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| Marijilda Prehistoric District, AZ | |
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| | Marijilda Prehistoric District, AZ | | | |
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Marijilda Prehistoric District, AZ
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| Hiking | 4.06 Miles |
300 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.06 Miles | 5 Hrs 1 Min | | 1.65 mph |
| 300 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 33 Mns Break | | | |
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| no linked trail guides |
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| no partners | | After a few years of lightly searching, I decided this week to really hit the area hard and try to locate the Marijilda Salado pueblo ruin site. After a tip from a local who has visited the site, I finally found the pueblo..........and it was worth finding!!!
First the facts - The pueblo is located within the 2600 acre Marijilda Canyon Prehistoric Archeological District which was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1988. The masonry pueblo was occupied by the Salado sometime in the 1300's and is roughly rectangular and measures 90 by 50 meters with at least 40 rooms and 3 plazas.
With some rough GPS cords I was able to locate the ruin within an hour and spent about another hour exploring the very intact, lightly looted site that lies well hidden in the mesquite/acacia thickets. A good portion of the site I had to explore on my hands & knees through the extreme growth and at one point sliding on my belly to get into one of the rooms that still has 3 to 4 foot walls. This is by far the greatest ruin I have seen in the Safford basin and as I walked through & around the site I kept thinking how similar it was to the Besh Be Gowah site in Globe.
I found the site so quickly in the afternoon that I had enough time left in the day to hike up Marijilda Canyon to revisit the petroglyph site I found the day before and a little ways up the canyon along the creek which is now flowing strong from the recent snow & rain. I then returned back down to my truck and drove up to the Gibson Canyon TH for the sunset to end the day.
I drove home very happy to have finally found this site and can now check this one off my find list. This was one of my most rewarding hikes ever and has reenergized me to find more off-trail sites like this! Next on the list is to find the 1944 N3N Canary plane crash wreckage below Heliograph Peak. |
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