My friends of the paranormal world and one of the curious I know these reports do not come often but I go out almost every two weeks doing some pretty heavy investigations. Each time you never know what you might get sometimes you go because it feels right. Sometimes hiking turns into more sometimes darkness sets in and you see things you should not. But even if you do not see it does not mean its not there thus I planned an expedition of Grapevine Canyon & Spirit Mountain. 
 
This is a very vast area of mountains, dirt trails, caves, petroglyphs, Indian burial grounds, UFO sightings, rock formations, waterfalls and legends. Its also an area with heavy foliage especially grapevines and large trees. At one time the pass in the area was decorated with xmas trees from local visitors. I never have room for error considering I was taking my family on this outing it had to be done right. I had to make sure we had all sorts of equipment for the trip including allot of food as it was very rare to have all my boys together to visit such a cool place.
 
Some of you near the southwest know that its a place as old as 3000 years old where ancient tribes once etched petroglyphs on the rocks or shaman’s did rituals from with-on its peak. Some say its one of the oldest sites in the world others say that those glyphs tell us another story one where those tribes at one time were visited by ancient astronauts also to you known as aliens.
 
I wanted to take my family on this trip you see its rare I get all my boys together. But its even more rare to have them all get along. My sons are all climbers, hikers and explorers. Very young still but yet so curious or perhaps like any kid a big place can seem like a castle to explore. Well you see this location is one big giant castle even to someone as old as me or even you. Even getting out of the car for a break they were running all over and couldn't wait to see this place.
 
I had taken my son to the dentist then went to the store to buy enough food and drinks to last us throughout the day. We set out early around 10:30am it was very dreary, foggy, raining hard and chilly. I had hoped by traveling to southern NV that the weather would be a bit warmer and that the rain would break.
 
I thought this is a strange day because it didn't look like it would rain when I woke up. I seen breaks then hit the road and seen one hell of a dark day. My music cd was not working hell if the kids were not their I might have listened to my own radio show on disc what the hell right:) The night before was odd also because in my own house I had an encounter with a ghost it was real believe me. I have learned that the paranormal is always going to be near me no matter if I were to hide what would be the point.  Thus anybody I know probably will understand the work that goes into an exploration. My kids they always want to know what it is I do so do some of you and so I either tell you about it or I just show you.
 
We traveled a long highway of rain sometimes fog passed the roads it was hard to see I listened to music the boys were like wanting to hike bad. They just wanted to move their legs run around they were excited about this place. Someday maybe if the world does not end ha they can enjoy the outdoors the way its supposed to be enjoyed. So my main priority would be safety everybody sticks together.....I scope ahead......I lend a hand or if you fall I catch you etc etc
 
I definitely was prepared had a knew knife my kids hear enough of me talking about big kitties in the mountains. I will definitely take on one and put myself in front of one if needed. You see cats like the good Lord just ask mine sneezer he seems to be more human then animal at times. But I also brought lights and other things in case we seen one which we never do.
 
Our turn off would be almost 90 minutes from home down a place called Xmas Tree Pass. Its a fairly long road their were signs for 4wheel vehicles I took the car and kept her moving. It would not have been to bad but the rain caused holes in the road and bars of sand....rocks were moved around.....after about 16 miles of driving in the fog the rain was a bit lighter.
 
My son said if I have such powers make the rain go away haha you know how kids are always challenging their fathers. On this pass we were going around various mountains as the desert dissipated behind us. The fog around the rock formations and mountains gave the place a very eerie sense. Everybody was in the car quiet Tammy is like its always an adventure. 
 
I had gotten out a few times to take pictures and my eyes just could not believe how scenic this place was. If some of you remember I did the ghost town of Nelson and Jubilee mine just south of these mountains and river lies a land full of strange rock formations and glyphs and so I knew we had arrived at Grapevine Canyon and Spirit Mountain.
 
Grapevine Canyon and Spirit Mountain
 
Just being here for me was an honor watch the movie the 4th kind which is a rather disturbing alien documentary on abduction. Then visit the entrance to Grapevine Canyon put the two together. Anyhow the boys seen the signs on the stones one depicted a flying craft while another looked like a being of some sort.

The boys and I got warmed up quick as the rain started to slow during our quarter mile hike to the entrance to the canyon. I was happy to see the rain calm down to a stop but knew it would not be over as many dark clouds were low. As we explored the entrance we found a cave or rather many rocks piling on eachother to make small dry shelters you could go into to keep out of the rain. Inside the one room cave were many glyphs on the rocks it was pretty cool.
 
To my youngest it was a dream come true since he asked me for months to go to the mountains. Many people in the west live in them but they do not go past the breaches of civilization. However is it not true that such areas do hold secrets. Many thought such places were under-worlds, secret ancient caves, UFO visitation areas etc.
 
I had no plans to do anything extreme but hike and hike see as much of the canyon as I could. Along the way we would see boulders as big as houses perhaps even one like you seen in the Indiana Jones movie when he is running from it.
 
Once we hiked up over some rocks we noticed multiple trails.....in the center of the canyon laid a stream it would be hard at times to not get your feet wet by stepping in a almost a foot of water in some of the pools. So I was careful to maneuver around them as the water was icy cold.
 
I was looking forward to seeing barrel cactuses that turned bright red in the rain. As we went into the canyon it at times became narrow sometimes very wide and sandy. Other times the canyon had black walls with many holes in them going a few hundred feet up. At times I felt a little watched from many of the higher mountains around us. I felt great energy here and of course the Hopi believed the world started here.

In my opinion as we hiked on for two hours we never realized how far we went or deep. You climb over this rock....going into tunnels of rocks.....going up little sandy hills edging the foliage in the center of the canyon. The fog was covering various peaks and sometimes when they became exposes I seen tiers of more mountains but mountains with really odd formations of stacked rocks sometimes even holes you might guess at being hard to get to caves.

My kids became quite drawn in also the rain came down at times so hard and they refused to let up much like I did. We ran into another guy and his boy hiking back out but only around noonnish. We had plenty of time but darkness seemed to already have set on in. We were all soaked but at times the temperature seemed to be warmer in parts of the canyon and in some of the shelters we had found.
 
We came to a small waterfall with a pool which the boys sat on in front of. Despite the rains the hike went very well lots of scenic shots lots of good shots for our website. At times the rocks were slippery everything was wet and every part of the canyon had a different type of terrain.
 
As we would work our way up the canyon there would be areas were the ground was just level then soon it would be another hour of climbing as the canyon works in tiers. Further into the canyon we had took a left as the canyon seemed to have branched out a little.
 
This branch was not as interesting although at the end of it we climbed a hill and found a place to eat lunch at. The problem was that when it rained minutes later the rocks we took shelter in would flood with water so we had to keep moving. I took us all over a ridge back into the main canyon.
 
Just a little ways up into the main part of grapevine canyon was an area with giant trees, brush....actual woods almost. We had to sometimes go under trees.....push our way through vines......and follow the stream. The kids were excited its very rare in the desert to see such lush life growing all over. The trees were dead it gave the whole area an eerie feeling but they were some of the biggest I seen in NV.
 
When we managed to get past that we also seen a white rock that was slanted that we had to cross carefully. However another area that had stuck on out was this narrow stone canyon with pools of water. My youngest went around them like they were nothing my son was like dad dare you to do the matrix and bounce off the wall and avoid the pool. Well I did surprisingly however as I was running and pushing off one of the walls my backpack fell off into a pool of ice water everything got wet. Lucky for me everything was still wrapped on up.
 
It seemed at times endless just imagine following a stream for an hour straight knowing your going deeper into the mountains. The clouds were so close to us the rain didn't let up at times however at one moment I seen the sun trying to peek its way through. I could not believe all the odd rock formations yet despite how many little caves we crawled on into no more petroglyphs not even one little one on any rock.
 
At times I seen native American burial grounds but one area that was the coolest in our trip was when we branched off left....we had to come down a smaller canyon with piles of rocks. The fun thing about all these big rocks is all we had to do is crawl....climb.....squeeze in holes....till we eventually made it to the bottom of the main canyon. Of course my kids thought they hit the lottery but for me some of those holes were very hard to crawl into then I would come into a room and have to climb into more. Later during the night we would not get so lucky sometimes going into caves ends up being dead ends. I felt lucky all of us could spend time in a maze like pile of rocks only to get through them with no blockage or drop offs.
 
When we reached deep in the canyon we had the final part to the trip reach one of the peaks at the end of it. I knew we did not have enough daylight to go up to the top of Spirit Mountain. But I also knew how to get there as the canyon ended in a split. The path to the right led up to the top of a ridge which you could follow to the peak of spirit Mountain. While the path to the left curved around this big hill and dead ended at a giant waterfall. Both paths had thousands of interesting rock formations.
 
I told Tammy to pick a peak to climb they were not large maybe a good half hour to the top of climbing with a few flat areas to rest.  She picked the peak to the left which was okay but the one to the right was one canyon closer to our way home.
 
When we reached the top I had no plans to take the same way as the slope we went up was steep....wet....lots of sand and loose stones. I was going to take us down to a stream bed below.....then follow that out to the main canyon. The boys had dinner at this peak.....this would be the closest we could get to spirit peak. The fog was surrounding it but it really was not all that far. If I had more daylight and their was a better view it might have been worth following the ridge to the top.
 
As we sat at the top I realized we were about 4000 feet almost up although the view was poor and I could not see Laughlin, Colorado River or the desert. The one thing I could see from above is the canyons surrounding us with all the various colors of rocks and weird rock formations. Their is no place like this place in the world ill leave it at that but you have to get up inside of it you cannot just hike you have to climb in the caves, rocks, through brush etc and see it for what it is.
 
The peak was windy I took the boys and Tammy down to that trail/stream hundreds of feet to our left....then I would cut right into the main ravine back to our car. As we worked our way down we had to be careful lots of thorn brushes, grapevines, sharp trees and cactus. We worked pretty hard to cut our path down to the upper stream. At times going under rocks....dropping down at times 6 feet etc I would at times lower my sons down if it was high up or catch them as they jumped into my arms holding on.
 
I had no room for error the night was falling fast and we were miles from the car. My sons said very little they just couldn't wait to go get some real hot food. When we came down into the canyon we were still almost 100 feet above grapevine canyon. I noticed their were parts of this area that suffered burning of some brush even some of the rocks here what happened? Did a UFO hover deep in this canyon causing burning on some of the tops and sides of the rocks.
 
I tried to get us down into the grapevine canyon when we reached a 15 foot cliff. It wasn't a sheer drop off just a steep wet slope. I told the kids remember Goonies....and soon enough I was on my back sliding down it landed on my feet....then the kids all did it thought it was the funnest thing and Tammy wasn't to sure about this one lol. We would slide down a bigger one eventually and although it looks deceiving yes it can be done but I taught the kids and Tammy how to do it right again its a do or die you either do it or live on spirit mountain lol.
 
We reached a lower tier and came down to another water slide this one perhaps over 20 feet I was like hmmmm maybe if I was by myself the hell with it right? Well I turned the kids and Tammy away I can only imagine how fast we would go at almost a vertical angle would have been fun like a super speed water slide but at the same time a possible ankle breaker and well we were miles from the car.
 
So again we had to hike back up where I found these two giant rocks split in half where the stream ran. These rocks were amazing something about them you could not even really climb them they were the size of houses. We went between them as their was a gradual descent down with caves and rocks.
 
The first few holes we crawled in and paths were tolerable. It was raining it kept us out of the hardcore elements. The peak was very cold early but crawling the rocks I could feel a warmth. It was dark my one son is like lets just camp in here make a fire and get shelter for the night.
 
Things went from a little climb and hike to a situation that became impossible. I always kept ahead of the kids and Tammy making sure the paths we took would be safe. At one point I was hiking I slipped my leg went down a hole I was pulling myself up for dear life another point my sneaker got stuck between a crevice almost had to go barefoot again because it almost came off and fell.
 
As we crawled through dark rock tunnels I came to an area we could stand up and I went around this rock and it had an angle it was went. I was leaning by back to a wall had my feet at an angle. If my feet slipped once I would fall down the slope and into a hole. I lifted each of my boys to a small flat area....my son he fell and I held onto him as he started to fall into this hole. When we reached the opening at the end of the rocks it was hopeless a sheer drop off and well this was it we were at the top of the waterfall we once visited during the daylight.
 
We found a little tunnel to our right which led us to the bottom of this hole we nearly fell down into. Basically what I found out is if you crawl the maze like tunnels all areas would connect. Well at the bottom of the hole was a sandy bottom someone had left a water bottle extreme climbers probably during the summer enjoy the coolness inside this little hidden cavern. The problem would be is we could not get out of here the rocks were went and there was no way to climb back up and especially over some of the crevices, holes and drop offs.

My son said dad their is a little path that goes up there. I took it for about 15 feet we had little light some of my lights did not even work. As everybody sat in the darkness I climbed up some rocks and up a crevice peeping my head out an opening. I shined my light and realized that if we could climb out of this hole we could maybe head over to that hill with brush on it or at least will be on top of all these boulders and rocks.
Besides lifting the kids to that ledge this would be another challenge lifting 3 kids possibly even Tammy out a hole while standing at a steep wet angle. I had put my footing on the rock wall wedging it while just keeping balancing lifting each kid above my heads telling them to climb.They all sat still not moving because the danger level was still there they had drop offs all around them.
 
Slowly I pulled myself up then my entire back was exposed to a drop off and I literally walked up the wall like a spider....pushing and pushing myself on my back to safety. I thought if my feet slip from this rock ill fall down the crevice and roll down to the bottom not a fun trip to take.
 
I gave the boys a flash light so they knew their surroundings they waited for me to do our next move. Tammy is 5 feet she couldn't hardly reach the top of the hole to climb out......so she had to use walls and things to push off of. I remember in one narrow canyon I did a complete split over a pool of water. It really is amazing how you can climb such high heights if you know what to grab, push off of, or crawl onto.
 
We all made it on top of these rocks and well as I did my knife strap broke went down a crevice.....I shined my light down it and there was an area where Tammy could reach on in and snatch it. Before she came up through the hole she held on tight reached her arm in the crevice as I shined my light and actually managed to grab our knife. We were lucky it didn't go further down or away from arms reach. At that point I realized I left my power aid back in the caverns and near the waterfall drop off. I had such bad hamstring spasms and cramps but their was no way I would end up taking a chance at getting it.
 
When we all sat safely at the top of the rocks we slowly climbed over them avoiding any holes and crevices working our way to a very steep desert hill. We stood out on a peak in complete darkness. There was no lights we had a crank light and a few small lights one that puts out good light but was dying fast.
 
We had to climb the side of a hill it was steep were talking at times hands and knees climbing down. I remember I took a heavy spill on this hill the momentum was carrying me fast but managed to stop myself. I was not so lucky during the day during the day I slipped down a slope landing harding and traveled a good 15 feet before coming to a stop. I felt bad for Tammy because early she was climbing down fell face first on her arm on some wet rocks but just an hour before that in those rocks we were climbing through she slipped and fell on her hip climbing to a lower level. So at this point we had some scrapes and bruises.
 
When we reached the bottom of this steep hill strangely their was a very wide sandy trail. I thought I noticed many fresh prints thought hey are these ours. Some of them were kid like and the rain had not washed them away. I got so turned around climbing through rocks and such that I was not sure we were even in Grapevine canyon but many other ones that run into spirit mountain.
 
I could not believe how dark it was but we kept following the stream.....I tried to see if it was going down hill which meant a way for us off this beast. Some things looked familiar but some things not. You could see a lighter sky at the end of the canyon a few miles away as it twisted and turned. We were not sure but felt this was promising. I seen a few areas that looked like we crossed earlier during the day including a pool of water my son slipped into.
 
So far the best hiker of my trip was my 8 year old boy he climbed so much with very little help the entire trip even the peak that was enough to wear out an athletes legs. I was very proud of him as we faced everything hiking, rock climbing, elements etc I spent the entire day training my kids how to climb.....certain ways to go down slopes.....teaching them how to glide down rocks....etc nobody was hurt everybody was pretty at ease as we kept going lower and lower out of the canyon.
 
The rain would not let up at times it got really heavy and our fun would not end. You see in the canyon are various paths some of them are easier then others. Well it was so dark we took a path into the foliage.  The paths were a foot narrow through grapevines with thorns.....rotting trees.....and many other types of desert plant life.
 
It was getting bad we could not see at times I had to carve our own paths through this and after a half of mile going through it even though it wasn’t fun it was better then being stranded at the top of a cliff.
 
At one time my feet became caught I fell onto a pile of bushes crushing them the kids were happy as it took us right back onto a sandy trail. It took us over an hour going through the brush sometimes on a narrow trail sometimes just crawling and pushing our way through it.
 
Their was heavy lightening now hitting the area kind of odd considering 3 hours prior to this all I could hear was thunder on one of the peaks. The lightening I used as a beacon a way out of the canyon.
 
We were still not out of the clear the foliage we disturbed also disturbed birds and bats. My youngest at that point was scared the other boys looked at all of this within logical reason. It seemed so hopeless at one time I thought we would be better off becoming abducted by aliens at least we would end up back at the car or something. There is no in between its do or die even some of the areas that were dangerous it was like either we do it or we don't get back to our car.
 
After getting out of the foliage we now only had to deal with basic rock climbing slowly working our way out of the canyon. Some rocks were like a maze where you could go down them like steps while others a foot or two path to the right might mean a broken leg or a good 6 foot fall.
 
I went ahead down this rock it was steep and tried to carve a path out for us safely. My son James hit a giant rock it came rolling down towards me.  The thing was he was in shock from it didn't know how to say to me a rock was coming so I thought he lost his bag but it was not a bag it was a rock tumbling for me. Well I lost my flash light down it went into the darkness.....the rock hit my hand with such force I thought I broke my hand. I actually stopped the rock with my hand and even as I type this my right hand is all cut up from it. They should in fact put a sign watch out for falling rocks. Despite the incident after this we almost made it to the bottom of the canyon where it was sandy.
 
As we made our way out of the canyon miles away we could see the town of Laughlin including the airport and other lights further below us in the desert. I never had been so happy to see casinos dancing lights in my life. We had came out of the darkness and to my right I spotted a garbage can so we knew we were closer then ever to the car.
 
When we got to the car everybody either changed or stripped down. It started to rain hard it was cold and it was inching towards midnight. We had been hiking since the morning by this time all muddy....wet....abrasions from sliding on rocks....it was quite the trip and it took minutes for the boys to fall asleep.
 
I thought it was strange with all the exploring we did even at night not once to come across a single petroglyph. My son kept ranting on during the trip that he had seen a ghost. Tammy early in the day had a ringing in her ears and became real dizzy when hiking up to one of the hills in the canyon. I felt pretty watched you have to understand they call this place Spirit Mountain their are ghost here and their is also UFO activity. Not sure if the rain helped the paranormal part of the trip although before nightfall I felt something. It was strong not animal or man but something a bit of both as one of my photos revealed ectoplasm far off in the distance.
 
I theorized that their was some paranormal here afterall its an ancient place perhaps even one of the entrances to the hollow earth....underworld.....a place that once the Native Americans were visited by perhaps even aliens. Most of the rocks are granite and quartz here some looked like layered cakes while others are temples of earth rising above the peaks.
 
It is so funny how during a hiking trip the kids help zip eachothers coats...lend hands to eachother....hold lights for one another.....but as soon as you get them in a car or home they are chasing eachother wanting to fight like cats and dogs. I had hoped my adventure had taught them a few things such as safety, survival, lending hands to one another. My one son sprained his ankle early in the trip and the only thing he cared about is Wendy’s lol.
 
It would be a 2 hour drive home for me and not an easy one. The radio station had a weather emergency with flash flooding and heavy rains. The rain was so bad that cars on the expressway were parked on the shoulders including trucks. I kept driving and driving I could hardly see so I had to extremely concentrate.
We arrived in a small town of searchlight to get gas Tammy bought a coffee I filled up was soaked...it was very cold I was shivering. By the time I got to Vegas all my blue hair die leaked on my face from hours of rain and I ordered food at Wendy’s. As soon as I got home I ran a hot bath for the kids....blasted the heat....and that was some of the best fast food I ever ate haha especially since I couldn't wait to toke one up. Only an insane person would not toke one up at the end of an adventure like this.
 
Tammy told me she felt like we were in a survivor movie......and well it was my 8 year olds first adventure trip with me. Of course the kids are like next time cant we just rent a movie or something lol. I am pretty in tune with things I sensed some pretty powerful entities in this canyon watching us they were curious. There is no glory without sacrifice blue face....bruises.....a few sprained ankles....wouldn't miss it for the world!
 
I do think they will have a greater respect for the outdoors and the area. Although not much of the paranormal kind occurred here we were in one of the most ancient spiritual places in the world and we got to experience it on a much deeper level. I did notice that at times I found water bottles and litter in the canyon which upset me even as I was leaving this place I was still ranting on about it.
 
Its different then any place you could ever visit in the world and ill be discussing it on Friday’s show on a much more deeper level with the fans along with the 4th kind and other things.  I was talking with Tammy about how these producers wont give me the explorer job for some of these TV networks then I laugh because if you watched this trip on your own TVs you would be glued to the amount of work I put into this expedition. We went to places in that canyon untouched by even man. Some places that looked impossible became possible and well the amount of focus I put into this is far greater then most of my previous adventurers. I was just happy to keep everybody safe and be able to teach them all safety, history, and how to explore.
 
Our next expedition will be a snowy mountain with an entrance to miles of underground tunnels my sons are sitting out for this one and of course next time some of you read a government site that says its kid friendly to take your kids hiking DO NOT believe it. Without proper safety out here in the west you could die every little decision either shortens the obstacles or creates more.
 
Tammy and I spent a good time talking and its nice that all of us our safe. Tammy got some pretty big purple bruises on the trip....I had gotten one on my left leg from a rock that I hit so hard it made me sick thought I broke my knee cap and so I had waited a couple days to recuperate to sort out this report. I got up in the morning my kids were chasing eachother and playing guitar hero like they hadn't even just done one of the most biggest adventurers of their life.
 
Would I go here again would love to explore more but some things are better left alone. I tried to envision what it would be like to be a Shaman sitting on a peak watching dancing lights in the sky. My kids and my gf turned out to be probably the best investigators and explorers I had in years pretty sad considering a few young kids can outdo all the colleagues in my forums.....groups and Paranormal society. I was very proud of them and everything I showed them how to do they did it and everybody is safe.
 
Although we seen no aliens or little green men one must wonder what it is that the Hopi and other tribes in the area seen 2000 years ago here. What do the glyphs all mean......what is hidden in some of these caves.....what secrets does the canyon hold. With all the Jim-son Weeds growing is it possible that the Indians just used the plant to hallucinate or is this the place where the world began in simple terms did aliens visit here and play god.
 
I will eventually add the photos I added a few to my myspace album but to see them all they will be available in a couple months at www.paranormalghostsociety.org along with a full write up on its paranormal history and alien visitations. Although I visit many places I think my sons, Tammy and I will never forget this place. It is the type of place that leaves a mark in you. Tammy told me she never thought in a million years she would do half of the things we did that night. We bitterly climbed out of a hole.....and crevice...at the top of a mountain.....and crawled on our hands and knees through brush it doesn't get anymore adventurous then that and thus you have not lived till you truly explored.
 
Do you know what one of the most exciting moments is when you hike in southern NV? Its when you either see lights in the middle of nowhere.....knowing their is a town nearby......or you see the car. If you do not see either at night it means your probably in places you shouldn't be at night lol. The desert is vast and the closest some ever get to it is an airline flight traveling thousands of miles above it! But imagine being in those caves, canyons and standing on those peaks! Its a different world up there and you never know what you might find or see.
 
I know some of you are anxious to see updates on our site and I apologize for being so far behind. However I am always working, researching and teaching others about the unknown. I must say it is a good week between this exploration.....Fridays upcoming season 7 opener......and we got some other places Ill be doing coming up that are breathtaking or strange.
 
If you live in the wild west you do mountains and ghosttowns....if you live back east you do abandonment's...forts...asylums.....if you live down south you do the jungle. Living in southern NV has taught me so much their is so much to the desert vastness, tunnels, ancient sites.....things you never knew existed and Spirit Mountain is one of them.

Lord Rick
Founder, Talk Show Host & Author