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| Hiking | 4.80 Miles |
1,200 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.80 Miles | | | |
| 1,200 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | The Other Ruins: SADJL-Hilltop Ruins; Cooper Forks Canyon
Back in December of 2012, my hiking partners, Audrey (my grand-daughter), Lyne, Suzanne, and I hiked to the spectacular Cooper Forks Canyon (CFC) cliff dwelling ruins in the Sierra Ancha mountains of central Arizona (see the pictures I posted on this site for the December hike). On the hike in, we spotted some "hilltop" ruins from several points on our trek, ruins which, at the time, we just assumed were part of the CFC ruins we would see shortly. When we arrived at the CFC ruins, it became clear that the ruins we had spotted on the way in were not a direct part of what is known as the CFC ruins, but stood alone. We could not spot them on the way out until we were at a distance from the CFC ruins where we had to turn around to see them behind us. We didn't have the time or the energy to go back and to try to actually find them. Another trip would be required - after we did some research.
In addition to pictures, I posted a trip report on that December hike, thinking that someone on this site probably was aware of the existence of these "new" ruins and knew a little of their history. Although several people responded to my postings, especially the last picture posted in the set, no one seemed to know about them. We did generate some discussion about the "find" which started us, and a responder or two, looking at GoogleEarth (GE) in hopes of finding a clue as to their actual location. Grand-daughter Audrey and Oregon Hiker did locate something that looked man-made and was in about the right area. With this clue from GE we started thinking about when we might be able to embark on a discovery hike to "ground verify" their location and condition.
Last Tuesday (2/26) provided that opportunity. JoeD, who had hiked with us before, joined Lyne, Suzanne and me as we headed out to the CFC trailhead - unfortunately my grand-daughter was unable to join us, but we'll get her there in the near future - after all she was there when we spotted the ruins on our Dec. hike and she did uncover a clue as to where they might be. She is an important part of the team!
It turns out the clue we had was spot on, although we did have a challenge in getting to the location defined by the clue. These "new" ruins (new at least to us and we couldn't find any work documenting the site) were perched on a small hill or knoll west of the CFC ruins and just a little north of the trail that is most commonly taken to the CFC ruins. I thought that the easiest approach to the top of the knoll would be from the southeast, climbing up from the CFC trail to what looked to be a saddle and then following the saddle over to the knoll. But I was out voted by my hiking team when we got to a point where we could visually confirm the layout of the terrain around the knoll - my team wanted to climb up a chute or gulley we spotted on the northwest side of the knoll (the chute separated the knoll from a "sub-knoll," or sister-knoll, to the north) and approach the top from there. Once we got up the chute we still could not access the top of the knoll because of the very steep sides. And the climb to this point caused lots of torn clothing and pierced skin - bushwhacking at its best  . So we kept working our way eastward and southward around the knoll until we were on the southeast side where we found an access route to the top - it was the one I had originally thought we should use, based on my viewing of GE. Ah, life is living and learning, but no sour grapes here.
Once we got near the top we found the remains of what might be called a hilltop ruin; it was not a cliff dwelling as such. There were remains of at least 5 rooms, all formed by walls made of neatly stacked rocks. Some of the walls were in severe disrepair, and no roofs, or remains of roofs, were apparent. Whereas the walls of the CFC ruins had mud mortar between stones, these hilltop ruins did not. The rooms were laid out adjacent to one another in a north/south direction, the largest being about 18x18 feet (roughly estimated by pacing the distance) and the smaller ones about 15x15 feet. Of the exterior walls that were west facing, the ones on the middle three rooms were mostly gone. These west facing walls of the two end rooms are what is visible as you hike in from the trailhead toward the CFC ruins. The back of the rooms on the east side seemed to be formed by the natural rock outcroppings on the top of the knoll. There was one south facing exterior door on the south wall of the south-most room, but it had no lintel or wall above it. This door was narrow enough that my day pack touched both door jams as it passed through. Unfortunately, I didn't plan well enough to have taken along a measuring tape and a sketch pad to make a more accurate assessment of the structure. We'll do that when my grand-daughter does the trip.
Not wishing to be presumptive, we have chosen to call these the SADJL-Hilltop-CFC ruins, SADJL being a pronounceable acronym made from the initials of our five first names (Suzanne, Audrey, Don, Joe, Lyne).
I have posted pictures from our discovery expedition here on this site.
Maybe this "discovery" will start the hypothesizing about the purpose of these ruins. Were they built by the occupants of the CFC dwellings? If so, what was their purpose? Was it storage facilities? The CFC dwellings have no storage space, so is this where they would have kept their Christmas decorations out of the holiday season?  Or was it a first line of defense from marauding tribes? Other Sierra Ancha ruins have some similar structures near the living quarters, so this type of out-building is not unprecedented. If it wasn't built by the CFC occupants, who did build it? Was it built earlier than the CFC ruins? Was it the precursor to the building of the CFC dwellings? Now the fun begins. Chip in and help us solve the mystery.
Beautiful weather (cloudless sky and temps in the 50s), combined with a well-defined purpose, a successful expedition and great hiking partners, made for another memorable day in the Sierra Anchas. Indiana Jones leads a dull life compared to us! Oh yes, we did leave the gold goddess statue hidden away just as we found it. We just didn't want to have a large spherical stone rolling down the knoll toward us as we hiked out. |
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| To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace. -- Publius Cornelius Tacitus (56 AD – 117 AD) |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
) and found the more aggressive inclines on the Highline to be wet, muddy and slick from very recent rains - two steps up and one slide back, if you know what I mean. In these sections, we carried about a pound of mud on each boot - I mean, hey, let's give those legs a real workout! But soon got to the Drew trail. It's in good condition except that the last long switchback seems to go east forever. But once you make the turn back west, it's a much shorter walk to the rim. Then followed the FR that goes by the upper Drew TH, past the first closure point and on to the next closure point. Hang a left there (don't turn right and follow the Willow trail - I think that is what it was labeled) and you should be on the Gen Crook trail that is marked by silver chevrons nailed to the trees. This will take you all the way See Canyon TH. About a mile from the Upper SCTH, clouds began to set in - nothing threatening, just some welcome shade. Once you get to the Upper TH you'll say, "Only 3.5 miles to go to the car and a nice lunch in Payson." Yea, sure. Upper parts of SCT are rocky and steep. We found it slow going and we way underestimated the time to hike down. But we did finally make it down (obviously 
