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| Hiking | 1.80 Miles |
296 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.80 Miles | | | |
| 296 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | This was not on our original agenda but we were researching other stuff and this came up so we decided to book it. And the great thing is, I've wanted to see these ruins for several years. I didn't know Tina had never seen such ruins before so it was a real treat for her. The road was a bit rough for a few miles but Tonto 3 handled it just fine.
We were the first tour of the day as we walked with our docent over to and up below the cliffs via a couple sets of rock steps (60) for about .1 mile; that in and of itself was fun. Our guide gave a great spiel about the non-excavated Cliff Dwellings (per Hopi requirements), and the various people (Sinagua, Yavapai and Apache). The docent and me got along very well, to the point she wanted me to be her sidekick, ha!. She was able to answer most of our questions. There are two alcoves, one is closed off due to deterioration. The rooms were two stories high. To learn more about these ruins I highly recommend you read Rob's guide here on HAZ [ Palatki Ruins ] as it is quite thorough. The views are pretty spectacular too, including the view through the valley toward the snow-capped mountains in the distance (Woodchute and Mingus).
The docents use walkie-talkies to communicate (and laser pointers which were very helpful) so she sent us on our way to let the next docent know we were coming for part 2 of the tour: the Grotto. We met not one but two guides because we got lucky as the extra docent would give us a fairly rare tour of the Pit (however, he was hard to hear and had a hard time hearing questions). Our docent for the Grotto was great. There is a little pool here that fills when rain creates a waterfall. There are fabulous pictographs as far back as the Paleo Period (11,000-9,000 BC) and the Archaic Period (9,000 BC to AD 600), how about that  . Our docent was able to tell us various stories about what we were looking at and of course, some of the suppositions that comes with this Rock Art. Near what looks like a fire pit is even better art that benefited from the fire that creates black images.
Our next docent, our least favorite but very nice, took us by: The Bear Alcove (most elements made by Yavapai or Apache 1300-1890), The Spring that used to provide water for the valley farmers, Water Catchment created by Charles Willard, the first homesteader in the area in 1879. His grandfather was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The Charles Willard story is really quite incredible as he was 60 when he came here, died at the age of 99. He planted 500 fruit trees near the VC.
And then we arrived at our destination, the Agave Roasting Pit. It is believed to be the largest intact agave roasting pit in the Verde Valley. It has been used for 8000 years  , hard to fathom! The story of cooking agave is interesting too considering if a cut leaf hits the skin, it causes blisters. Yet, they somehow figured out that roasting it had worthwhile benefits! The agave hearts weighed 20-25 pounds.
And, of course, near the Roasting Pit Alcove there is more Rock Art (archaic, Sinagua, Yavapai, Apache and maybe Hopi). There are a couple rock art shields that are painted over and are thought to be the southernmost known occurrence of the Barrier Canyon Style. There is also some charcoal art including the hump-backed flute player of the Hopi (quite the lore about that flute player and debate about its two names, Kokopelli/Lalenhoya).
With all this knowledge dancing in our heads we made our way back to the VC where I bought the booklet on the three heritage sites in this area (V Bar V and Honanki) so that I could add info to my photos and videos. It was also late enough, since we did the unexpected Agave Pit tour, that we decided to have a picnic lunch before heading for our afternoon hike. They have picnic tables here so that worked out well and it was nice to eat in such a historical environment.
I spent a lot of time researching information for these videos, which took many hours. It seems there's lots of information but it's scattered all over the place. Hopefully these videos will pull some of that together.
Palatki Ruins [ youtube video ] Also, I found this video where they filmed the ranger talking at the Ruins, it's pretty good [ youtube video ]
The Grotto, Bear Alcove, Agave Roasting Pit (Rock Art) [ youtube video ] (ended up re-making part of this one, thus the delay in posting).
FYI - I'm still liking this Filmora 12 software plus I love all the new music among other things; it's so much easier to work with than Adobe Premiere Elements. |
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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Great pictogrphs and ruins.
