New River Mesa Mystery Walls • Hike • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

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Jan 13 2023

GeeEss

Guides 1
Routes 23
Photos 579
Triplogs 45

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Joined Jan 10 2014
Fountain Hills,

New River Mesa Mystery Walls

Phoenix, AZ

New River Mesa Mystery Walls

Phoenix, AZ

Hiking		Jan 13 2023
		GeeEss • Triplogs 45

Hiking	8.10 Miles	1,668 AEG

Hiking	8.10 Miles
	1,668 ft AEG

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Long, grueling hike to the top of New River Mesa today. I had explored the Mesa many times prior, but it's a very big space, and today we looked in on a different area. There are ruins, rock art, and lots of metates on top, suggesting the area was once farmed heavily (corn fields), undoubtedly in order to feed a large Hohokam population in several areas immediately below the Mesa.

There is an interesting mystery found here, in the form of a substantial number of prominent rock walls on top, some as long as two miles. Walls may have been built by prehistoric Hohokam for reasons unknown (agriculture? game chutes?), or by historic ranchers. I might lean toward the latter, but for two reasons. First, I have found rock art associated with a long wall in the Robber’s Roost area, and second, the staggering amount of manual labor required to construct these walls in such a remote area is mind boggling. They would have needed an army up there, for many long months, possibly years. I know there was some ranching going on, but IMHO not on a scale to make construction of these walls especially feasible. It strikes me as far more likely that Hohokam, living on and around the Mesa, constructed these walls over a period of years, perhaps decades.

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Feb 11 2019

Oregon_Hiker

Guides 9
Routes 473
Photos 8,433
Triplogs 626

79 male

Joined Dec 07 2010
Phoenix, AZ

Robbers Roost Canyon - New River Mesa, AZ

Hiking		Feb 11 2019
		Oregon_Hiker • Triplogs 626

Hiking	5.20 Miles	1,007 AEG

Hiking	5.20 Miles	7 Hrs		0.74 mph
	1,007 ft AEG		20 LBS Pack

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The plan for this hike was to check out another section of what I call the "New River Mesa Mystery Walls". This section is in Robbers Roost Canyon which is one of several canyons which cut into New River Mesa on its northwest side and drain NW into New River. This was a continuation of my earlier investigations of these walls in March and Nov of 2018. [ photoset ] [ photoset ] [ photoset ] [ photoset ] [ photoset ] After my March trip I got in contact with a former TNF Ranger who worked for 23 years as the range conservationist on the Cave Creek Ranger District which includes New River Mesa. She had seen these rock walls while checking out the range with an old rancher. He told her the walls were a fence built for sheep by Charley Cook for whom Cook's Mesa was named. This probably would have been sometime in the late 1800s. I have not been able to corroborate this story and was hoping I might find some evidence to lend more credence to it. My search of historical data bases have not turned up a Charley Cook in the New River Mesa area during the late 1800s. However I did discover that a William W.(Billy) Cook had patented land on upper New River near Cooks Mesa in 1919 and had established a cattle ranch at that location which is now "Upper Ranch" on current maps but is shown as "Cooks Ranch" on old maps. This cast doubt on Cooks Mesa being named for a Charley Cook. Historical accounts and an obituary for Billy Cook gave no indication he had ever been into sheep ranching. A search of Billy Cooks family using Ancestry.com found no relations or siblings named Charley in this part of AZ during the late 1800s or early 1900s. So the mystery continues.

I set up a base camp for 3 nights a short distance off FR41 on the bank of New River near the mouth of Robbers Roost Canyon to give me time to further explore this area. New River actually had water flowing in it which I had never seen on all my previous visits to this area. After a couple of short exploratory hikes the first day and a restful night in camp I embarked on the hike up the canyon. Rather than attempt hiking up the boulder and brush choked bottom of the canyon, I chose to follow a ridge top on the canyon's east side to the upper part of the canyon where the wall is located. It was a pleasant off-trail hike hindered only by scattered low lying catclaw bushes but these were enough to make it worth wearing my kevlar snake gators. I checked out some likely locations for signs of ancient Indian habitation along the way and found a small ruin on top of the ridge as well as some petroglyphs in a cluster of boulders. Nearing the north end of the rock wall (fence) I encountered the remains of a woven wire fence of the type typically used for sheep. Most of the fence posts had been completely burned by a wild fire but the wire was still laying on the ground. I followed the wire and determined that this section of wire fence had connected the rock fence on the east side of the canyon to sections of wall on the west side. This east side rock wall section was approximately 315 yds long. A section of woven wire fence at the walls south end connected that end to another rock wall going up the side of the canyon. Finding all these woven wire fences integrated with the rock walls to make a long continuous fence gives a high degree of credibility to these fences being built for sheep. But who actually built the fence? and for who if it wasn't Charley Cook. It would have to have been cheap labor. The alternatives that come to mind are 1) Mexican laborers 2) Chinese originally brought to this country to build the railroads or 3) Basque sheep herders. I went back to camp that night not feeling much closer to unraveling this mystery.

A couple days later I drove up to the Upper Ranch on New River near Cooks Mesa hoping that the old abandoned ranch house there might provide some answers. As I approached the ranch I encountered a young rancher who was there to chase some of his cattle out of the private property surrounding the old ranch house. Some conversation revealed that he was the ranch manager for an outfit having grazing leases on public lands all the way from the T-Ranch near I17 to FR24 north of Seven Springs and including New River Mesa. He had seen the rock walls on New River Mesa and had been told by his boss that the walls had been built by Basque sheep herders but didn't know who they had been working for. So I keep getting a little closer to finding out who had those walls built but perhaps that little bit of AZ history will remain forgotten.

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[ checklist ] Sunset

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Mar 07 2018

Oregon_Hiker

Guides 9
Routes 473
Photos 8,433
Triplogs 626

79 male

Joined Dec 07 2010
Phoenix, AZ

Explore Lower Robbers Roost Cny, AZ

Hiking		Mar 07 2018
		Oregon_Hiker • Triplogs 626

Hiking	10.10 Miles	959 AEG

Hiking	10.10 Miles	7 Hrs	1.44 mph
	959 ft AEG

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This was my third day of hiking while camped on top of New River Mesa. The goal was to check out a rock wall on the northwest side of the mesa near the mouth of Robbers Roost Canyon and to look for signs of ancient Indian habitation along the way. I followed FR17 for about 3 miles to where it ends at Reed Tank then headed off trail north along the top of top of the mesa. Along the way I spotted a cluster of 6-7 embedded metates amid scattered pottery sherds. Other HAZ members have reported seeing large numbers of embedded metates on this mesa indicating it was a major food gathering site for the ancients. Perhaps they were able to grow crops up here. The soil is fairly deep in many areas. I checked this area for dwelling ruins on the way back but found none.

At the end of the point between Robbers Roost Canyon and Hells Canyon I found the section of wall that appeared on GE to be isolated by some distance from other walls. It's location didn't match with the pattern of the other wall locations which was the reason I had come to check it out. I was surprised to find it had at one time been attached to a woven wire fence which had stretched 550 ft across the point but was now burned down and partially disassembled. At the other end of the wire fence I looked over the side of the mesa and there was another rock wall section to which the fence had been attached. This integration of the wire fence section with the rock walls is another indication that these mystery walls were built by ranchers. The use of woven wire is puzzling since barbed wire is almost always used for cattle fencing. My experience having grown up on a cattle ranch is that cattle were prone to knocking fences down if the fences weren't made with barbed wire or electrified. Could this have been a sheep fence? Oh well, something to ponder on the hike back to camp.

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Mar 06 2018

Oregon_Hiker

Guides 9
Routes 473
Photos 8,433
Triplogs 626

79 male

Joined Dec 07 2010
Phoenix, AZ

Explore Upper Big Spring Cny, AZ

Hiking		Mar 06 2018
		Oregon_Hiker • Triplogs 626

Hiking	8.20 Miles	895 AEG

Hiking	8.20 Miles	7 Hrs	1.17 mph
	895 ft AEG

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This was my second day hike out of camp on top of New River Mesa. The plan was to check out some rock wall sections on the east rim of Big Spring Canyon which I had spotted on Google Earth. Much of the hike was on FR17 with only a couple of miles of off-trail. I confirmed that the rock walls were as anticipated and decided it wasn't worth my time to check out more wall sections in this canyon. On the way back to camp I checked out a new Game and Fish water catchment system. It must have been installed within the last year because it doesn't show up on the 4/21/17 Google Earth image. It had water while all the earthen tanks I saw on this trip were dry. Got back to camp in time to enjoy a beer and cook a spaghetti dinner before it got dark.

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[ checklist ] Campsite

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Mar 05 2018

Oregon_Hiker

Guides 9
Routes 473
Photos 8,433
Triplogs 626

79 male

Joined Dec 07 2010
Phoenix, AZ

Explore Upper East Fork Robbers Roost Cny, AZ

Hiking		Mar 05 2018
		Oregon_Hiker • Triplogs 626

Hiking	3.80 Miles	451 AEG

Hiking	3.80 Miles	4 Hrs 30 Mns	0.84 mph
	451 ft AEG

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Went camping up on top of New River Mesa for 3 nights to check out the New River Mesa Mystery Walls I had found on Google Earth. These walls appear to have functioned as fences just based on looking at their location. The mystery is who built them and for what purpose. The drive up the side of the mesa and across the top was a nightmare - very rocky (large rocks) with lots of exposure for high centering. It took 2 hours to drive 4 miles. I could hike it that fast but couldn't carry enough provisions to camp for 3 nights. I would not recommend driving this road unless you have a high lift, large tire (35 inch diam would be nice) 4x4 vehicle and a locking rear axle would also be nice. I will never drive up there again. The whole time I was up there I worried about whether or not my FJ would survive the drive out of there. I had planned on driving about 2.4 miles further along FR17 to set up camp but got stopped by a drop off over large embedded boulders in the road that looked like they would high center my FJ on the undercarriage between the front and back wheels and cause a lot of damage in the process. This added 5 miles round trip to two of my planned hikes.

The first priority of this trip was to confirm that what I was seeing on GE were actually rock walls and to see if there were any clues that would help solve the mystery. This triplog is for my first hike out of camp on this trip to check out several wall (fence) sections at the south end of the east fork of Robbers Roost Canyon. This hike confirmed that what I had seen on GE were real rock walls averaging about 4 feet in height. The surprise was that an old wire ranching fence had been integrated with the rock fence and had recent repair work. This would support the conclusion that the rock fence was a historic ranching fence but it's also possible that the rancher re-purposed existing Indian rock walls as a cattle fence.

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Jan 15 2018

Oregon_Hiker

Guides 9
Routes 473
Photos 8,433
Triplogs 626

79 male

Joined Dec 07 2010
Phoenix, AZ

New River Mesa - Southwest End, AZ

Hiking		Jan 15 2018
		Oregon_Hiker • Triplogs 626

Hiking	6.20 Miles	1,277 AEG

Hiking	6.20 Miles	7 Hrs	0.89 mph
	1,277 ft AEG

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The goal of this hike was to check out a long rock wall on the south side of New River Mesa. When topohiker posted pictures of this wall in March 2017 there was some discussion as to whether it was an old ranching wall/fence or of ancient Indian origins. [ photo ] I chose the shortest access point to start the hike approximately 6.2 miles on FR41 from I-17 at the Table Mesa Rd exit. Some steep rocky sections of this road require high clearance and 4-wheel drive and took me 40 minutes to drive. (I'm a slow cautious driver under those conditions). I would not attempt this road if it was muddy. This route takes you through state trust land which is posted with signs announcing a recreation permit is required. An annual pass is $15 per person or $20 per family and is available on-line. From the "trailhead" there is an old washed out 4x4 road up the steep side of the mesa which provides a brush free but rocky path to the top. Once at the top of the mesa all signs of a road or trail disappear. The hiking distance from the TH to the location of the wall is only about 3 miles but the scattered volcanic rock of all sizes hidden in the tall grass require a slower cautious pace. I found it easy to get off course on the large wide open spaces of the mesa top without my nose-to-the-gps pathfinder hiking buddy (grasshopper) to keep me on track.

Views from the edges of the mesa are spectacular and well worth the hike even if you aren't going to the old rock wall. I kept my eyes open for signs of ancient Indian habitation as I crossed the mesa but did not see any despite the abundance of large boulders that would have been great for chiseling petroglyphs or embedded metates. Arriving at the rock wall, I found it extending along the side of the shallow end of Big Spring Canyon for about 270 yards. Following the wall from its west end I encountered an opening in the wall that had the remains of an old barbed wire gate - the first clue that this was an old ranching wall/fence. Near the gate there was a short semi-circular section of wall with one end attached to the longer wall. This may have been the partial remains of a corral. Further along the wall there was the remains of a barbed wire fence that had been added to the top of a low section of the wall. There are a number of fairly long rock walls in the Superstitions that were early ranching fences so this one is not a surprise. My curiosity about the wall having been satisfied, I stopped to enjoy lunch from a viewpoint overlooking the Cline Creek area before starting the return trek across the mesa.

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[ checklist ] Big Spring Canyon New River

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WARNING! Hiking and outdoor related sports can be dangerous. Be responsible and prepare for the trip. Study the area you are entering and plan accordingly. Dress for the current and unexpected weather changes. Take plenty of water. Never go alone. Make an itinerary with your plan(s), route(s), destination(s) and expected return time. Give your itinerary to trusted family and/or friends.

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