Hike on Huckaby Trail

On 25 January 2014 thirteen Skyliners hiked Huckaby Trail from Schnebly Hill Road to Midgley Bridge and returned. Although Huckaby is a very well-known trail, I had never before hiked it.

From Cottonwood, we drove north on Hwy 89A to Sedona, turned onto Hwy 179 south and proceeded 0.3 miles before turning north onto Schnebly Hill Road. The trailhead parking lot, signed for Margs Draw and Huckaby trails, is located just 0.8 miles ahead, where the pavement ends and Schnebly Hill becomes a rough dirt road. On parking we walked to the end of the parking lot and found a sign for Huckaby Trail (above) posted sign near the kiosk.

This trail leaves the parking area heading in a westerly direction and is at first generally level. However, after about 0.2 miles, Margs Draw trail leads off to the left and Huckaby descends rather steeply into Bear Wallow Canyon and then switchbacks up the other side to top out on a ridge overlooking Oak Creek and Sedona. We arrived on the ridge just as the sun was struggling to break through a light cloud cover and the view was fantastic.

Looking across Oak Creek and Sedona from Huckaby Trail

Just over a mile from the trailhead we found ourselves following generally along a contour line on the southern slope of Mitten Ridge about 250 feet above Oak Creek. Sedona was still spread out below us and the morning sun, gradually winning its battle with the clouds, highlighted the red rock formations, rendering them in shades of pastel. We decided to stop for a group photograph with that view for a background.

Left to right: Gary Jacobson, Jim Manning, Terry Johnson, Kwi Johnson, Collene Maktenieks, Pete 

Bolinger, Bob Coates, Daisy Williams, Dave Beach, Frank Lombardo, Felicia Coats, and Ruth Frazier 

– author not shown

As we continued along the slope of Mitten Ridge we gradually drew closer to Hwy 89A and its steady roar of traffic as the road made its way up Oak Creek Canyon toward Midgley Bridge. This is the down side to hiking on a trail so close to a populated area. One can never escape the crowds and the noise. But we did have excellent scenery to enjoy and we had started our hike before most of the tourists were stirring, so mostly had the trail to ourselves for the first part of the hike.

Soon we came to the descent into Oak Creek Canyon. From here we could look up the canyon to Midgley Bridge, the end of our trail.

Looking up Oak Creek Canyon to Midgley Bridge

Also along this stretch of trail we had a good view of Steamboat Rock (left). I think I would have named it Tugboat Rock, but someone else got there first.

The descent to Oak Creek was fairly steep, Some 200 feet in about 0.5 miles. After reaching the creek, the trail follows it upstream for about 0.6 miles to the creek crossing. Along here, the trail winds up and down the slope of the canyon wall, never rising or falling very far, but also not the expected easy stroll along a gently-sloping streambank.

There are actually two crossings, as the creek is split into two flows at this point. The first crossing, carrying the major part of the stream was the most hazardous and several of our hikers chose to stop there for lunch rather than attempt the crossing.

First crossing when hiking the trail from Schnebly Hill Trailhead

The second crossing, located about 0.2 miles from the first, carried less water and was much easier. Both crossings (above and below) are shown here in photographs taken on the return trip.

Second crossing when hiking the trail from Schnebly Hill Trailhead

After the first crossing, Huckaby Trail continues upstream on the other side of the creek for a little over 0.1 mile to the second crossing. It then switchbacks up the canyon wall almost to Hwy 89A, turns south and continues parallel to, and just below, the roadway to pass under the north end of Midgley Bridge. After crossing under the bridge it climbs steeply via stone steps to the parking lot. We found another trailhead sign (above) posted there.

The below map shows the trail from the first creek crossing to the parking lot at Midgley Bridge.

Showing Huckaby Trail from the first creek crossing to the parking lot at Midgley Bridge

The below photograph shows Midgley Bridge from the parking lot. The trailhead sign is visible at lower left. Kwi has just passed under the bridge and started up the stone steps.

Midgley Bridge from the parking lot. Kwi has just started climbing the stone steps.

We had taken a bit longer to reach the bridge from the crossing than we had supposed and there was no cellphone reception deep in the canyon, so one of our number turned back to tell those waiting at the crossing that we were eating lunch at the bridge and suggest that they start back to the Schnebly Hill Trailhead. We would catch up after we finished lunch. The rest of us ate a leisurely lunch at a nearby picnic table before starting the return hike.

According to my GPS the distance from the trailhead at Schnebly Hill Road to the trailhead at Midgley Bridge is 3.3 miles, so the hike was 6.6 miles round trip. The distance from the first creek crossing to the parking lot was 0.6 miles, so those who stopped at the creek hiked 5.4 miles. The highest elevation was 4525 feet and the elevation difference was 396 feet. However, with all the interim ascents and descents along the way, we climbed a total of about 900 feet as we hiked the trail both ways.

The included map (below) shows the entire trail from the Schnebly Hill Road Trailhead to the Midgley Bridge Trailhead in red.

Hiking and Other Books by Ellis F Price

All of the books I have written can be seen at the below link:

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00APPNSMC

Pink Caves and Jerome Del Monte Shaft

There are two caves located in Del Monte Gulch (actually, one of the mines is located in a side wash that empties into Del Monte). They are known as the “pink” caves because of the pinkish tint to the rock walls they are located in. A few of us had hiked to both caves in 2009, but decided that now would be a good time for a return hike. This time we would also hike to the old Jerome-Del Monte shaft, located about 0.3 miles farther up the gulch from the northmost of the caves.

We took Black Hills Drive to Yavapai College and turned in at the easternmost drive near the winery. After turning in, we followed the road slightly to the right and drove for about 100 yards before parking on our left. After parking, we returned to Black Hills Drive and followed it west for around 0.3 miles to where it made a 90 degree turn to the south and became Haskell Springs Road. We continued south, made a slight jog to the west and then, about 0.3 miles from Black Hills Drive, continued straight ahead (south) on Windmill Lane where Haskell Springs Road makes a 90 degree turn to the west. We continued south on Windmill Lane and then on a faint trail running along the fence delineating a private property boundary for another 0.3 miles and crossed a fence at a locked gate. A large boulder was provided to assist in crossing the fence (above).

After crossing the fence, we turned generally west and angled toward the wash at the bottom of Del Monte Gulch. The trail along here is very faint, but look carefully and you can see that it follows the track of an old road.

About 0.4 miles from the fence crossing, we entered the wash and then followed it upstream for something like 0.3 miles to a junction with a side wash. Del Monte Gulch appears to lead straight ahead (southwest); however, as I had previously determined from a map, it actually turns to the right (northwest), so we continued up that fork for another 0.2 miles toward the north cave. The south cave is located a like distance, about 0.2 miles, up the side wash.

Our path along the bottom of the gulch was pretty rough and we took a good deal of care to navigate safely, but we soon arrived at the north cave (left).

Luckily, the area below the cave slopes gently down and we found it easy to climb up to within a few feet of the mouth. By carefully placing our feet on stone outcroppings, we were then able to climb into the cave.

We thought that the cave was too perfectly shaped to have occurred naturally and that it must have been created by miners, perhaps as a prospective dig. On the other hand, there were no tailings in the canyon below the cave opening. It is possible that it was a natural cave that was extended by prospectors, leaving only light tailings that were carried away by flood waters.

The front of the cave is high enough to stand in, but it rapidly becomes lower and, at first, seems to end altogether about 30 feet in. However, on closer examination, a small opening does extend further and Dave continued on hands and knees for about another 10 feet before turning back. To go farther than that would involve traveling on ones belly like a snake, so we really have no idea how far it actually extends.

We took our time examining the cave, with 16 hikers climbing into and out of the rather small space, and then paused in the wash for a midmorning snack before leaving the site. The photograph included here (right) shows hikers leaving the cave.

Following our snack we proceeded on up the wash toward the old mine site known as Jerome-Del Monte shaft. None of us had hiked this far up the gulch before and we were utterly surprised to find, less than a hundred yards ahead, what at first seemed an insurmountable barrier, a sheer rock ledge about 10 feet high.

Closer examination, however, disclosed a series of small indentations along one side that would serve as steps. These “steps” were close against the canyon wall and for safety required some support to avoid toppling sideways while climbing up. I braced myself against the rock ledge and offered my shoulder for this purpose. Even so, 5 of our hikers decided to turn back, climb the canyon wall just below the cave, and hike along the rim.

Once past the rock ledge and a smaller, cactus-infested ledge just above it, the way was relatively clear the rest of the way to the old mine site. That is it was clear except for rocks and cacti. In what proved to be a miscalculation, I angled up the slope toward our goal, located above the gulch on the right (northeast) side of the wash. Every few yards we had to change direction or backtrack to avoid another patch of prickly pear cactuses. These seemed to have been strategically placed in transverse bands so as to obstruct our path. Meanwhile, each step required great care to avoid loose rocks hidden in the grass. By contrast a few of our hikers who had continued up the bottom of the gulch had a much easier time of it and were waiting for us when we arrived a the site.

The site has a main shaft which, according to mindat.org, is of unknown depth, about 60 feet in diameter and “has been backfilled by weathering and erosion.”¹ In the below photograph, the main shaft in marked by the tailings at center while the smaller dumps seen to the right (below) are “Quartzite, Chert, Sandstone and other discard.”² Minerals listed for the site include Calcite and Hematite.

Main shaft at center, smaller dumps running to the right – from across the gulch

Just upstream from the shaft are located some large concrete blocks (left) with reinforcing rods running through them. We could not determine their purpose.

When we were through examining the mine site, we continued on an old road that crosses the gulch just above the site and then leads back down the other side. Meanwhile, only one of the 5 hikers who had chosen to climb out of the gulch below the cave and hike along the rim, had continued all the way to the mine. The other four were waiting for us on the old road across the gulch, just about at the location from where the photograph of the mine was taken.

We followed the old road down the other side until it turned away from the gulch. From that point, we just bushwhacked toward where we thought the south pink cave was located. Our intent was to descend to the cave from above and slightly downstream. This had proven, during our 2009 visit, to be the easiest approach. Unfortunately, we aimed too far upstream this time and had to either travel back downstream along a steep rocky slope or descend to the bottom of the wash, travel downstream and then climb back up to the cave. Some chose one way, some the other, and some of those who descended to the wash just chose to eat lunch there, viewing the cave at a distance. The rest of us ate in the cave.

As seen below, as befits a naturally-occurring formation, the south cave is more irregularly-shaped than the north cave.

South pink cave – located up a side wash about 0.2 miles from Del Monte Gulch

This cave shows what appears to be smoke discoloration, possibly indicating Native American use. The opening and the main chamber of the cave are larger than those of the north cave. The chamber is about 20 feet deep and there is room to stand upright in most of the area. As was the case in the north cave, this one also has a small opening in the rear that runs for an undetermined length. The two caves are located in the same strata about 0.1 miles apart, and I have heard that they are connected by the small opening. That doesn't seem reasonable to me, and I am certainly not going to test the theory by slithering further into the small opening in either of them.

Indicating possible use by early settlers, we found the date 1897 painted in yellow (right) on the wall.

After lunch we hiked the short distance down the wash to the junction with Del Monte Gulch. Some of the hikers had traveled directly down the bottom of the wash, while others had angled down the slope toward the junction, so we all paused there to regroup. This was the opportune time for a group photograph.

Left to right: Terry Johnson, Anita Jackson, Don Kling, Dave Beach, Ruth Frazier, Teresa Schnack 

(kneeling), Kwi Johnson, Collene Maktenieks (kneeling), Lila Wright, Pete Bolinger (rear), 

Connie Woolard, Bob Coates, Felicia Coates Daisy Williams (front) and Jim Manning 

– author not shown

We made good time back down the gulch and were soon again crossing the fence by use of the big boulder at the locked gate. Rather than return by way of Haskell Springs Road and Black Hills Drive, we took a trail that runs roughly diagonally from the end of Windmill Lane to where we were parked near the Yavapai College Winery. Another alternative would have been to turn east immediately after crossing the fence and follow another trail that runs roughly parallel to the way we went.

The GPS Track for this hike is shown of the included map (below). The red track on the map shows the way (by Black Hills Drive and Haskell Springs Road) from the parking lot to the north cave, on to Jerome-Del Monte shaft, across to the south cave and back to the junction of Del Monte Gulch and the side wash. This track has been edited to remove the extra distance we hiked due to misjudging the location of the south cave. It now shows the correct path. The alternative return path we took from the gate, is shown in blue and still another alternative return path is shown in yellow.

Because of inaccuracies due to erratic readings while entering the caves and traveling in the narrow gulch, my GPS showed a total hike distance of 7 miles. We actually hiked only 5.3 miles and, had we not misjudged the location of the south cave, it would have been 4.3 miles. Our highest elevation was 4378 feet and the elevation difference was 809 feet.

1 http://www.mindat.org/loc-63506.html

2 Stet

Lime Kiln Trail from Red Rock to Dead Horse

Lime Kiln Trail was listed as a Centennial Trail by the USDA Forest Service in 2005, in celebration of the 100th birthday of the US Forest Service and we had discussed hiking it since that time. A few of us had already hiked the entire length of the trail and others had hiked various portions. We would now all hike the entire length, but split it into two separate hikes. The section of trail from Red Rock State Park to Hwy 89A at the Sedona Wastewater Treatment Facility was scheduled for today, 4 January 2014.

In the mid 1880s brothers Charles and G. M. Willard constructed a lime kiln in the White Hills above Cottonwood. The kiln was actually excavated out of a limestone ledge. It was originally about 20 feet high and had a solid, closed top. Today, the remains are about 6 feet high and the top is open. Lime Kiln Road was constructed at the same time to bring lime from the kiln to the construction sites for the Willard and Strahan houses. The Willard House is still standing; the Strahan house was demolished in 2007.^{1, 2}

Later the road was extended beyond the kiln to connect with the Oak Creek Road. Known as the Lime Kiln Cut-Off, It became a favored route for early settlers and was continued in use until the advent of the automobile.³

For our 4 January hike we drove two vehicles to the trailhead just beyond the turnoff from Lower Red Rock Road Loop into Red Rock State Park, leaving a third vehicle at the wastewater treatment facility on the way, and parked alongside the road. There is a wide shoulder at the trailhead, providing ample room to park three or four cars.

We like to take a group photograph sometime during each hike, and I forgot to do that on the last hike, so we paused at the trailhead for a group photograph before starting today's hike.

Left to right: Jim Manning, Donna Goodman, Betty Wolters, Gary Jacobson, 

Kwi Johnson, Collene Maktenieks, the author and Connie Woolard 

– photograph by Name Withheld

We were in the shade at the start of the hike and it was pretty chilly, but the first mile to the lower saddle at the south end of Scheurman Mountain is essentially all uphill and we soon warmed up. In the saddle, Lime Kiln Trail intersects with the lower end of Scheurman Mountain Trail (right) which leads across the mountain and ends at Red Rock High School.

At an elevation of 4280 feet, the saddle was the high point of our hike and, as shown in the following photograph, we could see far across the plain to Sycamore Gap at the edge of Sycamore Canyon Wilderness area.

Looking northwest from the lower saddle of Scheurman Mountain.

We followed Lime Kiln Trail on through the saddle, descended the western slope of Scheurman Mountain, crossed Lower Red Rock Loop Road and continued through the hills south of Elmerville. The following photograph shows the view looking north from the hills above Elmerville.

Looking north from Lime Kiln Trail as it crosses the hills above Elmerville

After passing Elmerville, the trail followed a dirt road and continued on past Dry Creek where we stopped for a snack. We were 3 miles from the trailhead at Red Rock.

Dry Creek Crossing

We were pleasantly surprised when George Everman met us at Dry Creek. He had decided to hike in from the wastewater treatment plant on Hwy 89A and meet us. He then accompanied us back to Hwy 89A and, on his way back home to Sedona, transported the two drivers back to the Red Rock to retrieve our vehicles.

After our snack, we continued on along the old road for about 0.8 miles to where the road made a turn to the right. At this point, the trail continues straight ahead through a locked, green gate and follows along another old road, now closed to vehicle traffic. The trail was now leading south by southwest up a gentle slope. A wash that had several weirs installed along its course ran parallel to the trail most of the way up the slope. Such structures are normally used for the purpose of measuring water flow; however, why so many weirs would be needed along the course of the same wash is a puzzle. In any event, they now serve only to control erosion. The trail reaches the top of the slope after about 0.4 miles, continues across a large level area and then turns to the southwest down a gentle slope, skirts the reclaimed water spray area, crosses Forest Road 89B⁴ and continues parallel to that road for a short distance to the Deer Pass parking area. 

Someone, obviously referring to the use of wastewater, had posted the following whimsical sign on the fence.

Whimsical sign

Looking north across the spray area from FR 89B, we had an excellent view of the Red Rock Country west of Sedona.

View north from FR 89B at the Sedona Wastewater Treatment Facility

According to my GPS track, we hiked 5.7 miles today. Our highest elevation was 4255 feet and the elevation difference was 584 feet. A single map showing the entire trail is included later in this report.

Having hiked on Lime Kiln Trail from Red Rock State Park to the Sedona Wastewater Treatment Facility the previous week, we set out on 11 January 2014 to hike the rest of the trail from the wastewater facility to Dead Horse State Park.

For last weeks hike we had parked at the Deer Pass (FR 89B) parking lot on the east side of Hwy 89A. For today's hike, because we had been told the HWY 89A underpass was clogged with mud and tumbleweed, we drove to the same area but turned onto FR 525 and parked a few yards ahead. Both are shown on the below map. A bathroom is provided at the Deer Pass parking lot. The green track at right shows a portion of the 140104 hike; the red track at left shows the beginning of the 140111 hike.

Map showing parking at the Sedona Wastewater Treatment Facility

We started our hike at about 0845 by heading southwest from the parking lot and crossing a wash to connect with Lime Kiln Trail about 0.2 miles from the underpass. We were now hiking down a gentle slope with the country ahead spread out before us with Mingus and Woodchute Mountains on the horizon.

View to Mingus and Woodchute Mountains from Lime Kiln Trail west of Hwy 89A

About 0.7 miles from the highway we passed Triangle Tank on our right. Now following an old road, we continued down the slope and crossed Spring Creek after about another 0.5 miles. Spring Creek runs down from Mooney Canyon and, even in dry weather, isolated pools of water can often be found along its length in the canyon. The trail continued along the old road for a short distance and then left it and headed cross-country in a southwest direction toward the Coffee Creek crossing, around 0.8 miles from Spring Creek. This section of trail is well-marked and easy hiking, except that we had to kick a lot of tumbleweeds aside.

Coffee Creek originates on Casner Mountain. In fact, the lower Casner Trailhead is located at Coffee Creek where it crosses Sycamore Pass Road (FR 525C). The creek runs into Spring Creek a short distance below the Lime Kiln Crossing. This is my favorite spot to stop for lunch when hiking the entire Lime Kiln Trail from Red Rock to Dead Horse; it is just over half way and is a pleasant place to stop. A stubborn old willow tree, shown in the following photograph, hanging on despite grievous injury adorns its bank.

Stubborn old willow tree

Crossing the creek, we found ourselves on another old road which the trail followed up a fairly steep slope to the top of a ridge. Except for a short section within Dead Horse Park, this was the steepest part of today's hike and we rewarded ourselves with a short rest at the top of the ridge. Looking northwest from here, we could see into Sycamore Gap, framed by Casner on the north and Black Mountain to the south.

Sycamore Pass to the west framed by Black Mountain and Casner Mountain

After a short rest we posed for a group photograph before continuing our hike.

Left to right: The author, George Everman, Gary Jacobson (rear), Collene Maktenieks, Dolly Yapp, 

Dave Beach (front), Miriam Sterling (rear), Anita Jackson, Connie Woolard, Kwi Johnson, 

Daisy Williams, Ruth Frazier, Felicia Coates, Lila Wright, Bob Coates and Jim Manning 

– photograph by Name Withheld

Figuring that the Bill Gray Road crossing would be about half way to Dead Horse Ranch, we stopped there for lunch and George, who had parked there and hiked back to join us at Coffee Creek, left us, taking three other hikers with him.

We still had about 4.7 miles to go, but the Black Hills beyond Dead Horse Ranch looked deceptively close.

Looking to the Black Hills beyond Dead Horse Ranch

The trail soon left the old road shown in the preceding photograph and started dipping in and out of washes along the slope of the hill. We were higher than the track of the old Lime Kiln Road, and we had much better views. The trail was not by any means level, dipping into and out of washes as it followed along the slope. However, neither was it very steep. It did have a fine powder surface that made walking a little difficult, somewhat like walking in loose sand.

Along the way we passed the spot where Brian Mickelson, former Cottonwood City Manager, died on the trail on 18 August 2007.⁵ The spot, 1.9 miles along the trail from Dead Horse, is marked by the two memorial plaques shown below, one on either side of the trail.

Brian Mickelson memorial plaque

Brian Mickelson memorial plaque

We were all getting a bit tired now and the boundary of Dead Horse Ranch State Park (right) was a welcome sight. From here it was just 0.3 miles to the end of the trail.

The most difficult part of the entire Lime Kiln Trail is, in my opinion, the short section Inside Dead Horse Ranch. But even this part of the trail is not overly difficult, just a little rocky as it follows the route of the old, washed-out road above the kiln site. And, in any case, we were soon at the site of the old kiln (left) and the rest of the trail was easier.

We had parked one vehicle at the trailhead. However, most of us would have to hike another 0.8 miles to be picked up at the gate. The cost to park vehicles within the park is $7.00 each, so we had left all but one at the Safeway parking lot.

The State Park Service hands out a patch (right) to those who complete the entire Lime Kiln Trail. I did not know about the patch the last time I hiked the trail, so I made sure to get one this time.

According to my GPS track we hiked 9.0 miles today. Our highest elevation was 3948 feet and the elevation difference was 656 feet.

For the entire Lime Kiln Trail, from Red Rock State Park to Dead Horse Ranch State Park, the distance is 15 miles, the highest elevation is 4255 feet and the elevation difference is 863 feet.

The included map (below) shows the trail from Red Rock to Hwy 89A (Deer Pass parking lot) in green, the trail from Hwy 89A (FR 525 parking lot) to Dead Horse Ranch in red in red and the 0.5 mile section connecting the two by way of the Hwy 89A underpass in blue.

1National Forest Service Trail Description for Lime Kiln Trail #82

2The Verde Independent, October 15, 2009

3National Forest Service Trail Description for Lime Kiln Trail #82

4Forest Road 89B (also known as Deer Pass Road) starts at Hwy 89A, directly across the highway from FR 525, and leads east.

5 http://www.dianejoens.com/bmickelsen_memorial.htm

Visit to Mindeleff Cavates

Six Skyliners (Lila Wright, Collene Maktenieks, Kwi Johnson, Connie Woolard, Pete Bolinger and the author) visited Mindeleff Cavates on 2 January 2014. Cavate, a combination of the words cave and excavate, refers to an artificial cave-like room carved out of soft rock. The cavates we visited, located in the cliffs along the Verde River at Wingfield Mesa, directly across from Beasley Flat, are named for archeologist Cosmos Mindeleff who conducted an archaeological survey of the site around 1891.¹

We had originally scheduled this hike for 21 December 2013, and we did attempt it at that time. However, we did not then know that Forest Road 9139P led to the overlook above the cavates and, as a result, parked alongside FR 503 and hiked for some 2 miles along the rim of the mesa to reach that point. It had rained the night before, the grass was still wet and our feet were soon soaked. To make matters worse, it again rained while we were hiking. In spite of these drawbacks, we did reach the site, looked down and saw some cavates that are located in the north-facing wall of the canyon.

Cavates in north canyon wall as seen from viewpoint at the end of FR 9139P

We then hiked on down the slope, following a trail that ran along an old roadbed and came out on top of the cliff just above the cavates we had seen. Unfortunately, there was no obvious way to descend to them and it was still raining, so we decided to turn back and try again when the weather was more favorable. We had at least seen enough of the surrounding terrain that we were sure we could fairly easily make our way down to the cavates; but we would pick a sunny day following several days of dry weather.

That day had now come, less than two weeks later, and we again accessed the area by way of Wingfield Mesa. To get there we drove 7.1 miles east on Hwy 260 from the I-17/Hwy 260 junction at Camp Verde. We then turned right onto East Verde Lakes Drive and continued for 0.8 miles, turned right onto Clinton Drive and followed it for 0.1 miles and turned right on East Lazar Road and continued for 0.3 miles before turning left onto South Arizona Avenue. We followed South Arizona which became FR 503 a distance of 1.8 miles from Lazar Road before turning left onto FR 9139P. We then followed 9139P for 2.1 miles to it's end at the top of the cliffs above Mindeleff Cavates.

On our previous trip we had looked north across the canyon and noted that additional cavates were located all along the south-facing wall. We had also taken a different route back to the top of the cliff by just leaving the old road and heading straight up the slope. Along the way, we had encountered a faint trail near the top that led us the rest of the way up. This time we decided that we would take that trail back down and see whether we could work our way down into the canyon and across to the south facing wall. We would first investigate the cavates there and then cross over to the north-facing wall to look at the ones that were visible from the viewpoint above (photograph above).

After about 0.2 miles the trail faded out and we found ourselves on the sharp ridge that formed the south side of the canyon in which the cavates are located. Looking ahead, we couldn't see any better place to descend, so we turned off the ridge and started angling our way down the steep, rocky slope, wending our way between catclaw and cactus as we went. The descent turned out to be easier than I had expected, having been warned that we wouldn't be able to find our way down at all without a guide; but it was still very steep and required care to avoid falling. Hikers are shown below descending the worst part of the trail'

Left to right: Lila and Connie

Left to right: Kwi and Collene

We soon reached the first cavate.  It looked rather small from the outside, but was larger inside than it appeared. There was plenty of room to stand up. I climbed inside and took photographs as Lila and Pete entered.

First cavate

Lila entering cavate

We continued along the wall of the canyon, entering cavates along the way. They were essentially similar, a large common room and smaller alcoves, mostly for storage, but some large enough to sleep in.

Kwi is seen below crawling back out of one of the larger side chambers that might well have been used for sleeping. Directly across the canyon from the ledge we were traveling along to visit the south-facing cavates, we could see those in the north-facing wall that had been visible from the viewpoint at the end of FR 9139P.

Kwi crawling out of a side chamber

Cavates in north-facing wall seen from across the canyon

Accessing the cavates across the canyon from us would not be too difficult. We would just have to make our way down a fairly steep slope to the bottom and then climb the slope shown in the above photograph. We could then continue at the same level around the corner of the cliff and travel along the west face until we found a point at which we could climb to the top.

Connie found several pottery shards as we descended the slope below the dwellings. The examples shown here (left) were found directly below the cavates near the bottom of the south-facing slope.

From across the canyon, it had appeared, at least to me, that one of the north-facing dwellings might have a man-made rock wall enclosing part of the space. It turned out that what I had thought was a wall was really just fallen rock; however, we did find the remnant of a mortared rock wall (right) in the same dwelling. The wall seemed to have served to form some sort of small storage chamber.

Some of the dwellings were surprisingly roomy, with ample room to stand and move around in the main chamber and with smaller storage and or sleeping chambers carved in the walls. Shown here (left) is the entrance to one such dwelling. The main chamber of this particular dwelling was roughly circular and dome shaped with a diameter of around 20 feet. It had two smaller chambers carved in the walls. One of these was large enough to have been used as a sleeping chamber. Both are shown below.

Small inner chamber

Larger inner chamber

We continued west along the north-facing canyon wall until we reached the corner and turned south, still at the same level along the cliff face. The Verde River was now below us and Beasley Flat was clearly visible just on the other side. Additional dwellings, similar to all the others we had seen, had been carved from the sandstone cliff all along this west-facing wall.

Just before we came to the end of the sheer rock wall, someone noted a honeycomb (right) neatly tucked into a fissure in the cliff face.

The climb back to the top was relatively straightforward but pretty steep. Access to the site from this point would certainly be an option, but we agreed that the way we had descended was preferable.

On top of the cliff, still some 250 feet below where we were parked at the edge of Wingfield Mesa, we had great views up and down the Verde River. Looking beyond the mouth of the canyon we had followed down to the ruins, we could see that additional dwellings were located in the south-facing wall of the next canyon upstream. According to ArizonaRuins.com, the Mindeleff site contains approximately 89 dwellings and around 343 rooms. They indicate that the sight would have housed at least 250 people at its peak.²

We were now a little more that 150 feet above the river in a relatively flat area that sloped fairly gently to the south. We were surrounded by what appeared to be the remains of ancient pit houses. I do not know whether they were inhabited at the same time as the cavates.

Pit house ruins above Mindeleff Cavates

We stopped here for lunch before starting the climb back to our vehicles waiting on Wingfield Mesa. We returned by following along the edge of the canyon we had descended into earlier until we reached the faint trail we had followed on the way down. We passed the point where we had descended from the rim into the canyon. The return was quick and relatively easy, just 0.4 miles with an elevation gain of around 250 feet. This is a much better route, whether going up or down, than the trail we descended on two weeks ago.

According to my GPS track, we hiked 1.3 miles. Our highest elevation was 3370 feet and the elevation difference was 356 feet. However, it must be noted that my GPS was quite erratic in the canyon, especially given that I was in and out of cavates where no reception at all was available. I cleaned the track up as best I could.

Our track is shown on the included map (below). The red track generally shows our hike route. However, as already noted my GPS was very erratic while in the canyon and, of course, cut out out each time I entered a cavate. I cleaned the track up as best I could and reconnected a lot of lost portions to complete the track shown. With that said, the upper portion of the trail, before we left the faint trail and descended into the canyon should be quite accurate. The section of track from the pit house ruins back to the trailhead, along with the green track taken from our earlier trip, should also be accurate

1 Aboriginal Remains in Verde Valley, Arizona Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1891-92, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1896, pages 179-262

2 http://www.arizonaruins.com/mindeleff_cavates/mindeleff_cavates.html