Indian Ruin at Black Mountain Canyon

On 29 November 2014 we hiked to an Indian Ruin at Black Mountain Canyon. Jim Manning, who had scouted the ruin several months ago, led the hike. From Cottonwood we drove east on Hwy 260, dropped one vehicle in a parking area, a wide graveled shoulder, on the north side of the highway near mile marker 233. This is the junction of Forest Road 9243C with Hwy 260, although the road is hidden behind some bushes and invisible from the highway. We then continued for about another mile and parked, again at a wide shoulder on the north side of the highway to start our hike. The first part of the hike would be on Forest Road 9243B, which was located just through a gate at the parking area. These parking arrangement are shown in the map inset (right).

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

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.

Left to right: Lila Wright, Mary Gavan (crouching), Jim Manning, Loren Pritzel, Joyce Arregui, Bill Woolard, Connie Woolard, Marywave Van Deren, Betty Wolters, Gary Jacobson, Anita Jackson, Ruth Frazier and Leon Girdner – photograph by the author

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

This is also the point at which we left the forest road to bushwhack our way to the ruin. As bushwhacking goes, I must say this was extremely easy. We were in an open, grassy, essentially level area and the footing was good. As we drew closer, it became quite obvious that the rocks we saw ahead ahead (left) were actually manmade walls, something that had not been obvious from farther away.

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.

At the lower end of the compound was a relatively large open area that might have served as a ceremonial area or maybe just as a community area, probably both. The photograph (right), taken from the highest point in the complex, shows this open area. The entrance from outside the walled is visible in the center just to the right of the small tree.

This photograph (left) shows some of the jumble of now overgrown rocks that must once have formed the foundations and walls of pit houses. The excavated floors within the rock walls would almost permit one to stand erect, making extensive wooden additions to walls unnecessary. Just a raised roof might suffice.

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.

Looking west to the Black Hills

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

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.