This is a part of Rocky Mountain series. Check out the previous posts:
Right after Colorado Gators, I got to Hooper, CO, to eat a bit and settle in the quirky watchtower near the town. As you enter the property, you are greeted with signs that basically tell you that most things are charged. I get the camping and visit fees, but you also get a picture fee of - 2$ (pay at the watchtower - the sign clearly stated). Is taking pics covered in the camping fee? I never asked π
Right out the gate, you're greeted with different alien-themed items, even in the campsite on the west portion of the property. I first tried to set camp, but as I mentioned earlier, it was that time of the day in San Luis valley when the wind was doing its thing. I battled with the tent that didn't want to be put down. It was like the tent had enough and wanted to return to his people βΊοΈ Luckily, an elderly man was camping beside me and helped me set it up against the wind.
The man told me he was part of a camping group (somewhat of 20-30 vehicles) that goes around the US and camps everywhere they can. Not only that he was kind enough to help me set up my tent, but he also showed me various knots. "You got to know your knots" - he said gently as he showed some tricks he learned as a kid. I'd still use those today.
After messing around and getting as many layers for the night as possible, I finally headed to the watchtower. The building is an igloo-looking structure, with many items surrounding it and a platform you can climb on and watch the surroundings. The lady working inside was kind, charged me for my campsite, and made fun of me and my flying tent π She was watching the whole thing from the inside. She wanted to help, but the gentleman did it before she could take action. The interior of the UFO watchtower is full of papers, photos, notes, and any kind of document describing the strange activities in the valley.
Reports range from unclear photos, written observations of flying objects, newspaper articles, and almost anything you can think of alien-related that visitors and humans have gathered in recent years. Of course, there was a reporting book (sort of a guest book) for the folks who saw (or think they saw) something from the actual watchtower. I got into a conversation with the lady that worked there about many things of an extraterrestrial nature. At some point, the property owner came in with other visitors.
The owner gave us more insight into some of the reporting covered by the newspapers. One of them is the case of mutilated animals in the valley. The believers like to say that the aliens did it, where the owner was actually calm and down-to-earth, and she said she believes that was the military. It is said that the army was conducting experiments in the 50s and 60s with nuclear weapons, and they might've done it on these poor animals. And if you think about it, it made perfect sense.
But outside of that, I was surprised how she could offer many points on aliens and abductions. You could see she studied the subject properly. And that doesn't sound surprising as I'm writing it - she owns the UFO Watchtower, after all. I bought her book titled "That Crazy Lady Down the Road: Judy Messoline" - and I didn't get to read it yet, but I bet it is crazy good.
I had a friendly chat with the group of visitors and headed my way to explore the property. Right in front of the watchtower construction, the owner told me there were two vortexes of energy with two entities protecting them. The garden behind the vortexes is guarded by two alien figures - one small and one tall. The idea of the garden is to be the "healing garden". Visitors are encouraged to leave something of their own so the good energy can follow them. I contributed a pen I had and placed it in the pen section π
You could find anything in the healing garden there. Things such as license plates, dolls, pennies, guitars, hats, sunglasses - pretty much anything. The whole garden was like a hidden object game (a type of game you can play where you look for hidden objects). I found a similar camera my grandfather bought - the old Yashica 35, but this one was in a full black outfit. The rest of the day passed, with me just walking the property and resting in the tent.
I was patiently waiting for the sun to set to watch the stars and check to see if I got lucky and could observe a UFO. The sky went completely dark around 11 to 12 at night. I could enjoy the starry night π No one abducted me, nor did I see any UFOs, sadly, but I did look hard for them. It was ready for me to hit the sack and get ready for tomorrow π΄
The next day, I had a hike planned to a frozen waterfall and a long drive north to the next national park. Join me tomorrow in the next post to learn how I did it π₯