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| Hiking | 13.22 Miles |
2,397 AEG |
| | Hiking | 13.22 Miles | 9 Hrs 29 Mns | | 1.81 mph |
| 2,397 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 11 Mns Break | | | |
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[ show ]
| partners | | We got an early start and left the Valley at 4AM so we could make the most of the daylight. There were a few shallow water crossings on Cherry Creek Road, and it was in good shape until about a mile before Devil's Chasm. When it got too rough, we pulled off to the side and started hiking the road just as the sun was coming up. Temps dipped below freezing on the drive in but had warmed to the upper 30s/low 40s as we got going. There was plenty of bright fall color down along Cherry Creek, and we could hear water flowing most of the way.
After a few miles on the road, we exited a little before Pottery Point and started down an old mining road toward Cherry Creek. With the amount of rain this fall, we carried water shoes in case we needed to wade, and though the creek had a decent flow, we had no problem staying dry as we hiked north along the west bank. I was expecting a jungle of brush, but it was surprisingly open, relatively easy hiking, and we could see the cliffs with the dwellings above us through the trees most of the way.
After one simple crossing over to the east side just past the Cooper Forks Canyon confluence, we left the creek to start the climb. Again, I expected a brush battle that never materialized--there was a cairned social trail leading up the ridge between the canyons that continued most of the way. The route became a little fainter as turned east toward the cliffs, and the walls of the hilltop Laughing Rock ruins (V:1:143) came into view before we got into the scree zone and went up the chute. Overall, the approach to the main ruins was easier than I expected--the rock didn't feel too unstable, and crossing the rock slides/talus slopes perpendicularly wasn't bad.
As I approached the main dwellings, I immediately found a nice pot sherd in the dirt--a rim piece with an intricately-painted red and white pattern on both sides. Especially surprising because that was one of the few pieces of pottery around the site. We spent a lot of time exploring the dwellings; there were a couple of manos/metates, a few small corn cob fragments, and a handful of pot sherds set out in one of the rooms. Many of the walls were badly deteriorated, but the nicest room had a mostly-intact roof. The floor/ceiling of the multi-level dwelling next to it had collapsed, and that one had some walled-off rooms in the back of the cave with no doorways...probably accessed from above when the second floor was intact.
We made the scramble up to the large dwelling high up in the eastern cave that's visible from miles away on Cherry Creek Road. Interestingly, that doorway is ~5 feet above the ledge, so it's easier to access the room by scrambling into a gap to the left of the dwelling. There's a natural window in the cave wall on that side that connects to the tall, narrow neighboring cave with a dwelling. The big upper ruin also has a back room with no doorway that was probably accessed from the second level when it existed.
Upper dwelling: [ youtube video ]
When we left the main site, we headed over to Laughing Rock and climbed up a steep, loose scree slope to reach the hilltop ruins, where we ate lunch. The southern walls are in surprisingly good shape and very tall (~6 feet high), with more deteriorated walls scattered around the hilltop. The site makes a great lookout, with views overlooking Cherry Creek and across to Pueblo Canyon, Cold Spring Canyon, and Devil's Chasm, plus a view back to the main dwellings. As we started down, I found another painted pot sherd, the only artifact we found at that site.
Laughing Rock: [ youtube video ]
The hike out was straightforward, and the long shadows made for great scenery; it was cool to look back at the dwellings in the distant cliffs in the late afternoon sun. We didn't see anyone all day and the hike, though challenging, was much easier than I expected based on the guide and previous triplogs. Brush was a non-issue (not a single scratch!), the talus slopes and chute were relatively stable and short, and route finding was straightforward with a cairned social trail much of the way. I suspect the site has seen more visitation in recent years, and that's probably contributed to a more defined route. But it's easy to see where this could get really tough if you're off the more established path.
A fun day from start to finish where everything went smoothly. It had been more than 2.5 years since my last hike in the Sierra Anchas, and I hadn't hiked with @ishamod in over a year, so it was great to see both again...he's joined me on quite a few of these trips now, and hikes to these Ancha ruins sites are always among my favorites. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate
Bright colors along Cherry Creek |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Medium flow in the creek bed
It was buggy and muggy. The upper half of the hike was much better when it opened up and you escaped from the jungle. The ruins are pretty impressive and the views were topnotch. Thanks for the invite Lee...sorry you were the only attendee at the safety meetings. For someone who talks a big game 
, I did catch you using a rope 
Check
new areas we had yet to explore. I will plan to post a triplog and picset for all four and an edited for correctness GPS Route (with key way points included) for three of the four:
