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| Hiking | 1.42 Miles |
142 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.42 Miles | 1 Hour 26 Mns | | 1.11 mph |
| 142 ft AEG | 9 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | A hike to see some petroglyphs with the local chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society. (Man, that's a mouthful.) AAS LCR Chapter, based in Springerville. I rejoined, also. Hadn't been a member for over 15 years.
I had seen this rock art before, but it had been probably 20 years since I had walked around to these particular bluffs.
It was a pretty chilly day, with a breeze. Mid-30's, with wind chill in the 20's. We first walked from the parking lot, across the bridge, to gaze at the Hooper Ranch Pueblo, which is a non-fascinating big pile of rocks, and is fenced off. It was excavated (robbed) by the University of Chicago Field Museum, back in the 50's. Another, smaller, pueblo site is located on top of a tiny knob or hill, just downriver. It is called the Danson Pueblo, and was excavated by the father of Ted Danson. Yes, that Ted Danson. Apparently little Ted was sometimes on site during the excavations. Both these sites are owned by the Archaeological Conservancy, are private property and off-limits unless you get permission. Not much to see, anyway. However, the petroglyphs on the bluffs are on state land, and you can explore without any permit.
After seeing the Hooper site, and listening to this guy drone on and on while we tried to look polite as we were freezing to death, we went back to the parking lot and drove to the next parking area, from where my GPS route begins and ends. We had some non-hikers in the group. I guess they couldn't walk a quarter mile on flat ground to the next area.
There are hundreds of 'glyphs within a mile or so of where we walked, and by no means did we see all of them. There are several different bluffs. One is basalt, and others are sandstone.
It's a beautiful area along the river. May it forever be free of wind turbines, (which some greedy people want to put just above the rims of the canyon. More than 200 of them, 600 feet tall. Look up Stop Lava Run and Black Ridge Renewable Project. Those are just two of several proposed wind farms.)
This is one of the last truly remote and rural areas of the state. It's 90 miles from a freeway onramp, and the closest city, Albuquerque, is 3 hours away. It's a constant battle to try to keep people who don't live here from wanting to come in and mess it up, for their profit. I'm no longer a homeowner in the town, but I used to be. I'm nomadic these days, and will be leaving again soon. But I love the area, and care deeply about the grasslands and the LCR. In fact, I find the grass country more interesting to explore than the pine forest. |
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There is a point of no return unremarked at the time in most lives. Graham Greene The Comedians
A clean house is a sign of a misspent life. |
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