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| Hiking | 2.11 Miles |
522 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.11 Miles | 4 Hrs 18 Mns | | 0.83 mph |
| 522 ft AEG | 1 Hour 46 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Decided to spend New Year’s Day in the Anchas given the crowds in the Supes & Sedona. We didn’t see anyone hiking, but did see people camping along the road. Honestly, this “hike” brutal for me. Basically, we would just follow the path(s) that looked the least painful to navigate. You are on a steep slope, heading sideways towards the dwellings; there is a ton of scree, catclaw, and various cacti everywhere waiting to zap you. It was super nerve wracking for me because I was fearful of pace planting into a cacti. (I somehow even managed to bushwhack a chunk of my left eyebrow completely off  ) James was extremely patient as I moved very slowly and cautiously; it felt like the longest mile ever, lol. We finally reached the first set of dwellings & the climb to get up there was nuts.  It was about 50 feet of vertical climbing with questionable hand/foot holes AND an active bee hive you had to scramble directly over. James tackled it first while I tried to calm myself down with a white claw.  (My first attempt, I was spooked by the bees). James said it was amazing up there and I didn’t bushwhack through hell to not see them, so thankfully he helped me up and I got to experience them as well. The dwellings were beautiful and the views were absolutely stunning! I particularly enjoyed the ledge that offered the view into the dwellings. After savoring the scenery for a while, we had to get back down. James went first and informed me that the beehive was agitated and that I’d need to move as quickly as possible getting down without panicking. Somehow this was achieved (with his assistance) and we didn’t get stung!  We traveled further down and saw additional dwellings that looked almost impossible to get to. We were actually able to get in there by finding an alternate route around that put us on the correct level. We enjoyed the views, had some snacks and then ultimately headed back the {awful} way we came. Although not a long hike, it was very mentally draining for me and I was happy when we finished. We popped over to camp grasshopper to set up for the night. The campsite was decent, although a bit windy and rocky. It got cold FAST at night and despite having a {responsible} fire, we were inside the tent, in sleeping bags somewhere around 7pm. It was difficult to get warm even with two sleeping bags, multiple layers and hot hands. Sunset and sunrise were very pretty and we got some rest for the next day’s adventures. |
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| Restless between adventures... |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
I am so proud of them!!!
This was a warm up hike for a day of exploring the Cherry Creek side of the Ancha. Got back on Friday and initially the weather looked like rain,but changed to forecast of snow. Alex had not been here so we parked by the corral and headed for the dwellings. The clouds were low and a mix of snow and rain started to fall during our traverse to the dwellings. I made this a little difficult by not going to the fence and following it (which made the trip back much nicer 
I have to say the weather made pictures difficult as it was raining and snowing pretty hard by the time we got there. We toured the area which is a lot bigger site than I realized due to my previous hasty retreat. Main ledge was innaccessible safely due to snow, ice, and water accumulation, but I was able to walk up to the base of the cliff(where I was stung last year) and climb up to the room that has a small opening on the edge. 
(ha ha!), but thankfully a Benadryl took the edge off. 
