I Found This on Google Earth…and It Shouldn’t Be There!

Comments · 879

• US

  @usmcmustang2972 · 4 months ago (edited)

  That is not a prehistoric hunting wall.  It is a Basque drift wall.  Made to stop sheep from pouring over the ridge,  on a high sloped surface where sheep like to be.. built by Basque sheep herders in the late 1800s. Those types of walls are all over Colorado,  Utah and New Mexico.  Seemingly going nowhere.  However the purpose is simple.  Sheep up against the wall.  A dog on either end and the herder camped in the bottom center.  It makes it extremely hard for coyote predators to attack from the wall side,  easier for the dogs to retain the herd and knocks the wind down. I'm surprised you hadn't heard or seen this before..

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• OS

  @ostrichdoc · 4 months ago

  The ranchers took advantage of something that was already there.

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• EL

  @elizabethschaer9636 · 4 months ago

  Beautiful flowers, beautiful snake, beautiful lichen. Thanks for taking the time to share them with us.

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• KI

  @kimstevens6136 · 4 months ago

  I think your idea of the rancher taking advantage of the wall has merit

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• RO

  @rossmacintosh5652 · 4 months ago

  Jeff, I really respect how you accept the challenges that come with your treks and don't complain. We all know there's almost countless challenges encountered, that most people would complain about if they faced them too. Somehow you don't engulf yourself in negativity and I applaud you for it. 👍🏻👍🏻

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• ST

  @statue98 · 4 months ago

  A hike with you Jeff, is never a disappointment.  Thanks for taking us all along on your adventures.

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• DA

  @daniellemb1592 · 4 months ago (edited)

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TSs-c45Occ&amp;t=117">1:57</a> -&gt; &nbsp;Arrowleaf Balsamroot &nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TSs-c45Occ&amp;t=121">2:01</a> -&gt; Fleabane (Erigeron) &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TSs-c45Occ&amp;t=406">6:46</a> -&gt; Pacific gopher snake (non-venomous) &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; - &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;If I&apos;m not mistaken.... &nbsp;🫣​

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• AO

  @aok412 · 4 months ago

  It looks like the first HOA dispute.

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• MY

  @My2ndnephew · 4 months ago

  IMO, that rock wall feels so much older than the barbed wire.

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• GP

  @gpquackenbos · 4 months ago

  It&apos;s probably irrelevant since Arkansas (lush with 52&quot; of rain a year) has a very different climate from the American West, but these kinds of walls are common here. Farmers in central and western Arkansas cleared arable land full of rocks by stacking the rocks along property lines (1890s–1910s). Crop farming switched to cattle ranching probably in the 1940s with the advent of mechanization, so now the stone walls are basically used as fences to keep cattle in/out. I&apos;ve seen a couple of my cattle-ranching neighbors buy property, clear the rocks, and stack them within the last couple of years. It&apos;s not as labor intensive as it used to be and worth the effort to keep the cattle safe, I guess. Like I said, maybe not applicable in your area, but that sure is what those walls look like.

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• TR

  @Troglodyte1973 · 4 months ago

  The wall is most definitely much older than the fence. Appreciate all your effort. ❤

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• CR

  @craigcorson3036 · 4 months ago

  I can&apos;t imagine any wild animal being more than slightly inconvenienced by such a short wall. They&apos;d be over it in an instant. Sheep or goats, on the other hand, would likely see it as a territorial limit - not that they couldn&apos;t leap over it in a pinch, but they&apos;d know that it&apos;s a boundary.

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