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| Hiking | 3.20 Miles |
820 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.20 Miles | | | |
| 820 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Black Mesa Ruins - Salt River Canyon Wilderness
Black Mesa is a special place. The river canyon views are amazing. I first came hear with Hank (Grasshopper) in December 2011. The road getting up hear is one rough SOB. The road is three miles of relentless boulders. It takes one hour to drive three miles! As much as I like it up hear, I never dreamed I'd be coming back.
While recently exploring this area on Google Earth I spotted an interesting butte situated out on the remote eastern ridge overlooking the river. It just had the look.. I zoomed in and found an obvious ruin site. I was immediately hooked. I just had to see it in person! I love exploring unregistered obscure ruin sites. Especially sites on the Salt River. Hank and I were due for another ruin adventure. A simple email and the plans were put into motion. It was an easy sell.
Our planned Saturday had arrived. It was a great day. A bit hazy but a great day overall. The road sucked just like we remembered. Actually worse then we remembered. The hike was straightforward and easy. Very easy for a ruin hike. Zero bushwhack. Just a nice off-trail stroll along the eastern outer ridge. The views were amazing as expected. I was so excited to get up on that butte. We could see it in the distance. I knew there was ruins up there! I wasn't disappointed. A small picturesque three room site situated on the edge of the Salt River Canyon Wilderness. I love this stuff. To our surprise, there were no obvious pottery shards or metate's visible. The site had been cleaned out. The views made up for the lack of artifacts. The trip was a success either way. I was very happy.
For me, this was just one more great day of exploration with my good friend Hank. It wouldn't have been the same without him. We've seen some cool backcountry destinations over the years. Old habits die hard.
Eric (ssk44)
Black Mesa Ruins as seen from Rockinstraw Mountain (12/31/2011)
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| MATTHEW 11:28-30 / PSALM 84:1-2 |
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