UTE Valley Rock Face “Revisted”
In July of 2007 I worked an investigation where an eye witness had seen strange lights here in Colorado Springs. The location of the sighting was the UTE Valley Park near the Garden of the Gods park. The investigation involved a teenager who had multiple experiences including, unusual lights seen coming out of the trees, and had also heard very unusual sounds around him. The eye witness had his first experience of strange lights in August of 2006 then again in January and February of 2007. When he and his friend saw the unknown lights again in July, he decided he needed to report it as well as his previous sightings.
I met the witness at the Paranormal Starbucks (the local coffee shop where my team meets) and we discussed his sightings. He took me out to the area deep within the UTE Valley park, on a foot trail which isn’t heavily traveled. His night time sighting included lights traveling through the trees heading in his direction. Thinking it was a “very quiet” ATV, he realized it was something else when the lights started rising about mid tree level. He and his friend decided to leave. Very quickly. Running as fast as they could.
At this time I asked him where he and his friend were standing when they saw the unusual lights. He responded, “Up in the rocks near the old face carving.” I said, “Up in the rocks, ok.” “Near the what?” He said, “By the old rock carvings. They’ve been there for as long as I remember.” “Ok”, I said, “First I’ll handle the UFO sighting, next I want to learn more about the rock carvings”.
Enter the “UTE Valley Rock Face” carvings.
I decided to revisit the UTE Valley Rock Face investigation when I came across this book. “Weird Colorado”. I was walking through Costco when I saw this book. I thought to myself, “This looks interesting”. So I picked up the book and started thumbing through the pages. Pages 56 and 57 really caught my attention.
It was my investigation! Late 2008 and early 2009, I decided to go public with the UTE Valley Rock Face hoping for some help trying to understand the origins of the carvings. I had talked with so many journalists about the investigation back then, that I guess I forgot one of them was associated with the Weird Colorado publications. When I speak with the media, I always give them permission to use my pictures and print my interviews, this way my investigations can be experienced by those readers who don’t visit this wonderful site.
Ok, now you’re asking, “Chuck, why did you wait until 2009 to release information on a 2007 investigation? And that, my friends, is the thousand dollar question. “Why in the hell did I wait!” This is why.
First I had to work the actual sighting investigation near the rock face. Second, in between other investigations, I started researching the history of Colorado Springs looking for clues. I was also researching who I could speak with about these strange carvings. They’re not my carvings, I just named them, “The UTE Valley Rock Face”.
I contacted the Colorado Parks and Recreation and convinced one of their representatives to accompany me to the site. He was amazed! He had never seen anything like this before and requested a short period of time to research it. I agreed. Well upon multiple phone messages, I guess he wasn’t quite that amazed because he never returned my calls.
Next I contacted a group of hobbyists who study Colorado’s rock art. I thought, these guys would know what this is because they study and photograph rock carvings. I contacted the head of the group, (name on file) explained what was at the park, and invited them to the site. A group of individuals met me at the entrance to the park and with my trusty hand held Garmin GPS, I took them to the site. Oh yes, this site is off the beaten path of trails and is hard to find even when you are standing within feet of it! Well the group was amazed, some excited, one or two bewildered, and one skeptical. The skeptic said, “Well this looks out of place and not indigenous to the UTE Indians.” I said, “Duh!”
The UTE Indians:
The Ute Indians are the only Native Americans indigenous to Colorado. Publications say they were the first aboriginal group in North America to use horses acquired from the Spanish in the early 1600s. They were the last tribe in the West to “unfortunately” be forced to reservation life. The park in which the Rock Face resides, is saturated with remnants of the UTE culture. Nearby at the Garden of the Gods park, grinding stones were found along with pieces of arrow heads and other artifacts. El Paso County in which Colorado Springs resides, was named for the UTE Pass Trail. El Paso (Spanish for “the pass”) was the trail worn into a wide road by generations of migrating Indians traveling with horses and dragging their tee-pee poles. Later the same trail was followed by mountain men, explorers and yet later by gold prospectors (ie., Cripple Creek). This trail is now our U.S. Highway 24. The UTE Indians remained friendly to the settlers migrating into Colorado Springs with open trade while sharing the wild game in the area.
Now back to the rock art group. I had asked if the carvings could be from the UTE tribe. They didn’t think so based on previous UTE carvings they had seen. I then asked if the carvings could have been done by early settlers to the region. Colorado Springs was founded in July of 1871. Well these carvings look almost Mayan and not European, so unless the originator was a European sculpture mimicking early Mayan carvings, your guess is as good as mine. The rock art group asked for a short period of time to research these carvings and I guess they lost interest or thought the carvings were not worth the effort to research, so they never got back to me. Shoot! Strike two!
Strike three, was when my wife and I took a photo album of pictures I had of the carvings to a local archaeologist. We met him at his home. Not to be disrespectful, but I would have got more information out of Mr. Magoo! (look him up if you don’t know who I’m referencing)
Now you know why there was such a lapse in time from my first learning of the carvings to releasing the information to the public. So the decision was made to go public with it and let the viewers and readers help me try to find the origin of the carvings. If the carvings are from Colorado Springs’ early history, then it’s part of this city’s heritage. If the carvings are from, let’s say, a Kokopelli type traveller from the Yucatan Peninsula migrating through this part of North America, then that would be cool. What we do know is the carvings appear to be old and weathered, but no one in that field of expertise will take the time to go to that location and verify this. I guess there’s always something more important they would rather do.
What I can tell you about the UTE Valley Park and nearby Garden of the Gods park is, “The area was very special to the Native Americans living here.” Like certain locations in San Luis Valley, Colorado, there’s also something very unique and mystifying about these two parks. Strange lights have been seen, UFOs have been spotted, abduction cases have been reported, and Bigfoot creatures have been seen! This part of Colorado is not only a great place to live but also a great place to investigate. As for the UTE Valley Rock Face, well only time will tell us of its origin, and right now we have nothing but time.
Category: Chuck Zukowski, In the News, Miscellaneous, Orbs, Lights & Shadows, The Z-Files
