Paranormal Research Forum

19th Annual

to the San Luis Valley ~ 2007

We had another fun and interesting year down at the Sand Dunes in South Central Colorado. The weather was outstanding for the entire weekend. It was great to get to know each other a little better. Dave and Lea arrived a couple days before before the group having the chance to see a light display in the night clouds that defied any conventional explanation. The drive in south on Highway 17 some got to watch an intense mini hail storm.

There were lots of tent sites available to us in Group Site 5 but but they weren't as centralized this year. When we arrived we found out they had moved us from Group Site 4, we had reserved, to 5 which was a little confusing for those arriving quite late. Ken Swartz found an ideal place to have our campfire and watch the sky as well as the Sand Dunes.

David Navarro was kind enough to take this photo of some of the gang and shared some of his experiences during the many years he lived in the San Luis Valley. Thomas Peay also talked about many stories he has researched in the Valley plus his personal experiences. He has quite an extensive history of paranormal activity and unique locations especially further south near the NM border. It's a great area to get away from the City and experience a more natural pace. The clear night skies in the area just can't be beat.

We had some outstanding weather and some great light displays in the sky viewed from the trailhead to Zapata Falls. Falling/ shooting stars and meteors shot around the highly visible Milky Way. The other unusual light activity was not conclusive enough place in an extraterrestrial category. The evening before our arrival one couple viewed a light display in the night Valley sky that was not believed to be military. Three nights before our gathering the Oasis Restaurant Owner's son witnessed a fantastic light display on, and over, the Dunes that could not be explained by any conventional rationale.

We sat around Friday's campfire overlooking the Valley and the sand Dunes while learning of others experiences with UFOs including many of their sightings in the Valley.

Alejandro Rojas was kind enough to share insights into the San Luis Valley history and local UFO activity as well as additional UFO related information throughout Colorado. Learning tips on what to notice during a UFO sighting was quite helpful. He also covered the recent UFO Watchtower/ MUFON event held nearby a couple of weeks prior including the UFO sighting by several people with photos documentation and several attendees reporting lost time on digital and analog watches and 3 different cell phone services.

About 20 adventurous souls made the trek up to Zapata Falls and toughed the ice cold waters that was in places above the knee to enter the narrow rock canyon to the 70' dramatic falls at the end. A couple dozen sky watchers scattered in and around the circular seating area that overlooks the Valley and Dunes. The crystal clear skies in the pristine valley had occasional clouds passing by but the evening was perfect

Most made a trip into the Sand Dunes National Monument and god to wade through the temporary river that periodically flows through the sand flats between the parking area and the 700'+ Dune mountains. Because of the tremendous amount of rain this year there were still a couple of inches of water meandering across the sand flats.

It's difficult to picture their size of the Dunes until you stand at the base and realize it's really a mountain range. Certainly an oddity for Colorado. It was fun to wade along the shallow river watching the kids engrossed in this magical bizarre playground. Some playful people made sand channels to divert the stream others tried their hand at fun projects like the sand gator in the photo on the right. Not to be confused with the real "Gator farm" down the road.

Making it to the top of the sand is an enormous task and I'm pretty certain none in our group made it. Not even Jason Cordova's Crypto-Science group from Metro State College. We spoke with people from different parts of the world (mostly European countries visiting the Dunes). Waves move up the river when it's deeper.

Sand Gator

Saturday evening's trip up to Zapata Falls, about 20 minutes south of camp, was made by about half of the group of three dozen. The water level was a little low but as cold as ever. By the time you wade back the canyon to the falls your feet are numb if you're wearing sandals.

I wore my flip-flops and lost both in the fast water but Alejandro retreived one. I'm not sure if he found the flip or the flop but it's just not the same.

Zapata Falls has always been a sacred place for the spiritual elders of the many tribes that lived in the Valley (known as the "Peaceful Valley" by Native Americans). Although our trip was quite fast back to the falls you could tell it would be a different experience if you spent time there.

According to Christopher O'Brien, author of three books about the paranormal activity in the Valley Conquitadors in the mid 1700's refused to go into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on two occasions because of the floating lights over the mountains and the rumblings from under the mountain. Obviously these were not the Air force.

In the 1950s for approximately 2 yearsn there were US Army troops above the falls working on a construction project that there don't seem to be any official reasons for.

About 30 joined us at the kiva-like trailhead that overlooks the Valley. It's a beautiful view from the side of the mountain especially as sunset turns to twilight then to the evening sky. The Milkyway and the tens of thousands of stars were incredible. Those that looked through Mark Stahl's Night Vision scope were amazed to see how many more stars there were especially in the areas that seemed completely dark.

Most of us stopped by the UFO Watchtower and visited Judy. She showed us a French website that covered the UFO sighting three weekends before. She also had a local TV reporter from New York City that had been there before and covered the Watchtower. She interviewed Judy and I briefly on video about the sighting I and several others had seen and reported on the MUFON and NUFORC sites. Felt kind of silly but I keep forgetting most people haven't seen a UFO before (at least to their knowledge). So many of then treks I/ we've been on are being covered by the media. I think I'll add a news page so we have a conventional history acknowledgment for the record.

By the way...if any of you have any pictures of people in the group or got any other great pictures it would be nice if you could e-mail them to me.

Thanks for an enjoyable memory friends!