000 And, if you start thinking in terms of generations it becomes real complicated. In the 50's I worked for a mining company and prospected Cummings Mesa (up near Navajo mountain) very similar with rock walls and broken pottery all around. The difference, Cummings Mesa is around 6000 feet elevation about 200 acres and surrounded by a thousand vertical cliff. (one mule trail from Rainbow Lodge) Me and a geologist were flown in (super cub) and were up there for about 30 days total. Walking the edges looking for pockets of uranium. The best way I can understand it is to think about a lot of fresh water lakes and lots of islands over hundreds and thousands of years. Violent weather at times and tranquil weather in other times. At Red Rock Gap in Idaho the plaque says "11500 years ago a disturbance in the earth crust cracked the containment of Lake Bonneville (500 feet over SLC) and it emptied out to the level of Salt Lake (about 4500 feet). Over by Flagstaff is a butte that was an active volcano, 600 years ago. I read another account about Lake Bonneville on KZbin and they dated the draining at 17000 years ago. The error is mans life on earth since Jesus Christ. Then consider the floods up in Washington on the Columbia river that were caused by an ice dam around Coeur D Alene Idaho. About every 55 years the dam would float and release Lake Missoula into the Columbia drainage and create a frontal wall of water, 700 feet high. You can imagine that the weather and living conditions for people living in Arizona was not boring. The books by Jane Hamilton, about the tribes coming down from the North called it the Forbidden Land. No wonder! Thanks for the video and really good job. Dave Hansen

[@brookingsbeachcomber]

I swore I could smell the desert sage

[@CactusAtlas]

😊

[@TerraPruett]

Pueblo Indians were peaceful farmers. They built permanent residences on mountain tops and in cliffs for protection from the raiders. Warring and raiding Indians did not make baskets or pottery. Too heavy to carry along when they broke camp and moved on. I've been all through where you re on this trip. Love it. Raw nature at it's most basic form. In the past two decades my wife has too many back ache problems to stand the four wheel drive adventures we used to go on. Now I have to find someone to go with me as she fusses at me if I want to go by myself. Could be that I'm 80 with four heart stents, pair of titanium knees, a right hip replacement, both shoulders fixed and one hernia to my credit. The way I see it, what else can go wrong? I've been restored and rebuilt and feel fine. None of that keeps me off my Harley.

[@CactusAtlas]

Love your spirit! 😄

[@brookingsbeachcomber]

Rock Art looks the same as Moab, Mesa Verde and Mexican Hat

[@tolson57]

I, like you, am very interested to know what/who were they so afraid of that they felt the need to build these fortress like structures. Also, I do not believe that there would have been water sources on the mesas. If that is true, then not only are they building forts, they are building homes 300 to 500 feet above their sources of water. The amount of daily labor required to bring water to the pueblo would have been enormous. Whomever they were protecting themselves from must have been a formidable enemy.

[@CactusAtlas]

It was likely a whole lot of work, I'm sure. It would be fascinating to see an average day around there. 👍

[@kreggossmer2029]

🤠👍👍

[@DovieRuthAuthor]

You’d never know those pueblos were there unless you were looking for them. I’m thinking the Apaches might have caused some trouble. They were known for being aggressive.

[@CactusAtlas]

It is hard to say and probably will remain a mystery. Could be so many different things and who is to say one has the same reason as another too. 😅

[@hdh3699]

It was already discovered

[@CactusAtlas]

Yup. There's an interesting book about the Perry Mesa.

[@lilmsgs]

Obsidian

[@CactusAtlas]

That's what we figured it was given the volcanic activity from the past. 👍 Pretty cool find.

[@lilmsgs]

@@CactusAtlas Good video. I'm only a few miles away from that... I'll have to take a ride back there.

[@CactusAtlas]

It's a really cool place to explore. We've driven back on some of those roads previous but had no idea what we were really passing by.

[@atatterson6992]

It was nice and quiet... till some dude talking to his camera showed up...

[@Rfk1966]

The BLM has done a good job managing this area.

[@CactusAtlas]

We think so too. 😊

[@danielmurphy9260]

You should have pet the cow

[@CactusAtlas]

😂 Last time we tried to interact with an animal in the wild it didn't go so well. 🤣

[@lizd85018]

Why don't you have a dog

[@CactusAtlas]

Because we have cats. 😀. But if I had my way, I’d have a golden retriever or lab. 😉

[@CactusAtlas]

Glenn would love one but having grown up with them and never having a cat that's what we have now. We're both fairly big cat people. 😅

[@Norseman-k6z]

Cordes

[@fisch69]

I have to ask , why are you wearing a black hat and black shirt in the desert??? Aren’t you afraid of overheating your noggin??😂😂😂

[@CactusAtlas]

Arizona has pretty comfortable temperatures in January. 😉

[@mitchellkrouth5083]

Human civilization, highly advanced, mathematics, astrology and science highly advanced humans, millions of years ago what you were looking at is hundreds of thousands of years old Reading, habited, civilizations, dig deeper you will see the history but your brain will not be able to handle it. The brain on today’s human are too small. How are you doing?

[@mikehenry4743]

Come on dude, you've lived in Az for 20 years and you don't know the "G" is silent in Agua.

[@MoonShine-o5n]

He’s saying it in English.. if it’s silent, spell it differently lol. Its not his native language. I don’t blame him.

[@jaedonhurles3623]

The pronunciation of agua always has a g sound.

[@JackFlaps]

you should learn how to pronounce Agua Fria