Finding Lost Civilizations

From the town of Alamos, Sonora, Mexico, with my guide Rego and photographer Dan Carpenter, we set off in an easterly direction on a 4 hour drive into the interior. We drove to a ranch call Baboyahuqi located in the Sierras near the border of the Mexican States of Sonora and Chihuahua. The road was unbelievably bad and I was amazed of the remoteness of the area and that people actually traveled in vehicles to that ranch. We stayed there overnight and in the early morning on mules set off into the mountains to cross over and through a portal into a deep canyon on the other side of the mountains. The mule ride was about 5 hours and in many places it was steep, rocky, and treacherous. We finally ended up at a small ranch called Baramico and then pushed onto another ranch called Santa Fe. At Santa Fe we met a 92 year old man who told us about a cave with paintings that he had found many years ago. He said it was only a 40 minute hike up the canyon and then pointed out the location to us. When I saw it I said no way and estimated that it would take us 4 hours to reach the Pinnacle.

Although the old man had not visited the site in 50 years we set off to find the cave paintings. The old man was incredible - it was an upward climb, which did take us about 4 hours to reach. I did not think I would make it, but I did. What we found was an overhanging ledge - not a cave. And on the walls there were these rust colored drawings. There were not many and not large. However, there were figures of people, insects, and animals. One figure had a torso that looked like a centipede insect. Around him were animal and insect representations. One was a scorpion. Below the Insect Man were three Indians that appeared to be dancing.

Dan and I were the first Americans or outsiders to visit the site.

We then walked down from that cave site to Baramico where our mule guide was waiting for us. That old man never broke a sweat! We then got back on the mules and for 4 more hours and in the dark we headed back to Baboyahqui. When we arrived at the ranch we got into our pickup truck and drove another 4 hours back to Alamos.

It was the most physically challenging trek I had gone on in the last twenty years.

See The Expedition: Enter Here

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