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| St. Clair Peak-Indian Butte, AZ | |
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| | St. Clair Peak-Indian Butte, AZ | | | |
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St. Clair Peak-Indian Butte, AZ
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| Hiking | 10.71 Miles |
2,521 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.71 Miles | 6 Hrs 13 Mns | | 1.98 mph |
| 2,521 ft AEG | 48 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I knew three things about St. Clair Peak: the 1998 log from Mazatzal stating "there's a wall up there", the satellite view showing a bit more extensive structure, and while there has been a lot of archaeology work in the Horseshoe Reservoir area, none involved St. Clair Peak.
I also wondered where the name came from since a neighbor (with a well known hilltop ruin) on the other side of the road is called St. Clair Mountain...alas even 5min. on the internet didn't tell me.
There's a locked gate along Horseshoe Rd. roughly due west of the peak and I parked near there and walked the road. Fresh jeep tracks - the road does get used by someone. This one is in pretty good shape but a lot of the other old tracks I'd follow today haven't seen a vehicle for a long time.
I went up the NW satellite peak first. Didn't notice much of interest but there was a concrete cross on top. Nice broad saddle and a steep pull up to the top of St. Clair Pk. No cairn but a glass jar register with a few names from 2013 and 2001 (?). The "ruin" is just down the hill to the south on a level section. A confusing thing with a long wall and some discrete rooms. The higher walls looked like they'd been restacked but the rooms suggest ancient - I only saw 4 or 5 pottery sherds.
Further east is Indian Butte and I decided to head over there. Sort of an attractive route to drop off the north side of St. Clair and pick up some old tracks that stay on the ridge tops for a while. There are interesting rock formations along the way.
I bypassed the Indian Spring thicket on the right following what has to have been a Javalina track (I saw a half-dozen of them parallel across the draw and the track effortlessly went under low hanging branches). Pretty nice trail.
Top of Indian Butte has a large cairn but I didn't see a register. Nice view of the Bartlett Lake area and points east from the top. In spite of the name didn't notice any habitation signs, not even the odd sherd which were more common near St. Clair Pk.
I descended the NW ridge and took the maze of tracks back to the car. Only person I saw all day was a quail hunter and his hounds. Pretty enjoyable day. |
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