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| Hiking | 0.70 Miles |
500 AEG |
| | Hiking | 0.70 Miles | | | |
| 500 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I drove in to the Packard Mesa Ruins on FR181 from Perkinsville Rd for a two day camping trip to explore the ruins in the area. I had been waiting three weeks for good weather and my patience was rewarded with beautiful sunny skys and daytime temps in the high 60s to low 70s (night time lows were a little frosty). The last 7 or so miles of the road requires high clearance and 4 wheel drive on some of the steeper hills. Besides the well known Packard Mesa Ruins I planned to search for other ruins for which I had GPS coordinates from a 1973 USGS Sycamore Basin topo map. This topo map shows 3 sites located in the mountains above Henderson Flat. My first destination was the Packard Mesa Ruins which were an easy hike from my camp site at the end of FR181. The ruins are fascinating with great views of Sycamore Canyon and northeast towards Sedona. Who wouldn't want a home with a view like this! Interestingly there are ruins near Sedona from about the same period at the base of the cliffs seen in the distance to the north east through the saddle in the nearer mountains. The occupants of this site may have been able to communicate with these other sites via smoke signals.
The second day I searched for ruins on the north side of Packard Mesa around the corner from the well known ruins. A picture posted on Google Earth indicated there might be ruins there. I did not find any evidence of ruins at that location and decided the photo was most likely a different view of the other ruins posted to an inaccurate GPS location. I then drove back down FR181 towards Henderson Flat and hiked to the GPS location of one of the sites marked on the 1973 USGS map. After bushwhacking up a very steep cactus covered mountain side I found the ruins on a small bench looking south toward the Verde River at the location indicated on the USGS map. OK, so it was only 0.7 miles with a 500 feet elevation gain but the going was a little more treacherous than I like when hiking solo. The ruins consisted of a number of rock walls varying in height from 2 to 5 feet and formed the outline of several rooms. There were also great views across the Verde River towards Jerome. The other two ruin sites on the USGS map were in similar locations further west along the same mountain chain. The topo map indicated steeper approaches so I decided to leave them for another trip and retreated to my camp on FR181 for a cold beer. I didn't see another person until the third day on my way home when I encountered a man and his wife on their way into the area to hunt for elk. |
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