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| Hiking | 7.51 Miles |
1,832 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.51 Miles | 5 Hrs 23 Mns | | 1.64 mph |
| 1,832 ft AEG | 48 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | With another late May weather gift I planned yet another exploratory loop west of New River Mesa, this one to include a known ruin. The usual walking plan out there is to combine some old jeep roads and desert bushwacking but I was surprised to run into a decent trail on the north side of "Ruin Mountain" (I use Barrett's name for this unnamed prominent hill). I let this trail distract me from my sketched route and I ended up skipping some of the hills I wanted to visit (they were by then on the other side of the "valley").
I picked an interesting bushwack/scramble up the back (east) side of Ruin Mountain. Almost gave up at one tricky spot but persevered and I was soon at the top. The ruin up there is an interesting one. It's clearly a fort/lookout, not a habitation site. The perimeter wall defends the entire summit area and there is one interior room. The fort's walls are thick and high. It's not a very accessible or well know ruin and it's in good shape though it looked like visitors had restacked the walls in a few places. It's clearly visible in satellite pictures. There aren't any pottery fragments. I can't find any specific information about this ruin but probably the Cline Creek Ruin name should be applied to the habitation site on the nearby butte and not this fort.
I returned via the long ridge that heads west from the high point. That was fun and I hoped I might see some other cultural signs but other than a single small glyph at the very west end, I did not.
I was harassed by a couple hawks for at least a half-an-hour as I came down from the west end of the ridge. Judging by the white rocks the ridge end is a favorite perch for them and as I got low I passed a big nest...I guess I was trespassing. |
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Route Editor
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