DESTINATION Generic 264 Photosets
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| Cave Creek Canyon Ruin Hunt, AZ | |
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| | Cave Creek Canyon Ruin Hunt, AZ | | | |
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Cave Creek Canyon Ruin Hunt, AZ
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| Hiking | 10.20 Miles |
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| | Hiking | 10.20 Miles | | | |
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| no partners | | I hiked up Cave Creek Canyon from Spur Cross Park today to look for the site of a Hohokum ruin on a small bluff overlooking the creek. This ruin is not well known. I only know about it from a conversation with a gentleman I met in Spur Cross Park that had helped an archeologist find this site many years ago. He gave me an approximate location and said it was very difficult to get to because the thorn bushes are so thick on all access routes. I've know about this ruin for two years but the thorns have kept me from looking for it until today. I have a new pair of snake gaiters which I've found work very well to protect my shins from sharp rocks, thorns and cactus spines - not so sure about snakes. So it was time to challenge the thorn bushes.
Armed with my new protective gear I headed up the trail which follows Cave Creek. Along the way I by chance encountered the gentleman who told me about this site and got some last minute advice on the best approach to minimize contact with the thorn bushes. That cost me a half hour. Then I met a local who has lived for many years in his home just outside the Spur Cross Park. He had all kinds of info about the area and at least partially solved a mystery about a parking lot with a park type restroom I've seen through binoculars in the distance to the east of the Spur Cross Park near Cottonwood Creek. He had heard there used to be a park there many years ago but it is no longer in use. That conversation cost me another half hour but I've been wondering about that restroom since I first saw it three years ago.  At my age it's good to always know where the nearest restroom is located.
With all these delays it was almost noon by the time I finally made it to the location where I had to start looking for a route through the thorn bushes to begin the climb up the side of the canyon to the top of the bluff where the ruin is located. I felt like a rat in a maze. Every path ended up in a dead end of giant cat's claw thorn bushes. The gaiters helped but weren't enough, what I needed was a full body suit. I finally found an old trail up the side of the canyon that was clear of thorns until it disappeared on top of the bluff. I had hoped the top of the bluff would be clear of thorn bushes but that was not the case. Upon reaching the top of the bluff I found two large boulders with petroglyphs - nothing notable, just a series of spirals and a couple of human stick figures. After carefully picking my way through the thorn bushes for 170 yards I started seeing pottery sherds on the ground. Then collapsed rock walls appeared. I was astounded, there were many walls outlining many rooms. This was the largest ruin compound I've seen in the Cave Creek Canyon area except maybe on top of Skull Mesa. The rooms covered an area of about 100 yards by 60 yards and was surrounded on three sides by the remains of a defensive wall. The fourth side was protected by the cliffs on the side of the bluff facing the creek below. Pottery sherds were everywhere, more than I have seen at any other site and many large pieces. I even found two pieces that appeared to match with many more of the same color strewn about the area. I probably could have recontructed a sizeable piece of the pot from the sherd pieces in a 3 foot square if I had the patience and the time.
There was evidence that many of the rooms in the ruin had been excavated by either archeologists or souvenir hunters at some time. However the quantity of large pottery sherds makes me think this site is not often visited and it would probably be best to keep it that way. So, sorry, no gps tracks or pictures showing background scenery on this one. |
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