12/02: The Blythe Intanglios
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
About 15 miles north of Blythe, California are three Intaglios or Geoglyphs. Geoglyphs are difficult to date, so archaeologists have no way of knowing their age. According to Mohave and Quechan tribes of the lower Colorado River area, the human figures represent Mastamho, the Creator of Earth and all life. The animal figure represent Hatakulya, one of two mountain lions/persons who helped in the Creation.
The human figure.
The animal figure. The figures are best viewed from the air, but that wasn't an option, so we viewed them from the ground.
My boys.
From the Intanglios we could see a lake in the distance and decided to try and find it.
We found a small community of park models built by the lake, along with a boat launch and restaurant.
Near the boat ramp we saw this tree .... don't know what it is but we liked it.
One of the 21 geocaches Ed found today. We really liked these ones as they were easy finds. One of my favorites was in a tube attached to a sign post. Ed stared at it for a while wondering how to get the cache out of the tube when he spotted a jar filled with water. We put our fingers over the holes in the tube and poured in the water, the cache floated to the top, Ed grabbed it then put the jar under the main hole and removed our fingers to fill the jar up again.
The Palo Verde Diversion Dam is earthen and rock fill, built solely to divert water into irrigation canals serving the Palo Verde Irrigation District. Construction of the dam, which began in 1956 and ended in 1958, was authorized by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The dam was constructed to raise the water level of the river because the upstream Hoover and Davis Dams blocked sediment, causing significant degradation of the riverbed that hampered water diversion.
Just down from the dam was this pedestrian bridge.
Not sure why it is covered in fencing material but it makes and interesting photo.
The human figure.
The animal figure. The figures are best viewed from the air, but that wasn't an option, so we viewed them from the ground.
My boys.
From the Intanglios we could see a lake in the distance and decided to try and find it.
We found a small community of park models built by the lake, along with a boat launch and restaurant.
Near the boat ramp we saw this tree .... don't know what it is but we liked it.
One of the 21 geocaches Ed found today. We really liked these ones as they were easy finds. One of my favorites was in a tube attached to a sign post. Ed stared at it for a while wondering how to get the cache out of the tube when he spotted a jar filled with water. We put our fingers over the holes in the tube and poured in the water, the cache floated to the top, Ed grabbed it then put the jar under the main hole and removed our fingers to fill the jar up again.
The Palo Verde Diversion Dam is earthen and rock fill, built solely to divert water into irrigation canals serving the Palo Verde Irrigation District. Construction of the dam, which began in 1956 and ended in 1958, was authorized by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The dam was constructed to raise the water level of the river because the upstream Hoover and Davis Dams blocked sediment, causing significant degradation of the riverbed that hampered water diversion.
Just down from the dam was this pedestrian bridge.
Not sure why it is covered in fencing material but it makes and interesting photo.