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| Hiking | 9.60 Miles |
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| | Hiking | 9.60 Miles | 5 Hrs 15 Mns | | 1.83 mph |
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| no partners | | I succeeded in navigating the shortcut up to Sheep bridge and accessed a few old Indian sites I wanted to visit.
The Drive
Indeed the river is not flowing below Horseshoe Dam. I took the unmarked cut at mile marker 8 on the Horseshoe Dam Rd. and followed the river cobble path between the weeds. This goes on for about a mile but then connects to FR479 which is in good shape and goes to Sheep bridge. This is a cool way to go and it took only about 2hrs from Ahwatukee in a Subaru, with 17mi of dirt road (vs >40 the normal way). Bonus: you pass two (2) crested saguaro along the way. (One on Horseshoe Dam Rd.)
Site 1
From the bridge I walked north on the Verde River Trail for ~2.5mi to a "ruin" area on a small platform above Dry Creek. The trail was nice and I was lucky to stumble on to the site by noticing a pottery sherd in the trail - the ruin wasn't where I expected. Actually not much of a ruin: just one small recognizable foundation but there was pottery everywhere. I found a quartz crystal a few feet from the ruin foundation - likely a remnant from a rock hunter 1000yrs ago. Altogether 5.9mi and 3hrs.
Site 2
I crossed the bridge and headed to Tangle Fort which is located on a hilltop overlooking the bridge. The fort is very obvious in satellite pictures and is not that far off the road, ~600' above the river. It has very impressive walls - though I'm guessing piled rubble rather than masonry. I only saw one or two sherds and little sign that people spent much time there. 2.4mi in a bit more than an hour.
Site 3
On the drive back I stopped at the turn-off for the Davenport Rd. I walked down the road a ways then up the mesa on the left to the Davenport Ruin. This is a large ruin but is in bad shape. Strip away the creosote bushes which cover the area and you'd see a moonscape of partially excavated rooms. Looked like there had been digging almost everywhere - mainly by amateurs I presume. There's a lot of pottery littering the ground but not much else to see. 1.3mi in less than an hour.
Good day out! Easy access to the east side of the lower Verde opens up a lot of possibilities. |
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