TOPOCK, Ariz. — Just off Interstate 40 near the California/Arizona border is a mysterious Earth figure with a baffling origin story, and it gets more mysterious when you look at it from the sky. The figure is known as the Topock Mystic Maze.
No one truly knows how the rows and rows of rock piles ended up at the edge of the Colorado River and Havasu Wilderness. One theory claims the Topock Mystic Maze was a part of gravel collection for early railroad construction, but if you ask Simon Garcia with the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, they will tell you the maze was used by indigenous people long before railroads were even invented.
“We believe, when we are cremated, we go through that area in Havasu Landing and the Needles Peaks,” said Garcia.
Garcia is one of the chosen cremators for the Fort Mojave tribe. It’s his job to prepare the dead for the afterlife.
“This is my thought as a cremator, I say that we follow through that area before we go,” said Garcia.
While he says he can’t explain everything, he believes the Topock Mystic Maze is not a burial ground, but a spiritual portal into the next life.
“We don’t know who built it, but they built it and we came in,” said Garcia.
TAKE A TRIP ON BARTELL'S BACKROADS:
► See an interactive map of everywhere John has visited on the backroads
► Watch all of the Backroads videos
► Follow John on Facebook
The evenly spaced rows of rock piles just outside the town of Topock, Arizona are not actually in the shape of a maze, but that's how photographer Edward Curtis described the rows of rocks in a book he produced in 1908. The name Topock Mystic Maze stuck.
“We call [it] 'the Gathering Place,'” said Garcia.
Today, the Bureau of Land Management protects the maze because much has been lost. It’s believed that the Mystic Maze once encompassed over 50 acres of land, but the construction of railroads, freeways and gas pipelines reduced it to about 10 acres.
The Mystic Maze became a popular roadside attraction when Route 66 was built because it's next to another popular landmark, the Old Trails Bridge, which was featured in the 1940 movie The Grapes of Wrath.
Before Interstate 40 was built, travelers could drive over the Old Trails Bridge and then stop by the Topock Maze. Today, the historic arched bridge was converted to support natural gas pipelines over the Colorado and Interstate 40 now bypasses Mystic Maze.
Much mystery surrounds the Topock Mystic Maze, but one thing is for sure, this is a sacred place for the Fort Mojave Tribe and should be respected by those who visit.
“I am not trying to say I know what it is, but I'm trying to bring some light to what it might be,” said Garcia.
ANOTHER DESERT MYSTERY FROM THE BACKROADS: The Blythe Intaglios: Giant symbols carved into the desert floor eons ago are believed to reflect a story told in the sky.
