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| Fortress/Lookout Ruin Discovery, AZ | |
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| | Fortress/Lookout Ruin Discovery, AZ | | | |
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Fortress/Lookout Ruin Discovery, AZ
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| no partners | | I’ve been hooked on hiking for at least 50 years. At least 47 of those years were on trails. I was happy, challenged when I wanted to be, content with the scenery around me. I didn’t even consider walking into that distant scenery I was thrilled to simply photograph. But in the last five years, my longtime hiking partner (of nearly 15 years) all but lost his fear of heights, moved to Arizona and discovered HAZ, and decided that the best destinations were off trail. On the issue of trail vs. off-trail, I was still sitting on the fence, scratching my latest healing catclaw wounds. But one find in particular made me understand those that seek destinations off-trail, or just wander the backcountry.
One day in late 2020, we stumbled onto a lookout/fortress ruin in Arizona. We search online for interesting destinations but had never seen this one. I refer to it as a “lookout/fortress” because I saw something similar, but not nearly so dramatic, on Spur Cross Ranch’s ranger-led Elephant Mountain Fortress Hike. There, Indian Fortress is perched on the edge of a protective cliff. I was even more captivated by the double-wall construction protecting the other side. There isn’t much left, but a close look reveals two dwelling-ruins-type walls with about 18” between them filled with smaller stones.
A good length of the double walls at this site, however, stand tall and are quite solid. It’s a larger endeavor than that at Elephant Mountain, and perusing the broad area reveals that the walls protect a large projection of cliff overlooking an intersection of drainages.
Indian Fortress at Elephant Mountain is a part of a series of peaks, each within vision of the next, and the thought is that communication between the lookouts afforded greater protection of the people living below. This suggests that more wandering and seeking is in order in this area! |
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