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| Hiking | 3.00 Miles |
2,489 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.00 Miles | 5 Hrs | | 0.60 mph |
| 2,489 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | It took me for ever to edit out which pics to download because there were just to many incredible shots! This is an awesome adventure!
The drive took close to three hours. I strongly recommend a vehicle with high clearance and good off road tires, and a good spare tire. The drive is not to technical but gets pretty rough and rocky. We had a blow out.
You eventually reach a sign that says "road closed" this is where you pull off. The hike is only three miles round trip, but it is a challenging three miles. The canyon is very lush and green. I would love to see it in the spring, or even better, in the fall.
You basically follow the spring up the canyon and sometimes you'll see a trail. The tallest wall you see up ahead on the right is where the cliff dwellings are. When you get to the base of that cliff you start a steep ascent up a couple hundred feet to the ruins. Don't start ascending to early, there are misleading trails that take you on a dangerously steep climb. I learned that the hard way.
About halfway up the ascent you'll notice a cave off to you're left, this is an adventure all on its own. I'll tell about that in a minute.
The ruins are in amazingly great condition. Some rooms appear to have been three stories high. All over the walls there are finger imprints from the indians who built these cliff dwellings. The doorways are very small and the workmanship incredible. We ate lunch in the ruins to escape the heat, yes its even hot here in January. Not bad though. I actually had a sweater to start the hike.
On our way down we decided to check out the cave. If you are good with sense of direction and not claustrophobic, I recommend at least going in a little ways to take a look. Yes you will need a flash light. There were flies in the entrance but they didn't go back far.
For the first little while you can actually walk but the further you go back, the tighter it gets. The cave has many forks but we discovered most come to an abrupt end or get uncomfortably tight. Still if you plan going back far I recommend head lamps and a long roll of string so you can find your way out. You will also want gloves and knee and elbow pads.
If you take a right at the first fork, the cave soon ends. Off to the left it goes on a ways. After a while you are on you hands and knees and soon you'll be doing a military crawl. Every once in a while there is a tight squeeze but it usually opens up some. There were some area's way back in there where I had to breathe out to squeeze through.
Deep into the cave we found a strange species of Cricket. I have a picture of him on this site. Much of the exploring in this cave requires agility and flexibility and long distances crawled in a half push-up position. I don't recomend it for anyone with even slight claustrophobia, but if you don't mind tight squeezes and small places, this is an awesome exploration.
PLEASE BE careful!! Don't get in over your head.
The hike back to the car is much quicker and easier than the hike up. The canyon is amazing and there are many other ruins and caves in the area. I recommend leaving a full day open for this one. |
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| Why do they call the small candybars "Fun Size"? Wouldn't it be more fun to eat a big one? |
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