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| Hiking | 3.29 Miles |
842 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.29 Miles | 3 Hrs 7 Mns | | 1.26 mph |
| 842 ft AEG | 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Last year I located two large ruins on Anderson Mesa. There was one more I'd been unsuccessfully looking for in satellite pictures but given the cooler climate up there at ~7000' I thought I'd just go up and have a look around.
I had planned to drive to my previous start near Kinnikinnick Lake but I missed a turn and found myself driving off the east side of Anderson Mesa. I decided not to backtrack and just take my chances on the web of ranch roads and see what happened. Luckily the roads weren't too rocky and to my surprise I drove to my target area, avoiding a 3-4mi walk from Kinnikinnick Lake area.
After a short while I started noticing pottery and it soon got real dense with pottery pieces and flaked stone and obsidian. This covered a large area which made it hard to figure out where the main ruin/habitation site was. Eventually I got bored with the search and headed up to the mesa edge to look for petroglyphs or whatever else I might run into. There were no petroglyphs to speak of but I was surprised to find a stacked stone ruin (4-8 rooms) right near the tip of the mesa.
I took a different path back down to the main pottery area on the flat below and this time I passed a site that probably was the main ruin...not much to see though, I think archaeologists had buried it.
I was thinking I could maybe drive out east toward Chavez Pass, but I passed the rancher heading the other way and he implied that you couldn't get out that way and suggested I follow him back to the ranch. Looking at the map I'm not sure he understood me but it's a good practice to listen to the locals so I headed back past Mormon Lake and Payson without any drama. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
