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| Hiking | 1.75 Miles |
300 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.75 Miles | 1 Hour 30 Mns | | 1.17 mph |
| 300 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Many of the hikes on my To Do List are on indefinite hold until the fire danger subsides. So I decided to hit the high country and piece together a bunch of smaller hikes based on ancient Native American culture. The trip went something like this:
Sacred Mountain
Rarick Canyon
V Bar V Heritage Site
Montezuma Well
Camp Verde Cliff Dwellings was also on the list, but with the temperature in the Verde Valley hovering around 95-degrees I opted instead for a long, refreshing dip in Wet Beaver Creek. That was later in the afternoon. My first stop of the morning was Sacred Mountain.
Leaving I house at 445a I arrived at the TH at 710a. Minus the ten minute stop for breakfast I was right on schedule. First thing I noticed was the abundance of cicadas in the open field. They're noisy and they're everywhere. If you get too close they let out a high-pitched chirp, almost a squeak. That scared the pants off of me at first! I thought I stepped on a mouse. After a while it became another common sound of nature.
Joe's hike description, written 11 years ago, notes that the trail register is filled with unimpressed visitors. It's still that way today. The entry before mine said something to the effect of "without an archaeology degree I don't get it." I dunno, the only archaeology I know comes from Indiana Jones movies, yet I found this place fascinating. I guess people were expecting something as impressive as Tuzigoot or as picturesque as Montezuma's Castle.
Looking closely on the way up the trail I started to notice pot shards on the rocks. The closer I got to the top the more I saw. When I topped out there was a cairn. Six feet beyond that is a flat rock covered with twenty shards, all of different colors. As a matter of fact, there's so many shards on the ground I was sidestepping around them.
The greatest concentration of ruins is to the east immediately after topping out. There were several collapsed walls outlining the settlement. Unfortunately, there is also evidence of recent diggings. I worked my way along the east ledge and to the best preserved ruin, a rock wall near the north east corner. It's about 3ft high and 12-15ft long. Very impressive! Pottery shards are noticeable in this area as well. The northwest ledge has the remains of several pithouses, some in better shape than others.
While up top I read the part in the hike description about the small lookout on the nearby hill. Interested in checking it out I headed back down and cut off-trail up the hill. I couldn't find evidence of the lookout. However, if you turn around from here you get great views of Sacred Mountain.
Up next: Rarick Canyon |
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"I've driven across deserts, driven by the irony, that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
- Frank Turner "The Road" |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
So today was a yard day…kind of. I still wanted to get out and visit a new trail. I decided on a short one close to Walker Basin. Sacred Mountain. 
