| |
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 6.03 Miles |
1,480 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.03 Miles | 7 Hrs 5 Mns | | 1.33 mph |
| 1,480 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 33 Mns Break | 12 LBS Pack | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | Another trip out to the Cline Creek area to take advantage of the ideal weather and the spring flowers while they last. This time my destination was to check out Board Spring and the surrounding area near the upper end of Cline Creek. I wanted to see if Board Spring had a developed water trough from ranching days and to look for evidence of ancient Indian habitation that might have been attracted by the spring. On this trip I drove in about 2.5 miles on the 4x4 road from the entrance to the Tonto National Forest at the north end of N 20th St. The road got really nasty for the last half mile and I would walk that stretch if I ever return to the area - faster than driving and less wear and tear on my FJ. I had to use the rear differential locker in a couple of spots to get over some large rocks and the AZ pin striping was bad. I could have driven about another 0.8 mile but got tired of the abuse to my FJ and the bone jarring slow crawl over the rocks. This also avoided what would have been a challenging 4x4 scramble up a steep creek bank covered with thousands of softball size and larger rocks - need to get that A-Trac switch installed before attempting something like that.
It was an easy hike up the old 4x4 road for about 0.8 miles before starting off trail following the east bank of Cline Creek. The crossing of a deep steep sided wash was aided by the fortuitous finding of what appeared to be a crossing point for an old ranching trail. Proceeding along the creek bank I located a small ruin site with scattered pottery sherds and the remains of what might have been a wooden structure from long ago ranching days. As I neared the location of Board Spring the brush got uncomfortably dense so I decided to hike up to a hilltop on the east side above the spring to look for Indian ruins. This proved productive. There were pottery sherds in a couple of locations and the completely collapsed walls of what appeared to have been a small pueblo style ruin with several rooms in a small saddle connecting two hilltops. Heading down hill towards the spring location I located a small collapsed ruin of 2 to 3 rooms with more pottery sherds on the high creek bank overlooking the map location for the spring. A walk up the creek revealed no sign of water, not even a wet spot. The spring could have been somewhere in the large cluster of brush and trees on the west bank but the brush was thicker than I wanted to deal with. So I found no sign of a developed water trough from ranching days.
After checking out the spring I started a long climb up the west side of the creek. I came across one last small ruin and sherd location as I proceeded up the hillside and eventually reached a large half mile long bench along the hillside just below the top of New Mesa. From the look of it, this area should be rich in evidence of ancient habitation but all I found were some petroglyphs and some scattered pot sherds near one of the petroglyphs. This bench was beautifully landscaped by the hand of nature and offered a fairly easy to climb (hike) route to the top of New Mesa. I was running out of time so did a quick inspection along the half mile length of the bench missing a large area that could have had more signs of ancient habitation. My route down off the bench was difficult requiring some butt sliding and very careful foot placement going down a chute between cliff walls. Even here on this steep route I spotted a pottery sherd. A much safer more gradual descent was available following another ridge that led down from the bench closer to Cline Creek but I didn't see it until already being committed to the more hazardous but quicker route. It was a rewarding hike, maybe more for the natural beauty of the spring time desert than the evidence of ancient Indian habitation that I had found. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
