The other day, I was out scouting in the middle of nowhere when I came something special.
I was making my way across unnamed dirt roads when, in the distance, I saw what looked like an abandoned stone house…
Of course I had to pull over and take a look. I love finding these places, desert homes that are miraculously still standing often a century after they were built…
Typically, they’re reclaimed by local kids as a place to hang out, drink, smoke, the usual. This one was particularly large…
And even had a second little home out back, with its own miniature fireplace:
Then I noticed something odd nearby: a block-like structure with stairs leading up to it. At first, I thought it was a cistern, but there was one higher up on the hill. What could it be?
I looked inside – and the rounded stairs in the corner gave it away: this was a pool! And there was more…
On the stairs leading up to the pool, I saw some writing and took a closer look. What I found amazed me…
“Started Oct 1944; Finished Oct 1945.” Absolutely incredible. At a time when this area could not have been more inaccessible and remote, someone took it upon themselves to build not only a home, but a pool…
Then I realized this wasn’t the only trace left by the family that lived here over eighty years ago. Lining the pool were several buttress-like steps…
And as I looked closer, I was amazed to see handprints and names from the family. Here we have “ELIZABETH” and her nickname, “BETTY”:
Others were so faded that it was impossible to read the writing…
And for others still, the writing was almost completely gone:
But one was still particularly legible, a special spot reserved at the head of the pool…
Pop and mom. The two who had somehow created a home in the middle of nowhere.
This is why I love what I do. You think you’ve seen it all. You stare out at a vast empty desert plain and think: there’s nothing out there. Then you start exploring – and it turns out, you couldn’t have been more wrong.
Never stop exploring.
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