Camp Verde Cliff Dwellings

On 4 February 2017 thirteen Skyliners (Jim Manning, Jim Gibson, Mark Purcell, Karl Sink, Glen Sperry, Ellen McGinnis, Jim McGinnis, Joanne Hennings, Joyce Arregui, Theresa [last name unknown], Daisy Williams, Anita Jackson, and Frank Lombardo) drove through Camp Verde on Hwy 260 and parked on the left side of the road at mile marker 225.4. The trail leaves the road through a permanently closed gate of heavy pipe. There is room at this location to park 5 or 6 cars. This parking area is arrived at before reaching Clear Creek. It is necessary to pass through the closed gate by climbing between two widely spaced pipes.

Even though, we were really close to highway traffic we found that bushes nearby were adequate cover for a restroom stop before starting out on the trail. Caves up high on a cliff are visible from the beginning of this well-traveled but unnamed trail. This hike includes both cliff dwellings and other (pithouse) ruins. Fifteen Skyliners had hiked here on 12 February 2011. A few of today's hikers had been on that previous hike.

In 2011 I had been the last hiker to finish the climb up to the caves, the last few hundred feet of which is very steep, requiring some hard climbing to reach the first of the cave dwellings. The others that day had already left the cave area when I arrived and I only had time to take a couple of photos before hurrying to follow them. So I was really glad that this time our leader, Jim Manning, gave us about twenty minutes to explore all the caves that I had bypassed before.

This Photograph (right) shows stone and mortar partial enclosure of a cliff dwelling and includes hikers Theresa and Anita.

Just below the cliff dwelling shown here I saw and photographed two substantial pottery fragments (below left). We found many other potsherds scattered in various locations at this site. In keeping with the custom for such locations, we just examined and photographed them and left them in place for others to enjoy. A second cave with stone and mortar enclosure is shown here (below right).

Pottery shards below dwellings                    Dwelling with a mortared opening

Below Anita Jackson and Karl Sink are shown still exploring a cave while Glen Sperry and Jim McGinnis are departing.

Anita, Karl, Glen and Jim exploring a cliff dwelling

From the cave area we made our way on up to the top of the mesa where we found a deep, narrow chasm (left) separating two unequal parts of the mesa. The smaller part of the mesa where we went next was covered with ruins. The ruins were circles of low rock walls like the ruins of pit houses. To reach them we had to climb up over some larger rocks on the way up. A good example of these ruins is seen in the photograph below which shows Ellen McGinnis sharing a particularly impressive pottery shard with Frank Lombardo while Jim McGinnis quenches his thirst.

Ellen, Jim and Frank standing in the ruins atop the mesa

Ellen placed the pottery shard back atop the rock where she found it (below right). Note that the fragment, shown below, has a part of the rim still attached and a piece of corncob is located nearby.

Looking back on the caves

 in the wall of the mesa

Looking back from the ruins atop the mesa, we could see the caves below (left) along which we had followed the trail on the way up.

Leaving the smaller part of the mesa where the Indian ruins were located, we crossed the chasm that separates the two parts and hiked uphill through an area of creosote bushes (right) toward the high point of the mesa. Creosote resin was used by Native Americans as a glue; other parts of the plants were used medicinally.

When we arrived at the top we were looking down on the Salt River Materials Group Clarkdale Cement Plant's Gypsum Mine. Gypsum is used as a cement retarder so that the cement dries more slower.

Gypsum Mine

As seen below, from the high point of the mesa we had a clear view all the way to the San Francisco Peaks.

Looking north to the San Francisco Peaks

Rather than returning by the trail we had followed past the caves to the top of the mesa, we split into several groups that descended by different routes, creating a real problem for our hike leader. Along the way we passed some tall tree-sized Canotia holacantha plants (right). This species is the most common of the crucifixion-thorns.

Along the way down the wall of the mesa there was a very old stump with many roots (left) with only a few of those roots still attached to the soil. This stump probably could be dislodged very easily. I held my camera pointing downwards above the stump to get a photo of the star-like arrangement of the roots.

In his report¹ of the 2011 hike in this area Ellis Price described two peaks located below the mesa alongside Hwy 260, “two small peaks visible from the mesa; one shows vegetation and one is completely bare. I saw no indication of anything, such as a rock layer, that would have caused the peaks to form naturally, and there was no sign of a road that might have been used by heavy equipment. I have no idea what produced them.” He also provided the following photograph.

Two small peaks at the foot of the mesa alongside Hwy 260

Curious to see whether I could determine the origin of the peaks from an up-close examination, I chose what appeared to be the easiest route to them. I had thought that others in our group would have felt the same curiosity and that I would meet them there.

However, I found myself alone at the peaks. The only evidence of other human activity was a few old footprints. As already noted we had started the descent in several different groups; now the individual groups had splintered, some making their loop shorter by going across the face of the mesa to intersect the trail that we had ascended on and some making a longer loop by heading more directly towards the highway and then returning to the trailhead.

I became concerned about being out of sight of everyone else while examining the peaks. However I finally caught sight of Jim Manning and waved to him. Jim waved back, indicating that he saw me, so I lingered to take the following photographs. One of the peak with sparse plant growth (below left) and one of the bare peak (below right).

Sparsely-covered peak                                              Bare peak                                             

As I approached the sparsely-covered peak I first thought that maybe it could have been a huge dump of useless product left over from the Gypsum Mine operations. But, if that were true, where was the road used by the dump trucks? The second smaller bare peak seemed to me to resemble somewhat the mudstone formations that I had seen years before in an area of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. A closer look at photos of both peaks gives a hint that if all the white pebbly soil which covers the peak with vegetation were removed then that peak might look much the same as the bare peak. And all the white pebbly soil below the base of the bare peak looks as though it has eroded down off of the peak.

The geology of the Verde Valley is historically such that it sometimes held lake water interspersed with periods when it completely dried up leaving evaporites of salt and gypsum near the present town of Camp Verde. During wet periods the lake was quite extensive. High lake water left deposits of white limestone while low lake water left deposits of brown mudstone.

On leaving the peaks I was out of sight of the others for a long time because I could not find any other safe way down from those peaks than by retracing the route that I had taken in order to get there.

I finally caught sight of a few of the other hikers. I had made it down from the peaks and found a place where I could cross to the other side of a gulch which separated me from them. Jim McGinnis had backtracked looking for me. When I reached where Jim Manning was he let me know that he had been concerned about what could have happened to me.

After following along Hwy 260 to rejoin the other hikers, already back with the vehicles, Jim Manning reminded us that we should all try harder to remain together as a group, keeping at least some of the other hikers in sight at all times.

Editor's note: No one made a GPS track of this hike, a major shortcoming in my opinion, so I have used the track I made during the 2011 hike. The route at least approximates the route taken by the author of this report. The red track on the included map shows the route to the top of the mesa; the blue track shows the 2011 return route.

This report was written by Daisy Williams and assembled, edited and posted online by Ellis Price with help from Lila Wright.

1Price, E. F. (2012). Hiking in and around Verde Valley. United States: Createspace. P 327