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| no partners | | | I was spending the day riding around the TNF roads when I stumbled upon a forgotten path. After checking my maps, I concluded that it was in fact a FS road open to motorized travel and I could continue up it for roughly 1 mile to its terminus. As I began my slow roll through the pine forest I soon noticed rocks that looked out of place for this particular area. As we all know, this often leads to finding ancient treasures! I parked my bike and began canvassing the hillside next to the old road. There in the tangles of manzanita and other scrub were the very scattered remains of an ancient ruin along with a small mount of pot sherds and tool flecks. There wasn’t much that could be photographed but I enjoyed a good hours roam along the shallow washes following trails of artifacts before returning to my scooter. I rode to the end of the old FS trail where I found a small off camber cul-de-sac on the edge of a wash at the base of a pretty steep unnamed hill. This place said “you must explore me” and so I did. I walked straight up the hillside huffing and puffing along the way and found beautiful red/orange rock covered ground speckled with prickly pear, agave, and cedar trees giving off the appearance of a well landscaped desert garden. I meandered through the plants following the nature made pathways but could never quite reach the edge of things. I decided to turn back towards the road and return to my bike after 1.5 miles of walking. Just before returning to the intersection with the main FS road I glanced up at a hillside that intrigued me. For no rhyme or reason I was soon ascending the hill on foot and just as I crested the top I began seeing stacked white rocks. There I was standing at the doorstep of a gigantic ancient dwelling. Nobody was home or had been in many hundreds of years. The walls were all but disintegrated in many places but still held a uniform stacked appearance in a few areas. I would venture to say there were upwards of 2 dozen rooms total. The rock choice was interesting, a whitish grey sandstone ?? I’m not the best with geology. Then every so often there would be a red block of rock in the mix. There wasn’t much for scatter but the structure had been impressive once upon a time. Interestingly, this ruin was not at all built from the same stones as the one at the base of the hill just down the road that I had found. Another good day wandering the hills of TNF!!! |
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