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Forest
Road 9243B sloped gently uphill for a short distance to a crest from
where we could see the rugged country on the other side. To our left
was an old gravel quarry while Thirteenmile Rock Butte looms to the
right.
Thirteenmile Rock Butte
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This
seemed as good a place as any for a group photograph, so the hikers
all gathered in the grass while I snapped a shot. Possibly because
it was so early in the hike and we were not yet hot, tired and dirty,
everyone looked especially cheerful this morning. Only Betty was not
smiling and she is always cheerful, smiling or not.
Leaving
the crest we found ourselves hiking down a pretty steep road with a
lot of loose rock. It was not really difficult hiking; we just had
to pay close attention to our footing to avoid falls. About 0.7
miles from the highway, FR 9243B took a sharp turn to the right while
we veered slightly left and continued ahead, now following, FR 9243C.
I don't remember that there were any road signs along the way other
than one when we left Hwy 260, so I checked the online forest road
map later to determine the correct numbers.
Another
0.9 miles brought us to within sight of the promontory along the rim
of Black Mountain Canyon on which the ruin is located. In the
photograph below, the promontory containing the ruin is in the center
and the canyon drops off below it on the right. The Black Hills form
the horizon, with Copper Canyon just to the left of the promontory
and Mingus Mountain and Woodchute Mountain to the right.
The promontory in the center marks the location of the ruin
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The easiest way to
enter the ruin is from behind the trees shown at left. It would be
relatively easy to climb the wall at any point; however, I wouldn't
want to try it with someone shooting arrows at me from above.
Once
inside we found a sloping area enclosed on three sides by rock walls
and protected on the fourth side by the steep canyon. The site had
contained the remains of numerous rock-walled structures, apparently
pit-house type dwellings where the lower walls were rock, perhaps
with both wooden upper walls and roof supports.
The
people who lived here certainly had a splendid view. They had
close-up, rugged mountain terrain to enjoy in three directions.
Looking to the west, the Black Hills were their horizon.
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Looking west to the Black Hills
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I
hung back to take most of the photographs because I didn't want too
many hikers cluttering up the view. I like to show everyone in a
group photograph and then just concentrate on photographing the
things around me and not on people. The photograph below shows the
other members of the group well away from the ruin as I finished and
started after them.
Hikers departing ruin – see left center
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The
hike to the ruin had been 2.2 miles in length with a descent of 605
feet and an ascent of 386 feet. By way of contrast, the return hike
to a different point along Hwy 260, was 2.6 miles in length with a
descent of 392 feet and an ascent of 501 feet. The return was along
a less steep road and was also less rock than the hike in had been,
all in all, a good choice for the return route.
The
total hike distance was 4.8 miles, the highest elevation was 4992
feet and the total ascent was 889 feet.
Our
GPS track is shown in red on the included map (next
page) and various points of interest are labeled.
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