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| | | New River Mesa and Ruins, AZ | | | |
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New River Mesa and Ruins, AZ
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| Hiking | 7.26 Miles |
1,997 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.26 Miles | 5 Hrs 8 Mns | | 1.82 mph |
| 1,997 ft AEG | 1 Hour 8 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I was reading something when I got back from this trip, that stated you need a permit for Table Mesa RD. Im not sure if this was true, or where you need the permit. If I go back to this area, I will research more information.
I started the trip at the New River Ruins site. It was very windy today. This wind helped fuel the surprise attacks from the jumping Cholla. They came out of nowhere. Luckily the Cholla are only near the bottom. A few minutes into the hike, I realized I didnt change into my hiking boots. This did cause some problems on the way up. Needles go right through tennis shoes. Near the top it becomes slightly more difficult. You have to do some rock climbing. I stayed at the top 40+ minutes. Looking for pottery, sitting on the edge admiring the view, and taking shelter in one of the ruins to get out of the wind. From the top, looking East, I noticed a rock pile that might be more ruins. I had another site I wanted to go visit today, since I was here, I decided to check out this possible ruin site. I got back into my truck and drove about 1/2 to the next "trailhead". This hike is a similar climb. There are some parts near the top where you have to climb up. I then hiked toward the rock pile. No ruins here.... Just a natural pile of rocks on top of a small mesa. I then looked at my GPS, to see if the next mesa to the East was worth taking a look. I guess it was. I did a 5 mile loop at the top of the New River Mesa. No real elevation gain or obstacles. Walking through tall grass. I was watching for snakes during this loop. A squirrel did scare me when I startled it and it ran away. Not planning on this portion of the trip, I didnt put enough sunscreen on. I did get a bit toasted.
After that I got back in my truck and explored some of the 4x4 roads on both sides of I-17. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
There is a neat spiral petroglyph about 15 feet to the left at the end of the first barbed wire fence. There are a few more petroglyphs on the north side of the base of the rock, and a couple that I saw on the south side near the top. The easiest rock scramble to the top is probably on the south side of the rock, but you will need to do more bushwacking to get there. I didn't have any trouble climbing up the north side, but think the south side is probably the easiest way down. On top there are multiple obvious rooms, 1 especially well preserved. There are mutiple piles of potsherds at the top, and I saw quite a few around the base as well. A word of caution, there is a sign that warns that ATV's and sport shooting is prohibited, but I saw several groups of both this weekend, and there are spent shells everywhere along the road.
