Mysterious and ritualistic places are riveting, especially when you are a major part of their creation...

During the Summer of 2016, @silascjgoss and I were hiking in the foothills near Denver in Corwina Park. It was my first visit to this terrain, and we were doing a casual trek, nothing too intense.

After hiking for approximately 2 miles, we walked a bit off the trail to the right and stumbled upon a rock circle. I didn't get an initial picture of the circle, as we added a few rocks and sticks to it prior to documenting it, but the basic structure wasn't changed much and looked like this:

As detailed in my original post, Silas and I had been searching for a spot in the mountains to meditate regularly, as we wanted to find a peaceful place outside of the city to direct our intentions.

This spot was the perfect find.

It was in a park that had very light traffic in comparison to other areas nearby, meaning we were unlikely to be disturbed.
It was at the top of a hill, giving us a great view of the valley and larger peaks in the distance.
It had already been developed by someone else, which gave an added sense of intrigue and mystery about the origins of the space.

We have made it a ritual to come back to this place about once every month.

With few exception, we have fulfilled this trend and add more rocks and wood to the location during each visit. As we begin our trek to the space, I immediately feel more grounded and a sense of stillness takes over.

I come here to remember the importance of purposeful action, especially when carried out intentionally over the course of time. Though there is a great deal of chaos in the world and I often feel at a loss for what to do about it, returning here is a respite from the madness of it all.

We, as humans, have the ability to imbue purpose and meaning onto our surroundings. When we direct this ability for a positive end, it can have a powerful effect on our conscious mind, and with continued and persistent action in service of this intention, it continues to grow.

Recently, I began to have the need to start an open dialogue

I wanted to make contact with anyone who, like us, had stumbled upon the circle and found meaning from it. In the fall of 2016, I decided to leave a notepad and pen in a sealed plastic bag and left a short message about our experience.

Here is one of the first responses, featured in the original post:.

Facilitating an open dialogue with fellow hikers through a collaborative and purposeful spot has been an engrossing experience.

I never know what awaits our arrival. It may be slight alterations to the circle, additional objects, or a new entry in the log book.

Yesterday, Silas and I returned to the most drastic changes yet.

Someone had added an entirely new portion of the circle, adding an outside layer to begin a spiral.

With the spiral addition, we now have the beginnings of a labyrinth, which we initially hadn't envisioned, but which makes perfect sense. The person who added this also wrote an entry:

Some people experienced a darker part of our world that this location is not immune from:

And then, the most interesting entry yet!

Dated just two days prior, someone wrote this:

I figured the spot had been there for a bit, but this local indicated that they had been going there for many years? I assume "many" to mean between 10-20 years, if not longer! The plot thickens...

Prior to leaving, we added additional stones, creating an outline for an additional ring around the spiral. Upon our return, we envision another stranger will fill in the spiral and add their own part to this unfolding experiment in random, collaborative intention.

Maybe I'll meet the makers of the circle one day. Perhaps I'll learn what originally drew them to develop the spot, but I think I already have a pretty good idea...