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| Rogers Trough TH to Rough Canyon, AZ | |
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| | Rogers Trough TH to Rough Canyon, AZ | | | |
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Rogers Trough TH to Rough Canyon, AZ
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| Hiking | 15.98 Miles |
2,161 AEG |
| | Hiking | 15.98 Miles | 8 Hrs 58 Mns | | 1.91 mph |
| 2,161 ft AEG | 36 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Our main goal for the day was to do some exploring and try to reach one of the lesser-known ruins sites that we hadn't seen before, farther beyond the popular Rogers Canyon cliff dwelling. We had a good idea about the location, but getting there on a day hike was going to be a long shot with some rough terrain and shorter days this time of year.
The road leading to Rogers Trough was in about the same shape as I remembered from my last visit almost three years ago--a few rocky and deeply rutted spots, but manageable with high clearance. There were five other vehicles parked there but no one around when we arrived. It was in the mid-40s and windy when we started just before 8AM, but it got more comfortable as we dropped down into the canyon and were more protected from the wind.
There was a lot of fall color in the leaves as we followed the creek bed down Rogers Canyon. We had the cliff dwelling site to ourselves but didn't take the time to stop since we had other plans for the day. The area on the north side of Angel Basin near the Rogers Canyon/Frog Tanks intersection quickly turned into a catclaw nightmare, and we gave up trying to find/stay on the trail before long and just hiked in the creek bed. We hadn't hiked beyond Angel Basin before, so it was a new area for both of us, and the geology was impressive--lots of spires and formations everywhere. The creek bed was very dry--other than a few puddles, I only saw one larger pool all day.
It started to become clear that we weren't going to reach the ruins by turnaround time, so TBoneKathy waited while I took off to see if I could at least get close enough to confirm the location of the site. The scenery was spectacular as I gained a little elevation and got a better look at the surroundings, and with the help of a few zoomed pictures, I was able to confirm that the ruins were where we expected...just not quite enough time to get over there today.
I headed back, and on the way out I left the creek bed to check out a large cave that looked promising from below. No ruins inside, but it had some interesting tunnels/formations inside, and the view looking down the canyon was worth the detour.
[ youtube video ]
When we got back to the Rogers Canyon cliff dwelling, there still wasn't anyone around, so I went up to the cave since it had been a few years since I was last there...it gets a lot of traffic, but it's a nice site. We finally saw two people as we left the dwellings, and we saw one more backpacker on the hike out, but those three were the only people we saw today. We didn't see much wildlife, either--just a big cat print in the sand near Hole Spring.
It was in the low 50s when we got back to Rogers Trough...there were two other vehicles in the parking lot, and we had a nice sunset as we started the drive down the mountain. It was a little disappointing that we didn't reach the destination but good to confirm the location for a return visit when the days are longer. And it was nice to see some new scenery in a beautiful area. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate
Lots of bright colors along the creek bed in Rogers Canyon |
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