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| Upper Cherry Crk Camping Trip - Day 3, AZ | |
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| | Upper Cherry Crk Camping Trip - Day 3, AZ | | | |
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Upper Cherry Crk Camping Trip - Day 3, AZ
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| Hiking | 2.30 Miles |
1,000 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.30 Miles | | | |
| 1,000 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | This day's plan was to pack up camp and drive about 7 miles down Cherry Creek canyon to a location near the mouth of Horse Camp Canyon. On the way I would stop to check out the Indian ruins friendofThundergod had found near the Grapevine Trailhead. At Horse Camp Canyon I planned to hike up the east side of Cherry Creek Canyon to check out the V:1:144 and V:1:145 cliff dwellings.
It was a beautiful morning and I quickly found friendofThundergod's ruins which I have decided to call Lee's Compound since I could find no reference to these ruins in the two archaeology reports I have been using as a guide to this area. Lee's compound consists of an external rock wall enclosing a roughly rectangular area measuring approximately 70 ft by 40 ft. The rock walls were up to shoulder height in some sections. The fact that these walls are still standing is due to the rectangular block type rocks available at this site which did not require mortar to hold the wall together. What was strange about this compound was that there were no room structures inside the walled area. Had construction stopped before room building could begin or had the rooms been wooden structures that had long ago rotted away? I could find no pottery sherds. However distinguishing the Salado red sherds common to these ruins from the similarly colored small rocks covering the ground made the search difficult.
The hike to the cliff dwellings started on FR203 and descended about 400 feet to Cherry Creek then up the east side of the canyon. Using Google Earth I had spotted a trail which led to the creek bottom at the desired location. The trail appeared to be a ranch trail used to provide cattle access to the creek. The trail made for an easy hike down to the creek but going up the east side of the canyon towards the location of V:1:145 was not so easy. It was very steep requiring crawling on all fours at times and finding a route through the brush and around rock outcroppings was very time consuming. The route I had plotted on Google Earth went through what appeared to be an opening in the cliffs. After scrambling up a steep boulder field I passed through a narrow opening in the cliff but behind that row of cliffs was another row of cliffs. Hidden in the wide slot between the two rows of cliffs I found a small one room cliff dwelling with only one semi intact wall. Behind this room was a short section of plastered wall which appeared to have been a storage crib. I could not find a way past the second row of cliffs. The cliff dwelling I wanted to reach was still far above on a higher row of cliffs. I could also see from this location that my planned route to the second cliff dwelling, V:1:144, was also blocked by cliffs. At this point I had used up all my courage reserves for climbing exposure and decided to retreat.
After several time consuming wrong turns I finally got out of the maze of cliffs and found an easier less steep route to the canyon bottom. Something white on the ground caught my eye. It was a size 5 pair of women's tidy whitey Hanes panties. Hmmm - a strange place to lose one's panties. A short distance further down the hill on what appeared to be an old trail I came across 4 more pairs of the same size panties and a Book of Mormon bible. Double Hmmm. The "items" were weathered enough that I did not expect to hear the tinkle of female giggles echoing off the cliffs. I took a quick look around for other "stuff" but found none. However I did find the remains of an old road bed which angled south up the east side of the canyon. Later investigation on Google Earth would reveal that this old road, now a cow trail, led to a series of three tanks on a bench on the east side of the canyon. Giving up on solving the panty mystery I headed back up the ranching trail to the car and found a place to camp for the night. |
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