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| | | Mazatzal Doll Baby Ruins and Red Hills, AZ | | | |
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Mazatzal Doll Baby Ruins and Red Hills, AZ
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| Hiking | 15.94 Miles |
4,218 AEG |
| | Hiking | 15.94 Miles | 8 Hrs 40 Mns | | 2.06 mph |
| 4,218 ft AEG | 56 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | We returned to the Mazatzals today for the second time in three weeks. This was my first time starting from Doll Baby TH, and the road was in good shape on the drive in--just two shallow water crossings and some deep ruts on the part of the road that crosses Doll Baby Ranch. There was one other vehicle parked at the trailhead, and the temp was in the mid-50s and very comfortable when we set out.
Our first stop was the main ruins site on the red cliffs. It's labeled on the topo map, so it's not surprising that it gets a lot of traffic--there was an obvious, cairned use trail branching off FR 406. But it was an impressive site, with tall perimeter walls and outlines of a few interior rooms, and it's in a beautiful spot near the edge of the cliff overlooking the Verde River below. The big vertical slab of rock sticking up in one of the doorways is odd...not sure what purpose that served other than sealing off a doorway or if that's a modern addition.
[ youtube video ]
We explored the site for a while and returned to the road, continuing to the Verde River shortcut to connect with Saddle Ridge/Bull Spring/Red Hills. After a short break at Copper Mountain, we continued on Bull Spring as it started the steady climb. I made the Brush Trail intersection my turnaround point to leave some time to visit a smaller ruin site back near the trailhead on the way out.
We stopped for lunch in the shade near the gate/turnoff for the the cliff ruins, and a truck pulling a trailer drove up from the trailhead and passed us--the only people I saw all day. Once we were further down, TboneKathy returned to the trailhead while I left the road and started following the route that @Oregon_Hiker and Grasshopper took ~10 years ago to see the small (almost certainly non-ancient) rock wall on a rock outcropping en route to an overlook across from a small, second ruin site on a larger outcropping.
I'd seen close-up pictures of the site and knew it wasn't anything spectacular, but I still wanted to try to get over there, and by that time backtracking through all the brush I'd already endured was unappealing, so I continued past the overlook/turnaround point on their route and followed the ridge until I could drop down and cross the ravine and access the ridge with the ruin. The brush was relentless, right up to the rocks walls. As expected, I didn't find any pottery, just the whitish walls along the edge of the cliff, but it was satisfying to get up there and avoid backtracking.
I dropped down off the east side of the ridge and headed straight for the trailhead ~3/4 mile away. That was a very scratchy and unpleasant bushwhack through catclaw, manzanita, and various sharp stuff. At times, it felt like one of those nightmares where you keep moving but don't seem to go anywhere--especially frustrating when the trailhead is so close down below but feels so far away...it was a relief to finally get out of that mess. Ruin site #2 definitely has a very low reward/effort ratio...I don't see any enjoyable way to get up there, and TboneKathy had no regrets about skipping that part of the hike.
Despite that unpleasantness at the end, it was a good day--a new part of the Mazatzals for both of us, great weather and scenery, and plenty of solitude. And we saw a few colorful birds near the river in the morning, two small snakes on the road/trail later on, plus a few elk in Payson on the drive in. |
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Boardinghouse Canyon |
Pools to trickle |
Pools to trickle |
| | | A small pools where the East Verde River Shortcut trail crosses the canyon |
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Bullfrog Spring |
Quart per minute |
Quart per minute |
| | | Didn't check spring source directly, but light flow of water across Red Hills Trail below the spring | | | |
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