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| | | Rarick Canyon and Hilltop Ruins, AZ | | | |
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Rarick Canyon and Hilltop Ruins, AZ
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| Hiking | 3.21 Miles |
385 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.21 Miles | 2 Hrs 52 Mns | | 1.38 mph |
| 385 ft AEG | 32 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | We put together a plan to do a series of short hikes to various native sites in the Camp Verde area, and we ended up fitting in seven stops over the course of the day. We started with Rarick Canyon, and there were a few campers set up around the area where we parked off of Blue Grade Road along FR 645A. The canyon is fairly shallow and isn't stunningly impressive at first glance, but it's a pleasant area and packed with petroglyphs.
There were quite a few pools, but the creek bed was mostly dry and we did a lot of rock-hopping as we explored. Before long, we started seeing a few panels and a single, deep grinding hole in a rock, then found the unique bear paw petroglyphs. Nearby, we noticed some panels up high on the canyon wall where the natives must've climbed down from the top to create their artwork.
We continued to see scattered panels as we explored along the wall, then turned around and headed back in the other direction along the opposite side. The second main site included a unique animal glyph with very prominent legs and claws. We stopped at the Crane site later in the day, and the volunteer working there happened to mention the sabretooth tiger petroglyph in Rarick, and we realized that's what we'd see on this panel. I thought sabretooth cats were long extinct by the time the natives inhabited the area and did some searching, and it's an interesting read...the article speculates that the legend might've gotten passed down through oral history, and the drawing could represent a clan symbol (https://azdailysun.com/history-of-sabre ... 9693f.html). Having learned all that after we first saw it, the glpyh does resemble a sabretooth with the tusks, but, as with all of these, we'll never know for sure.
Further along was a site with three deep bedrock metates and at least one mano, multiple petroglyphs, and a red handprint pictograph on the canyon wall. I wondered if that was modern graffiti, but the faded coloring looked at least semi-authentic. In that area, two big slabs of rock had fallen from above and formed a ramp, and there were more petroglyphs in a small alcove formed by one of the slanted slabs. Another boulder nearby had a small hole ~2 inches in diameter (drilled?) through it.
[ youtube video ]
Not far from there was another nice site with the best panel of the day. That one included the famous mating deer petroglyph, a moose or elk with big antlers, several horned lizards, multiple spirals, and what looked like a person playing a flute. There was a second panel up higher, and the ground was littered with fallen boulders decorated with more art.
[ youtube video ]
We explored a little farther down the creek bed before turning starting back. As a bonus on the hike out, I found a pair of sunglasses, a month to the day after losing a pair somewhere along Sheep Creek while hiking with Joe  . The map shows a gaging station near the area where we entered the canyon, but we never saw it, so that must've been removed at some point.
We planned to stop at the Crane Petroglyph site after Rarick, but along the way I got out and explored two roadside hilltops for possible ruins. The first one, Hill 4262, didn't have anything on top, just nice views overlooking Rarick. The second, Hill 4120, did have a multi-room ruin site on top. Some of the walls looked like they'd been restacked, and I found one piece of pottery on the way up but none on top, so it was probably a lookout of some kind vs. a habitation site. It had nice 360° views but plenty of traffic noise from I-17 down below. [ youtube video ] . Overall, a nice start to the day, then we continued to Crane and a few other sites. |
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Rarick Canyon |
Pools to trickle |
Pools to trickle |
| |  Multiple pools and a light trickle | | | |
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