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| Hiking | 6.90 Miles |
1,147 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.90 Miles | 6 Hrs 32 Mns | | 1.14 mph |
| 1,147 ft AEG | 30 Mns Break | 12 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | I returned to the Cline Creek area in the southwest corner of the Tonto Nat. Forest to search for more Indian ruins. This time I drove about 2 miles in on the 4x4 road that enters the Nat. Forest from the north end of 20th St to cut some distance off my hike. This is definitely a high clearance 4x4 road requiring some pin striping vs tire damage/clearance decisions. Along the drive in I stopped to check out a possible ruin beside the road and a couple points of curiosity (POC) I had observed on Google Earth. At the first stop about 0.3 miles from the end of 20th St. the rock piles I had seen in the bushes along the road did not appear to be ruins upon closer inspection. However I did find a brand new jogging stroller stashed in the bushes. That explained the strange tricycle type tire tracks I had seen in the road earlier. About 20 minutes later I encountered the owners, a young couple out for a walk with their baby. This was at the site of a long rock wall which appears to be related to historic ranching activity since there are the remains of a corral and a well nearby. I suspect the rock wall may have been built from a re-purposed pueblo style Indian ruin. This suspicion is based on the ruins and pot sherds I had found across the road from this location on my previous trip. Another POC seen on GE was what had appeared to be a foundation, perhaps for a ranch house. But it turned out to be a deep rectangular pit with plastered walls. My first thought was swimming pool but it was more likely for storing water.
After driving approximately 2 miles up the road in a generally east-north-east direction from the end of N 20th St, I parked and started my off trail hike. The first destination was a small hilltop (knob) on the east side of the road, almost a twin of the knob on the west side which has a nice collection of petroglyphs. There was no sign of ancient habitation on this hilltop, just a cairn. But it did give me a good view of a route up a ridgeline that extended east rising up to the crest of the hilltops along the west side of Cave Creek Canyon not far from the intersection of the Rhondo Spring and Black Mesa trails. The remainder of my hike was devoted to hiking up this ridgeline looking for signs of ancient habitation and then crossing over to another ridgeline which more or less paralleled this one to return to my starting point. I was beginning to give up hope of finding any ruins after hiking 2.4 miles from my vehicle when I discover the first ruin - a one room 8 x 10 foot rectangular room (pile of rocks) with lots of pottery sherds scattered nearby to confirm the ruin's origins. I followed the ridge all the way up to where it broadened out into a small plateau at the base of a steep hillside studded with layers of limestone cliffs. On this small plateau I found a cluster of ruins along with lots of pottery suggesting that there may have been a small pueblo style village here at one time. Turning around and starting the trek back I crossed over a saddle to the next ridge to the east and followed it back down. This ridge forms the north side of what I will call the south fork of Cline Creek Canyon (couldn't find a name on the maps) which extends up to Rhondo Spring. Along this ridge I found 3 more ruin sites bringing my total for the day to 8. My last stop was to check out a 33 ft diameter circle in a clearing that I had seen on Google Earth. It turned out to be a circle of rocks with a more rocks in the center forming a cross. Two small grave like mounds of rocks nearby indicated this may be someone's pet cemetery. It was a productive day of exploration while enjoying the beautiful spring greenery and wildflowers of the desert hills. |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
Numerous clumps of Brittle Bush flowers, a few bushes with small orange flowers, and 3 to 4 Mexican Poppies. |
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