The Gold Butte National Monument is less than 2 hours away from Las Vegas.

It is a popular location for off highway vehicles or OHV recreation, and it also has great hiking trails.

Today, we are going to visit a very special trail with a story to tell.

Come on, let's go.

The Gold Butte National Monument is almost 300,000 acres, with more than 300 miles of primitive routes.

Within this rugged terrain is a variety of prehistoric, historic, geological and biological wonders.

I'm meeting up with Jennifer, an archeologist with the Bureau of Land Management.

She has an incredible piece of history and culture to show me this area very special.

What can you tell us about this area?

Where are we?

Well, this place is called the falling man archeological complex, and it has petroglyphs everywhere, spread out throughout the area.

It's specifically called the Falling Man complex because there's a petroglyph shaped like a man and a falling.

This area has a story to tell.

Tell us about the story, the history of this place.

Yes.

Well, it was occupied by the ancestral pueblo once, and archeological evidence suggests occupation in the area around 4500 B.C.

and it seems to pick up around 2500 B.C.. All right, they're ready to go, Explorer.

Show me around.

Yeah.

All right.

Let's go.

The trail to falling man started off easy, but it soon turned into a scramble and climb.

If you plan on visiting and exploring Old Butte, keep in mind, it is not an easy hike.

I personally would describe it as moderate with a touch of difficulty.

And remember, take it slow and steady.

You know what they say?

It's better to be safe than sorry.

When we did arrive at Falling Man, it was well worth the effort.

So there it is.

Yep.

There's Falling Man.

breath taking this whole area.

But tell us, Falling Man.

Tell us a little bit about that history.

well, we don't know too much.

It was probably drawn around 4500 B.C., but that's pretty much I guess that's not for sure.

And let's talk about it's very important that we don't photograph this, that we don't take any photographs or video.

Tell us why.

Yeah.

The tribes have asked us not to photograph or video any petroglyph petroglyphs that look like humans.

So we want to out of respect for all of those wishes.

Well, it's just again, to know the history behind it and the fact that, it's so near and dear to our indigenous community.

That's pretty special and we honor it.

Yes.

Okay.

All right.

Let's go where we're heading up to now, a newspaper, rock newspaper right around the other interesting place.

All right.

Jennifer and I worked our way down the backside of the canyon.

Along the trail, This portion of the trail is very narrow and rocky.

And then there it was, newspaper rock.

Wow.

So, yeah, this is newspaper rock.

This is absolutely breathtaking.

Yeah.

So what do you when you see this, what do you think?

What do you feel?

I feel like I get why they call it newspaper rock.

It kind of seems like it's trying to tell a story, right?

It is.

And you can't help but get emotional if you really take the time to just appreciate this.

Yeah.

And the history behind it.

Yeah.

What do we know about Newspaper Rock?

It's hard to tell what the petroglyphs actually mean.

A lot of them.

We do have the sheep, which is obvious.

We've got the basket looking figures, and those are likely depicting the cradle border, which were used by the ancestral pueblo and to carry babies.

And they're still used by the Paiutes today So that's pretty cool.

And you really can just stand here and appreciate the beauty and again, take in the fact, the history, the indigenous communities before us and just the also the talent behind it.

I mean, the fact that they were able to create these beautiful petroglyphs, It's just it makes my heart happy.

Yeah.

The amount of time and effort put into it makes it special it's pretty great.

Just appreciate your writing a few minutes.

Yeah.

When you come to Gold Butte National Monument, please visit with respect and leave no trace.

We want to make sure that everyone can come out here and enjoy this incredible national monument.

Till our next adventure.

Be safe and wander with wonder.

See you next time.