This south rim trail took us to the canyon’s highest point at about 8,400 feet through cactus, pinyon pine and juniper trees some 600 to 800 years old. Although it was a moderate trail, it really tuckered me out as the temperature rose to 92 degrees. This 1.5-mile trail gave us canyon views on one side and views of the Black Canyon valley on the other side. The trail was quite diverse, up, and down, twisting and turning, sometimes in the open and sometimes under the cover of trees. Afterwards, driving back towards the visitor center we stopped at Cedar Point Overlook and took photos across the canyon of Painted Wall, a 2,250-foot wall above the river that looked like pink colored veins of pegmatite or lightning bolts running through the darker gneiss and granite rock.
This 1.7-mile trail gave us great views of vistas the canyon and river far below. We were out in the sun the entire time as this relatively flat, rocky, sandy trail took us along the cliff edge. In some places along the sheer cliff one slip could send us on a long fall to the rocks and river far below. Sagebrush, grasses and occasional juniper trees dotted both sides of the trail with some trees somehow growing in the cliff crevices below us. The temperature had climbed to 86 degrees making it a tiring but beautiful hike. We saw several eagles fly overhead. This was the first hike on the entire trip that Rosie got overheated and tired due to the combination of hot temperature and high altitude.
At 14,179 feet, Mt. Shasta is not only California’s fifth highest volcanic mountain peak, but it is big in urban legends and myths. The mountain and the nearby city of only 3,200 people, is the center of paranormal, mystical, and metaphysical activity. The mountain has been worshiped for over one thousand years by Hopi, Wintu, and other native American tribes but in the past one hundred years it has also been worshipped by believers in aliens, UFO’s, Bigfoot, and Lizard-people.
Native Americans believe a chief God fought another chief God by throwing hot rocks and lava, probably just describing a volcanic eruption. They also believe a hidden underground city called Telos is occupied by advanced beings from the lost continent of Lemuria. In the 1880’s they were seen coming out of tunnels and lava tubes wearing white robes, had white hair and were about seven feet tall.
A British prospector named Brown said he discovered an underground lost city in 1904 filled with gold, shields, and ten-foot-tall mummies.
Many believe that Mt. Shasta is the home base for the Lizard People, reptilian humanoids that reside underground. The story reminds me of the Lizard Man, reported seen in Bishopville, South Carolina. In this case it is just not one lizard man, but many.
As for the spiritualists or “New-Age” believers, they feel that the mountain resonates “zero point energy” or “Essence Energy” which translates to the awakened vibrational field of the planet.
Lastly, unexplained lights and UFO’s have been reported many times around Mt. Shasta as recently as 2020. As if this isn’t enough, during the building of nearby Shasta Lake and Reservoir in 1944 and 1945, miles of land were flooded. Underneath the water are seven old mining towns, many former Indian sites and, some speculate, many bodies and cemeteries. My hike in the nearby Shasta-Trinity National Forest produced no evidence of anything supernatural other than a strange cloud that looked like a hand with fingers with a hole in the middle. But with this history it’s no wonder there are so many urban legends and supernatural beliefs here.
Tales of a vanishing hitchhiker have roots in stories back to the 1870’s and in the USA since 1930’s but is mostly considered just an urban legend. However, in 1980, eerie reports of a vanishing woman hitchhiker with a prediction of doom occurred just after the deadly Mount St. Helens volcano. The volcano erupted on May 18, 1980, killing 57 people and causing incredible damage. The first report of the female hitchhiker came about 80 miles north of the volcano when a man driving on HWY 12 picked up a beautiful woman with haunting eyes. She told him of a second volcanic eruption that would take place between October 12 and 14 that would devastate an area within a 100-mile radius of St. Helens. When he took his eyes off the road and looked over, she was gone. Several more reports came into the local police departments of several other small towns near the volcano site describing a woman in a white dress making the same prediction and then vanishing. One man said he was driving 60 MPH and looked in the back seat and the woman was gone.
Ironically, several months later from October 12 to 14 only small seismic events took place. However, a final major explosive activity took place a couple days later from October 16 to 18 with ash flows up to 47,000 feet high and some pyroclastic flows. The vanishing hitchhiker was only a couple of days off her prediction and fortunately the eruption was much milder than predicted. During my drive in the area west of the mountain no woman tried to hitch a ride with me. Although I consider the hitchhiker stories just an urban legend, what intrigues me is that the reports and sightings of the hitchhiker came in months before the October 12 to 14 catastrophe prediction. And what happened? Only two days after October 14, there was a volcanic eruption. Quite a coincidence.
Twelve-foot-tall President Abe Lincoln is reading a law book and sitting atop of the world’s largest rail-splitter covered wagon. The wagon is 24 feet tall, 40 feet long and made of oak. It is located on famous Route 66. Trivia: Lincoln, Illinois was the only town in the USA named for Abe prior to him becoming President. Also, this roadside attraction was once voted the most popular in the USA by Readers Digest.
Next to the John Wesley Powel River History Museum, the bike trail runs along the picturesque Green River with beautiful mesas to the north. When the short bike trail ended, we biked back south and through the nearby Green River State Park until we got to the river railroad bridge. Across the river was the Utah Launch Complex, a historic Cold War historic missile complex. We enjoyed the peaceful greenery and river during the seven-mile bike ride. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was robbing trains and banks or hiding out in this area many years ago as depicted in historical kiosks at the museum.
This Empire architectural house, built in 1903 on 201 South 5th Street in Montrose, was the site where a man murdered several of his family in the 1930’s. The house was purchased and moved to the museum in the spring of 2016. Ironically, the museum later discovered that this was not the real murder house, that the murders occurred in a nearby house on that street.
None the less, I interviewed a tour guide who told me about his scary personal experience at this house a few years ago. The guide said that years later after the house was relocated here, that this house was debunked – it was not the actual murder house. It was a different house next to this house in the alley that was the actual murder house.
“I was closing one night and had locked up the brick building up there and was walking down through here and I heard bang, bang, bang. I thought there had been carpenters working around all day and if the carpenters are working in that house, they are sure working late. I walked up to the house and the door was open and I heard the bang, bang again. It was obviously coming from upstairs. I went in and the house reeked – old, dirty, nasty, and unwashed for years at the time. I opened the door to the stairway. It was a short hallway and had a sharp turn, with tight, tiny steps. I started up the stairs and heard bang, bang really loud since I was inside. I yelled, “upstairs, who is upstairs?” I started upstairs, and as my eyes came over the last step the banging stopped. Not a sound. I walked through the entire upper part of the house, every room, closet, every nook and cranny and nothing. No one was there. I did the obvious thing and got the heck out of there. I don’t need this.”
I walked through the house. The house was now clean and furnished in early 1900 furniture and artifacts. I took photos and an EVP inside. Outside around the perimeter of the house I took more photos. I obtained no evidence. Yet, the guide’s story was true and he speculated if a different ghostly presence is in this house, who is it?
Talking to the museum owner/archaeologist Richard Fike, he told me that Zak Bagan brought his Travel Channel “Ghost Adventures” TV show here in 2017 to investigate.
A few miles down the road from where we camped at the Montrose KOA was the Mountain West Museum. Founded in 1997, this museum is dedicated to preserving the history of the west. There are over 20 historic buildings that have been relocated here and feature more than 500,000 artifacts displayed in authentic settings. Three of which have had paranormal activity. I met and interviewed Museum founder/owner and former Colorado state archeologist Richard Fike. The 1890’s saloon has a bar from a pony express and stagecoach station in Utah. The saloon also has a haunted clock which sits atop an upright piano. Here is Fike’s story in his own words.
“A lady named Wanda Dejulio died in the saloon on May 17, 2002. She was cleaning in the saloon, had a heart attack and died. Her grandson found her. Shortly thereafter after the body was removed, Richard himself then came into the saloon and noticed that the clock on the piano was working and on time. He could never get the clock to work before as he had tried numerous keys to wind it, but none ever fit. He told the family that he had noticed that there were two thumbprints in the dust by the clock as she had not dusted there. So, she had not touched the clock and could not have got it working. Richard came into the saloon three days later after her funeral day and he noticed the clock had stopped working. That was after she had been interred in the ground. A few days later a couple spiritual leaders came into the saloon and did a Ute cleansing ceremony using sweet grass. They said the full good spirit of the deceased would stick around three days and then a part of the spirit will stick around forever. So, you figure it out. Why did the clock that never before worked, started working after all the times I had tried and failed to get it to work but it started when she died and stopped by itself three days later when she was buried. Explain that to me.”
I can’t explain it, but the story is compelling. I took photos and did two EVPs but obtained nothing unusual.
We bicycled 7.5 miles on this former section of Route 66 which included 2.1 miles of biking over and back on the bridge. The bridge makes a 30 degree turn halfway across the mighty Mississippi River. The bridge is 60 feet above the river giving us great views in both directions including seeing the skyline of St. Louis, Missouri to the south. The two water intake towers for the nearby pumping station are clearly seen in the middle of the river. Lots of nostalgic history and Route 66 signs and photos are in the bridge and on the Missouri entrance. Built in 1929, the bridge was a Route 66 landmark for 30 years. Now it is a beautiful bike trail connecting Illinois and Missouri. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1980, Director John Carpenter used the bridge for filming part of his sci-fi classic, “Escape From New York”. This really was a fun ride with outstanding views.
This 1895 Diehl Carriage Works building was moved to the museum from Delta, Colorado not only a place to repair carriages but it was also where heavyweight champion boxer Jack Dempsey trained. Upstairs, a section of the loft was Dempsey’s training area. Some of his first fights were held in this building. The paranormal angle is that staff and visitors have had a lot of experiences such as hearing footsteps on the second floor, seeing a black shadow figure, lights that come on at night by themselves, and an apparition that appeared in a mirror. Museum owner and archaeologist Richard Fike said that he had heard that back in Delta, enraged townsfolk had lynched a Ute Indian in the rafters of the building. In that same building a man died after being kicked by a horse. I took many photos and an EVP, but it was difficult to investigate the building as a country band was performing a couple buildings down and the carriage house always had a patron or two in it. Still, it was filled with frontier history and many artifacts. Behind the carriage house was a boxcar used in the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”.
