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| Hiking | 2.50 Miles |
992 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.50 Miles | 5 Hrs 15 Mns | | 0.48 mph |
| 992 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | We had this one on our list for our 6 day camping trip even though Grasshopper had hiked to this ruin back in May 2011. I was ready to drop it off our list when changing weather made us decide to leave a day earlier than planned but GH said I really had to see these ruins. We decided to stick with GH's original track from 2011 with its mile of manzanita hell even though GeeEss found an alternate route circling around to the south side of the butte. His description of the vertical ascent near the top of the south side of the butte left us uncertain as to whether or not it was within our capabilities. GH was confident that his approach up a break in the cliffs would be doable because he had done it before.
We found GH's cairn at the edge of FR486 marking where they started their hike in 2011 and started off through the brush following his original 2011 gps track as closely as possible. About 75% of the time we were able to find breaks in the brush and sometimes even trails made by elk and cattle which made it easier than I had expected. But it was time consuming to dither back and forth looking for those breaks. Finding a scattering of pottery sherds in a small clearing on the way up the final slope spurred us on. We were working our way up through the gap in the cliffs following GH's old gps track when we encountered a vertical section about 10 to 15 feet high. The first 6 ft was relatively easy helped by some tree branches. The last 6 ft or so was up a slot that would have made it easy but there was a boulder jammed in the slot that was too high to step up on and no handholds to pull ourselves over it. Falling probably wouldn't have been life threatening but would have likely resulted in a broken limb or two. GH could not remember this trail blockage from 2011 even though his old gps track definitely went through this spot. My conclusion was that the boulder had gotten jammed in that slot sometime after his 2011 trip. After some discussion we decided it was most prudent for us to turn around and head back down.
It was disappointing to turn back with out reaching the ruins but the stress relief of leaving that risky climb behind soon had us smiling again. |
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