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| Hiking | 3.20 Miles |
538 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.20 Miles | | | |
| 538 ft AEG | | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | GH and I were anxious to check out these ruins that ssk44 had found a week ago so we made a day hike out of it. In anticipation of needing to scramble up and down some cliffs to access the ruins we invited our rock climbing consultant, trekkin gecko. Unfortunately we could not get our schedules synchronized so GH and I were on our own. We did borrow a static climbing rope from the gecko and I brought a heavy nylon rope which has served me well over the years for pulling a truck out of a ditch as well as climbing down some cliffs to a secret fishing hole in Oregon. The drive to this location took about 3.5 hours, almost an hour shorter than I had estimated thanks to some back road driving skills I have picked up from Outdoor Lover and Chumley. I was glad it was me driving and not GH. He has a new electronic toy (smart phone) so now not only does he have his nose glued to his gps in one hand, he also keeps fiddling with his smartphone in his other hand. I suspect he would attempt this even when he's driving based on previous experience with him at the wheel. 
The last couple of road miles had some rough sections where the lift on my FJ Cruiser probably saved us from some clanging and banging. The rest of the forest roads were in good shape which helped to shave off some time. Our destination was not in sight until the last 100 yards of the hike due to the flatness of the terrain and a fairly dense forest of Juniper trees. The gps track provided by ssk44 led us right to the ruin site and saved some time. The ruins turned out to be more easily accessed than we had anticipated only requiring one down climb with a rope. The need for a rope could probably have been avoided with some searching for a better route along the cliff but we were in a hurry, and hey, if I had to carry two ropes I sure as heck was going to use at least one. The rock had lots of sharp edges that could chew up a rope so I chose to use my old tow rope rather than risk the gecko's good climbing rope. On the way back we found another route we could climb up with out using the rope.
The fortress style ruin on top of the cliff sided knob had a commanding view of the canyon and the access route to the ruin. Whoever built this fortress definitely felt the need to have a defensible place to retreat to when attacked. We only found a few very small pottery fragments on the ground indicating that pot hunters have thoroughly picked over this site. The fragments were the plain redware type that I've seen at so many sites from Cave Creek near Phoenix to the Sierra Ancha Mountains. A climbing strap left in place by previous visitors and a hole dug in the floor of a small habitation type ruin also indicated this site has had its share of visitors. We had expected to find another ruin complex hidden from view behind the knob with the cliff top wall but were disappointed to only find natural rock formations that had looked like walls on GE. It was still a cool find and well worth the effort to get there. |
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Route Editor
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