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| Hiking | 17.00 Miles |
1,300 AEG |
| | Hiking | 17.00 Miles | | | |
| 1,300 ft AEG | | 40 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | This is definitely on the list of places to go if you are interested in Native American history and cliff dwellings. If you read the description of the hike on hikearizona.com and get discouraged - please don't. I believe it was written by someone who doesn't regularly backpack. It really isn't that hard if you start early to beat the heat and don't take anything that is unnecessary (unless you are an experienced backpacker). Yes, 2 gallons of water is heavy, but really it's only part of the day that you are carrying it. You'll have plenty of time to unwind in camp.
The hike in is very spectacular. Blue sky with red canyon walls marked with green vegetation - beautiful! It's a shame that the canyon is used for running cattle by the Navajo. If it wasn't it would be one of the best backpacking canyons because of the plentiful water and great views. The cows, however, make the thought of drinking the water very unpleasant. It also can make you scrub your feet before crawling into your sleeping bag. I recommend a extra few wet-wipes to do the job.
The hike in took us approximately 4 hours. Which included a lot of picture stops and a nice long snack break in the shade.
The tour was awesome in part because you get the experience of climbing up into the alcove. The buildings are well preserved which gives you a great idea of what it looked like when the Ancient Ones inhabited the area. Towards the end of the tour I ran out of battery power in my new camera. It hadn't occurred to me to bring the extra battery. I am so used to using the Ultra Lithium AA in my old Canon which would give me about 2 weeks of non-stop photos. I asked the ranger if I could run back to camp and come back for a few more pictures. She said I could. When I returned, there wasn't anyone waiting for a tour yet and some of my party was still asking questions. I worked on finishing up my photos and asked a few questions. One of my friends also was chatting to the ranger and to another lady who was in training. They were very pleasant and seem to enjoy our conversations and questions. I had shown them a map that I had of the area which marked several additional ruins. We were told that there were probably many more. We asked about hiking off trail and was told that it was not allowed. My friend joked a bit about wishing he could sleep in the ruins - the rangers echoed his wish. We were very pleased by the tour. My friend even shared a snack with them outside of fenced area.
We had a great time in camp. There were two other parties. A couple from Colorado and another Arizona backpacking group. We shared lots of good conversation which made for a pleasant night.
In the morning, we got up early and started hiking at 7 AM Navajo Time. This was to our benefit because it meant that we were hiking in shade most of the morning. We managed to get back to the cars in about 4 hours (including breaks).
I went into the visitor center restroom to wash up before our drive home. When I came out my friend reported that a Law Enforcement Ranger had been called in from another park. I guess they thought we were going to do all kinds of illegal activity. Little did we know that showing the map with the cliff dwells marked on it, asking about hiking off trail, keeping the rangers longer than usual, and a humorous remark regarding rank amongst volunteers and rangers in training had set at least one of the rangers off and we were reported to the Visitor Center. We would have never known if we hadn't stopped to use the facilities therefore we decided to leave. On our way out we saw the Law Enforcement Ranger (LER) coming into the park and we decided to return to settle matters, especially because my friend volunteers for the Parks. My friend ended up talking to the LER and resolving what was most likely just miscommunication. So, the moral of the story is beware of rangers, especially friendly ones.
Anyway, the end kind of spoiled the high feeling I had obtained from my trip. I'm still glad I went because it was an awesome learning experience. It fits well with the other backpacks I've done to Ruins (which include Crack-in-Rock and Kane to Bullet in Grand Gulch). Besides, you can't beat some of the views in the canyons of Skeleton Mesa. |
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