Adventure

You Don’t Fear What You Don’t Know

Opening:
Fear is a strange thing. It doesn’t show up until you know there’s something to be afraid of.

What (The Story):
In this video, I take you back to my younger, bolder days—riding a sky bike over a deep canyon while my brother swings across the gap below me, climbing sheer cliffs without ropes, and chasing adrenaline like it owed me something. I was fearless—or so I thought.

Fast forward to life after the Army. I went to work for a mining company and spent long days prospecting for gold with a 70-year-old man named Bob. On one trip deep in the New Mexico mountains near Mogollon, I hauled a heavy pack full of equipment for hours—until Bob told me to set it down and casually pulled out three sticks of dynamite.

I had been carrying explosives the whole time without knowing it. If I had known… would I have been more cautious? Would fear have changed the way I walked, moved, or breathed?

Lesson:
That moment taught me something that’s stuck with me ever since:
You don’t fear what you don’t know.

Sometimes ignorance protects us from fear—but sometimes it blinds us to danger. In this story, I explore how fear, awareness, and risk all connect in ways we don’t always expect.

A Gentle Explorer, Gone Too Soon
In Memory of Andrew — A Soul Who Listened to the Stones

Yesterday, we lost someone extraordinary.
Andrew Cross, a soft-spoken adventurer and beloved YouTube creator, passed away after a tragic car accident. He had been on life support, but the world grew quieter the moment he slipped away.

I never met Andrew face to face.
But I walked with him.

Like many, I found myself returning to his channel not just for the ruins or the landscapes, but for the peace he carried into every frame.
Andrew wandered the wild places most of us only dream of—remote canyons in Arizona, Utah, and Colorado, where silence stretches for miles and time slows to a whisper.
He searched for the forgotten homes of ancient peoples—Ancestral Puebloans, cliff dwellers, the ones who came before—and he treated those spaces with reverence, never rush.

His narration was calm, kind, and full of wonder. He didn’t just document ruins—he let the ruins speak.
And in doing so, he gave us more than content. He gave us stillness. He gave us reverence.
He gave us permission to slow down and see.

There was something sacred about the way Andrew moved through the wilderness, never demanding attention, never selling anything—just offering moments.
Moments of awe.
Moments of beauty.
Moments of connection, with the land, with the past, and with each other.

Many of us explore the same canyons.
But Andrew…
Andrew brought them home to us.

He was a bridge between this world and another—between the fast-paced noise of our daily lives and the ancient hush of stone and wind.
He showed us what it means to walk gently, to speak softly, to live fully.

Today, the canyons feel a little emptier.
But Andrew’s spirit lingers in every sunlit wall, in every petroglyph shadow, in every moment we stop and simply listen.

Rest easy, Andrew.
The trails are quieter now, but the story you told lives on.

#InMemoryOfAndrew #TheCanyonsRemember #WildernessSoul #AncientRuins #SoftSpokenExplorer #GoneTooSoon #OwlEncounter #AndrewTribute #StillnessSpeaks #ExploreWithRespect

A Haunting Owl Encounter in the Black Range Wilderness of New Mexico

Deep in the rugged Black Range Mountains of New Mexico, my father, our friend David, Larry, and I had an experience that still gives us chills to this day. While searching for the legendary Lost Adam’s Diggings, we stumbled upon a site we believed matched historical descriptions of where Adam’s party was slaughtered over a century ago. There were traces of old campfires, relics of a long-gone campsite, and even strange Spanish carvings on nearby trees, hinting at the presence of Conquistadors in the area.

That night, while camping at the site, something highly unusual happened. A Mexican Spotted Owl—a bird known for its solitary nature—flew in and perched only a few feet from where we sat. Then more arrived. Before long, we were surrounded by what seemed to be a growing parliament of owls, all watching us intently. The lead owl emitted bizarre vocalizations, nothing like the hoots we expected. Their behavior became increasingly erratic and aggressive, and we eventually had to retreat into our tents for safety.

Although we only counted about 11 owls in person, the pictures we took revealed dozens of glowing eyes staring at us from the darkness beyond the camp. Our camera stopped working shortly after, and when we reviewed the memory card later at the hotel, what we saw was disturbing—far more owls than we remembered, captured in eerie and unnatural poses.

Local forest rangers were stunned, stating they’d never seen or heard of Spotted Owls gathering in such numbers or acting in that way. When we asked members of a local Apache community, their response was even more chilling: the owls were spirits of the dead—guardians of sacred places, watchers from beyond.

Owl Symbolism in Native American Cultures

In many Native American traditions, owls are deeply symbolic and often feared. Among the Apache, owls are associated with death and the afterlife, considered messengers from the spirit world. The Hopi often view them as harbingers of sorcery and bad omens, while tribes like the Cherokee see owls as sacred symbols of wisdom, insight, and transition.

Some groups such as the Lakota Sioux believe owls serve as protectors of souls crossing into the afterlife, while the Zuni hold them as spirits of the night who connect the natural and spiritual worlds. These beliefs, layered with our encounter, have left us with far more questions than answers.

The Mystery of the Lost Adams Diggings and the Spirits of the Black Range

The Lost Adams Diggings is one of the most enduring treasure legends of the American Southwest. Descriptions speak of a canyon rich in gold, cursed by bloodshed and tragedy. Some believe those who died protecting its location still haunt the region, watching over their claim. We may have been near the very place where those fabled events occurred, and it’s possible our strange experience was more than just coincidence.

From the Spanish colonial markings to the sudden appearance of the owls, every part of that expedition felt charged with something ancient and unseen. Was this a natural oddity? A spiritual warning? A rare moment when the past reached out to the present?

Nature’s Role: The Mexican Spotted Owl and Its Importance

The Mexican Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis lucida) is a threatened species native to the southwestern United States and parts of Mexico. Unlike many other owls, it prefers to live and hunt alone. These owls are vital to the health of forest ecosystems, preying on rodents and maintaining a balanced food chain. Their habitat is mostly made up of steep canyons and dense forests—places like the Black Range.

Other species, such as the Great Horned Owl, Barn Owl, and Screech Owl, also play key roles in natural systems. Despite their beauty, owls have long been linked to the mysterious and unknown—perhaps because they rule the night with silent wings and unblinking eyes.

Still Searching for Answers

Even now, we don’t fully understand what we witnessed that night. The memory remains vivid—and unsettling. Whether it was a rare animal phenomenon, a deeply spiritual moment, or something paranormal, it’s a story we feel compelled to share.

If you’ve experienced something similar, or if you’ve heard of owls acting this way, please share your story. Some things in this world may never be explained—but sharing them might bring us closer to the truth.

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