| |
| Black Mesa Little Fort and SE Canyon, AZ | |
|
| | Black Mesa Little Fort and SE Canyon, AZ | | | |
|
|
Black Mesa Little Fort and SE Canyon, AZ
| | |
|
| Hiking | 7.20 Miles |
|
| | Hiking | 7.20 Miles | 5 Hrs 33 Mns | | 1.30 mph |
| | | |
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | I got a tip from my wet-dry mapping partner that there was a fort on the island mesa north of the one with the well known Black Mesa Ruin fort. I could see it on the satellite view and thought it would make a nice short hot or wet weather trip.
Shortest approach would involve some risky parking off I-17 so I thought it would be better to park at the bottom of the hill at the Black Mesa Ruin spot. In practice I missed that location and with one shot at plan B I ducked behind the guard rail - perhaps not legal, but well off the road.
It was short but steep up to the mesa top and I found the fort at the south end to be impressive. Not quite a match for the one a kilometer to the south but still good. There were a couple small ruins and pottery sherds just north of the fort. I also found more pottery and a couple petroglyphs on the NE corner of the island mesa.
Because of my fortuitous parking spot all this didn't take very long, I decided I would head up to the main part of Black Mesa and try to go to the far SE point. Along the way though I came across a cleft that looked interesting. There were a few drops at the top which reminded me of the decorated spots on the west side of Black Mesa. The waterfalls had many of the same "Hopi-style" glyphs that Schoonover studied at Arrastre Creek. Very cool.
Also like those west side drainages there were a few grinding spots upstream from the waterfalls.
Anyway this was enough fun for one day. I'll get to that SE finger another time. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
