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| Ister Flat and Chalk Mountain, AZ | |
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| | Ister Flat and Chalk Mountain, AZ | | | |
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Ister Flat and Chalk Mountain, AZ
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| Hiking | 8.54 Miles |
1,166 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.54 Miles | 5 Hrs 20 Mns | | 1.96 mph |
| 1,166 ft AEG | 58 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I again took advantage of the dry Verde River crossing below Horseshoe Dam to get somewhere usually harder to get to.
I parked at the north end of Ister Flat near where I expected an Indian ruin. I found pottery pieces right away and followed them to the main ruin. Nothing very impressive to see and there was evidence of recent digging. I find it odd that just a couple holes might turn up "treasures". There was a lot of pottery pieces in the area including some exotic ones.
From this main ruin I went a few hundred yards NE up a shelf and was surprised to find an older couple poking around. There was a similar ruin here. These were experienced and knowledgeable folks who had been there before. Both of these ruins must be pretty well known since spur roads go right by them...but then again the empty shotgun shells are as plentiful as sherds so maybe most pass by without noticing them.
From the ruins I headed south toward Chalk Mountain. Chalk Mtn. is an anomaly sitting right in the middle of the Lower Verde Valley. I passed a few rock alignments along the way, possibly due to small ancient structures but nothing very convincing, and as the vegetation thickened I tended to stay on jeep roads. I was hoping to get to the far west flank of Chalk Mountain where it runs into the Verde: I expect another ruin there. But the lay of the land (and overgrowth) was a problem and it looked like a double river crossing would be needed. I rejected that idea and instead just headed up the north side, skipping the ruin. There were a few steps to negotiate but overall not too bad. No register on top but nice views in all directions. Horseshoe Lake does look to be filling and probably the "Atlantis ruin" I visited a couple weeks ago is submerged again. I went down the east side and walked the road back to my car. |
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