Expeditionhighway Enjoy Creative Wild Adventure

Hello Friends

     I have a lot to share with you, are you ready?  A story of true adventure, it's a long and drawn out story, but that's the way it happened.  I got pictures to prove it.  Four days ago, I felt the desire to travel to Lake City, Colorado.  I wanted to find out what kind of country I'd be getting myself and the production company DCH films and Entertainment into.  What rugged wilderness would we have to endure?  I also wanted to find out what kind of transportation we would need.

     Lastly, I also wanted to grab some photographs to share.  Well folks, did I jump into the fire pit on this trip.  In fact ....I made the Lake City News!  Well, it is adventure after all, that I'm seeking for our show.  I just wish I would have had a film crew up in those mountains with me.

     We have to get permits before we can bring the crew in, and all the fine tuned modern fancy things that need to be done.  Its looking like next summer before we can kick this all off ....I'm pushing for this summer myself, so wish me luck folks.  Anyhow, back to the story, the first day in the San Juan mountains I camped by old Henson creek. I arrived right around dark, and I set up a fire pit and built myself a nice fire.  As I sat around the camp, I grabbed the Indian flute and played a bit.  When the fire died down, I crashed with excitement for the next day...

     I woke the next morning with the beautiful sound of the creek flowing beside me.  I thought to myself, it's time to get the expedition on the road.  I started up my truck and drove to where ever it was going to take me.  I have never been in this part of the wilderness before, so I headed down 20, a dirt road right outside Lake City.  I was

looking for caves and caverns.  I found two that I inspected the first day.  What a climb! And they were both shallow, but what a view!  I have photos that you can look at if you would like.

     I went a lot of places on the fist full day.  I traveled into meadows, up and down hills, getting some wonderful pictures.  Old mines and history even some gold bearing rock.  I cooked up some bratwurst and a nice thick steak big enough to take me through the next day.  I camped the next night down in the meadow... I woke to a deer passing by.  I grabbed a few pictures, of course, and then with the idea of  finding a few mines, I headed out to the right this time!

     As I traveled up the north fork, I was stopped by a couple of quads in the middle of the road.  I waited, I was in no hurry.  A couple of men came down off the hill side, apologizing for blocking the road.  I said it was no big deal, I'm looking around myself.  We talked about gold for a bit, and the history of that country.  They were from Texas trying to escape the heat, and enjoying the wilderness.  They enjoyed the history, and searching for gold, we had a good conversation!  It is always good to meet new people.  We parted company.

     I was about to stumble upon something which was the farthest thing from my imagination.  As I drove up the road, I looked up  and spotted what appeared to be a big cave.  So I parked.  It was a ways up the hill.  But I figured it was something that looked like I would love to explore.  I made my way up to it.

     It was raining when I got to the base of the opening.  It  looked a little dangerous, but I started up the face of the rock.  It started hailing, so I came back down.  When the hail stopped, I looked up again, and I thought to myself, I need to put my mountain goat spirit on and get up in that cave.I started the climb and made it to the top.  I entered the entrance, and took a quick look around.  I was in search of a calaverite vein, and saw only dirt.  I took my pack off and pulled up a rock.  I opened a beer, and took in the view.  When my beer was done, I grabbed my camera and took a few shots.

     I thought to myself: I need to find something in here to take back for memory.  So I stood up, turned around, looked down, and saw a feather.  I bent over to pick it up and glanced up toward the corner of the shallow cave.  That's when it happened, I saw a human hand sticking up out of the dirt, that's not normal! I went a little closer, and I saw a wire on the hand.  I saw, it was also missing three fingers. I thought perhaps,  they supported people's hands like that, back in the old days?  I  picked up a stick and dug a little bit, and found ribs!  I dropped the stick!  I had never found anything like this in my life!  I immediately turned away and spoke a few words.  I said, "Help me get down from here and I will go get some one that will take you out of here and get you to your proper place."

     I made it back to my truck, then marked the area with red trail tape.  I then headed down the mountain ....On my way I came across a US forest truck, so I pulled over.  I got out of my truck and walked down the road to where I saw some campers, and asked if they had seen the US Forest Service person.  One of the campers said she had gone up the road about a hour ago, but she should be back down soon, so I walked the road, but I couldn't find her up top.  I came back down and waited for a couple of hours because the camper said she should be back shortly.  She did not have gear to camp or stay long and said she was just going up to check things out. Not wanting to leave, I waited.  I hiked up again: still no sight of her, I guess I didn't go far enough ....I came back down and waited until it got dark then.

     I figured she must have a camp on top somewhere with all her gear up there already for her, so I left and went into town to contact the authorities.

     All the stores were closed. I saw a man and his wife with a fire in their backyard.  I asked them where the sheriffs department was. They said there is no one there. They let me borrow their phone to call 911, thus the night spent in my truck in front of the sheriffs office.  The next day we went back up to remove the skeleton.  There is a great ending to the story.  It was a medical skeleton made out of real bones.  So it was time for him or her to come back into town and travel where ever it can help people learn about the human body.

     I love Adventure and I found it up there, hook line and sinker.  We took the photos that day.  The day before, I was in such a hurry to get out of there, I didn't even take a picture.  We can only hope we never have to find the real thing.  Gold, on the other hand, is more then welcome.  I have requested the Lake City newspaper, The Silver World, send me a copy of the article.  I will post it on this site when I receive it.

     Thank you to the search and recovery team, and all that got involved in this event; they all treated me with the utmost respect, even after we found out that it was a medical skeleton.  They never made me feel like an idiot.  So if you find something like this, try not to mess around with it.  You might be destroying something valuable.

     Our goal folks, is to travel the United States in search for adventure, tales of lost and hidden treasure, or anything that is going on out there in the world that would make for good healthy TV.  So stay tuned for the Expedition Highway, you see what kind of stuff I can get myself into, I hope it rises your interest enough to come spend some time with me in the wilderness around the United States in the near future. I hope to see you then.  All your responses to this blog are welcome.  We are in this world together, let's enjoy life on the road with the Expedition Highway!  You can now view the news

article about my find on our news update page.

-Jeff Burch