And there was something else, too. Thanks to the years Rich had spent in the backcountry, he had a solid grasp of how thoroughly the canyon’s ancient peoples had taken its measure and unraveled its riddles prior to the arrival of whites. Better than most experts, he understood that among their many other talents, the Ancestral Puebloans were remarkable rock climbers, capable of amazing feats that had enabled them to reach deep into places that most whites deemed inaccessible. But despite his and Todd’s best efforts, the two men could find no evidence in the crevices they were exploring to
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