Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-07-03

After the lunch and walk around
to stretch your legs, the ride is re-
sumed, the trail making it's way down
to a small valley below.
Here the horses are left and men,
bers Of the party start jaunt up the
rocks in order to view wonders mac
cessible by trail.
This walk up through the rocks
brings you to a fairyland of eerie
shapes. For it is here that probably
the most perfect of natures nlarvels
is witnessed, the Balanced Rock"
large stone set as if on pedestal.
| The balanced rock sits on narrow
thread only few inches in width
upon its pedestal. The base of the
rock can be reached, but it is hard to
climb, only accomplished by few. A
strong wind or a hearty shove by a
human hand would send the rock
! plunging down, it would seem.
"Thors Hammer" head, handle and
all; short distance away "The An
i vil," for surely old Thor could not have
done his labors with the hammer with
out the anvil
1.-The Totem Pole" rises below, sheer
shaft about 100 feet high and eight feet
thick, colored in pink, brown, grey and
: green as if to frighten away evil spirits
from the land of the Indians.
! The huge rocks, standing in close
proximity, cause g picture of an aban-
doned, ghostlike city to come to the
minds of the witnesses. Streets" and
i alleys" wind their way between them,
each Offering views of wonders to
those who care to explore. Many of
! the lanes are yet to be visited by man
kind.
! Soon the descent is started. On the
way down o halt is called to mount
large rock, which Riggs laughingly
calls Expiration Point" and after
the climb to its summit one usually
feels as if he were about to expire. q
Then. back to the horses, freshened
| by their rest and ready for the hardest
work OF all, the hazardous climb down
the side OF the slope in Sara Deming
canyon, the ride called down the rim
of the world
It is here that you get the thrill of
your lifetime Riggs tells you TO just
sit in the saddle and let the ponies do
the rest-and they do the rest. And
when they do get you to the bottom
or floor you have o feeling in your
heart for your particular pony as if he
had saved your life.
For the movie scenes of the lover
taking the short cut down the cliff to
save the heroine from the villain are
talne compared with this. 1t is almost
q straight downward path, the rider
looking over his horses head to look
below without craning his neck
Twisting Sure-fOOtedly and deliber-
Gtely, the horses set about their task,
weighing every footStep and gauging
distances before making move. Soon
you hardly ever know hoW--the de-
scent to the floor of the canyon is
completed
Sara Deming canyon is another
heavily wooded canyon and the trail
down it is a torturouS one in itself
Soon the canyon leads back into Rhyo-
lite canyon and the last lap of the
,, journey back to the ranch.
The eXpanSe of rock formations
cover approximately 5000 acres, an
area of about Is square miles. The
exploration of its wonders is yet in it's
/ infancy.
A world of credit goes to Ed Riggs
for the blazing of what trails there
are throughout the canyons. Riggs
first saw the wonderland in 1899, but
did not start his explorations until
about five years ago.
He discovered "The Balanced Rock"
in July, 1922. Working arduously with
pick, axe and shovel, he has made the
various trails in order to vision the
wonders of the canyons
The canyons are in the Coronado
National HOrnct oI1d fnrnct
! telephone lines extend throughout the
district. Every care is taken to pre-
vent carelessly lighted forest fires by
those going through.
In the eXpanSe are located numerous
caves, containing as yet undecipherable
hieroglyphics. Scientists explain the
peculiar rock formations with O theory