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| Gila Bend Mtn Petroglyphs, AZ | |
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| | Gila Bend Mtn Petroglyphs, AZ | | | |
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Gila Bend Mtn Petroglyphs, AZ
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| Hiking | 6.09 Miles |
772 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.09 Miles | | | |
| 772 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | There's a "semi-known" petroglyph site in a canyon of the Gila Bend Mountains. I thought about going there years ago but private property issues dissuaded me. The logical approach from the north is NG - the dirt road on the west side of the Gila River below Gillespie Dam is posted no trespassing though it is heavily used by big trucks heading to a landfill.
A couple months ago I ran into a couple of nice ladies at a petroglyph site on the lower Gila River and they mentioned to me they'd been to this one the day before though they'd only seen one petroglyph. I inferred they approached from the east - and I ought to be able to figure it out.
Well plan A didn't work [ photo ] . Plan B was a sketch I made on the maze of agricultural roads and that didn't work either - fences, canals, etc. I was about ready to give up. I asked a couple Spanish speakers who we're moving siphon tubes and a little sign language encouragement kept me trying and eventually I got across the dry Gila, and further on was amazed to see a little sign saying "entering public land". Nice! though I'm not sure how you're supposed to get there.
The road got a little better for a while but I parked at a sketchy drop into a wash (90% sure my Outback could do it but I was close enough). Nice walking in an open canyon and I passed a section with a lot of modern rock graffiti but nothing ancient. I also had an interesting camera/phone experience: while attempting to increase screen brightness I somehow turned it to zero. Could not see the screen - could not raise brightness - could not reset the phone (I tried holding all the buttons). OK I'm an Android idiot and I almost gave up - but after 10 min of fooling around somehow I got it to reboot.
At the big prominent rock I found a nice post-Spanish petroglyph but was left wondering where are all the glyphs? Luckily I didn't give up (theme of the day!) and with some more effort I found the nice area with the unique ancient petroglyphs. So it turned out to be a good day. Driving out I thought I'd find a better way by staying on the "best road". Nope [ photo ] . Luckily I had the drive in route in my gps and was able to back-track. |
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