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| Lousy Canyon Ruins Loop (South), AZ | |
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| | Lousy Canyon Ruins Loop (South), AZ | | | |
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Lousy Canyon Ruins Loop (South), AZ
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| Hiking | 9.30 Miles |
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| | Hiking | 9.30 Miles | 4 Hrs 30 Mns | | 2.07 mph |
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| no partners | | This is just about the last set of ruins on Perry Mesa that I had on my list. I drove the tangle of jeep roads off Bloody Basin Rd. about as far as I felt comfortable, then started walking.
I first headed toward the fort on the central spur jutting into Lousy Canyon (Alston Neal recently posted pictures of his visit). Along the way, between two narrowly spaced barb-wire fences, I noticed a concentration of pottery sherds and some knapped quartz. No obvious ruin walls though and I continued on another half-mile or so to the fort. Very impressive place with high thick walls with at least three obvious holes at about ankle height, apparently for viewing attackers. It seems odd that they only fortified the north-facing side. Obviously the steep cliffs also provide defense but to me that location only makes sense as a lookout for unsavory characters moving up the Lousy Canyon drainage(s)...I don't think the fort itself would have been an objective...more likely the small "villages" on the North and South rims of the canyon. Enough uninformed speculation from me; I can authoritatively say the fort's location is cool.
I backtracked and headed over to the south rim where I found a pretty large ruin. I was surprised to see, from a distance, quite high, intact walls. It's pretty clear though these were stacked by modern visitors...maybe those energetic Basque shepherds. This one restored room is surrounded by the typical undisturbed rubble - so a decent size ruin. Again plenty of pottery and lithic evidence, but no petroglyphs....didn't see one all day.
I looked around for a couple of other ruins in the vicinity but couldn't find them. I continued across the mesa to the edge of Larry Canyon to have a look then contoured my way back to the car. Along the way I did stumble on to some pottery "breadcrumbs" which lead me to another small unexpected ruin....that's the fun part of walking on Perry Mesa. |
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