| |
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 3.94 Miles |
1,318 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.94 Miles | 3 Hrs 36 Mns | | 1.30 mph |
| 1,318 ft AEG | 34 Mns Break | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | About a year ago my dermatologist noticed my toenails looked like his and we started talking about hiking and Indian ruins. He told me about a place he'd been going to since he was a kid. Though further from home than I usually go (about halfway between Pine and Winslow), I was saving it for a hot day (it's at 6600') and today was it.
The Chavez Pass ruins are not a secret. They are signposted and there is a little write-up on the AZ Highways website by Roger Naylor. I looked at a map and figured the best approach was FR69 off of 87 - but after ~2mi I concluded FR69 was a bad choice for a Subaru. I backtracked to FR211 (Naylor's route) and the signs to Long Lake then Chavez Pass worked fine - about 20mi of good dirt road.
The ruins are on a low mesa (obvious in satellite pictures) but before I went up there I looked around in the juniper forest below. Good hunting for petroglyphs, small ruins, and pottery pieces. The main ruins themselves are a bit of a disappointment - extensive but buried and not much to see.
This was obviously a busy area and so it's worth looking around. I went up to the ridge top to the northwest and found some petroglyphs up there. Then I went SE toward the bare hilltop and found a big concentration of pottery and small ruins along the way. The hilltop itself is covered with pottery and rock debris consistent with ruins.
I then took a chance on the cliff band at the mesa edge to the east, Unfortunately it was all lichen-covered rock with no glyphs - in fact I saw no ancient cultural signs on the east side of the road.
An interesting place to visit and I'm sure there's plenty more to be seen that I missed. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
