Return to House Mountain – Indian Ruins and Cave

This was a return trip hike on Turkey Creek Trail to House Mountain and to Indian Ruins and a cave running through a butte. We drove to The Village of Oak Creek and turned off Hwy 179 onto Verde Valley School Road. We continued on Verde Valley School Road (and Red Rock Crossing Road - unpaved) for 4.0 miles to a rough dirt road leading off to the left. Parking is available at this point. However, we drove on the rough 4-wheel drive road for about 0.6 miles to reach the parking area at Trail 92 (Turkey Creek Trail).

Left to right: Gordon Bice, Dolly Yapp and Kwi Johnson (Photographer: Ellis Price)

We stopped at Turkey Creek Tank where we had previously found some Devil’s Claw plants because I wanted to see whether any new plants had come up this year.

Although no new plants were out yet, we did find a couple of well-preserved claws from last year’s crop. I took a photograph of two of these and have included that along with a picture of a blooming Devil’s Claw plant that I found on Flickr.

                   Devil’s Claws                                                                  Desert unicorn-plant (Devil’s Claw)

We continued on our way up the trail heading to House Mountain and shortly after passing the tank began to notice the sweet, faintly cloying, not quite lilac scent of Ceanothus. It never really left us for the remainder of the hike. After crossing two distinct washes, the trail starts switchbacking up House Mountain and the going becomes moderately difficult. About 1¼ miles along from Turkey Creek Tank, the trail makes a sharp turn to the right. A cairn alongside the trail followed a few yards further by a second cairn marks the spot.

Kwi and Dolly resting at the turn in the trail near the patch of Grama Grass Cactus

We ate our mid-morning snack and then turned of the main trail to follow a fainter track along the side of the mountain for about 45 yards to check on a patch of Grama Grass Cactus (paperspine fishhook cactus) we had found on a previous hike.

I have learned that this cactus blooms from April to June and we had hoped to see flowers. Alas, no blooms were in evidence; however, we did find that the plants were quite healthy. Perhaps another trip in early June would find them in bloom. The weather will undoubtedly be much warmer than it is now, but it is only a 6-mile round trip hike from the trailhead to this point and back. I took a few photographs of the plant, the best of which are shown here.

        Grama Grass Cactus (paperspine fish-               Grama Grass Cactus (paperspine fish-      

         hook cactus)                                                              hook cactus)

We returned to the main trail and proceeded on up the mountain, coming out on top in a saddle about 260 yards and one more switchback ahead.

We planned to turn off the main trail and climb up the east side of the saddle to the peak above John Lee Tank and then turn north and come out on top of the cliff where we had previously explored an overhang (cave) containing Indian ruins. We found that a faint trail, marked by cairns along the way, made finding our way relatively easy.

As we made our way up the mountain and then down the north slope we found a variety of plants and flowers, including Nevada Biscuitroot (white), Pancake Prickly Pear Cactus, Scarlet Hedgehog Cactus, Ceanothus, Biscuitroot (yellow), Indian Paintbrush, Thistle Cholla Cactus, Walking Stick (Cholla) Cactus, Creamcups, Desert Hyacinths, and several others not yet identified.

Photographs of the plants and flowers we saw while climbing to the peak and descending the north slope of the mountain above the Indian ruins are displayed on the following pages.

Nevada biscuitroot (Lomatium nevadense)                Pancake Prickly Pear Cactus

(Yellow flower) Lindley's silverpuffs            Desert Hyacinth (Dichelostemma

(Microseris lindleyi)                                         capitatum)

Lindley's silverpuffs                                         (Echinocereus coccineus)

   Desert Ceonothus (Ceanothus greggii)          Biscuit root (Lomatium foeniculaceu)

              Unidentified                                                  Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja                  

                                                                                       angusti- folia)

Thistle cholla (Cylindropuntia tunicata)          Walkingstick cactus (Cylindropuntia

Cactus                                                                      spinosior)

Creamcups (Platystemon californicus            Desert Gold (Leptosiphon aureus –

Benth)                                                                   Golden Linanthus)

From our position on the mountain above the Indian Ruins we had a clear view across Sedona and on to the San Francisco Peaks (barely visible just above the horizon in the center of the photograph).

Looking north across Sedona to the San Francisco Peaks from House Mountain above the Indian Ruins

We misjudged the location of the Indian Ruins and came out on top of the cliff about 100 yards north of the Ruins. We had to make our way back along the cliff edge until we came to the point that we had previously identified as the best place to descend to the ledge containing the ruins.

We spent a few minutes there and then headed on to the cave that runs through the butte for our lunch stop. To get there we traveled south then southwest along the ledge the ruins are located on until we came to a saddle that connects the butte that has a cave running through it to the cliff face of House Mountain. It is an easy 50 yards from there across the saddle to the butte. (NOTE: For more information and pictures of the Indian ruins and of the cave in the butte please refer to the report for our February 17, 2010 hike.)

After stopping at the cave in the butte for lunch and a nap, we bushwhacked out way directly down the mountain slope to a wash which we followed all the way down to rejoin Turkey Creek Trail.

Trail crosses wash below Indian ruins and Cave

Location: 34°47'24.36"N; 111°50'19.83"W

Elevation: 4095

The point where we rejoined the trail is is just over 2.25 miles from the trailhead. Below is a Mormon Tea bush in full bloom and several flowers that had bloomed since our passage over this section of the trail on the way in, some 6 hours earlier.

Mormon tea (Ephedra viridis)                             Unidentified

Blackfoot Daisy.                                                 Desert Gold (Leptosiphon 

                                                                              aureus – Golden Linanthus)

The total hiking distance for this hike was about 8 miles. My GPS batteries went out on near the top of the peak above John Lee Tank and I had to estimate our route from there to the Indian Ruins (See the yellow line on the GPS map.). From the Indian Ruins back to the main trail, I used the GPS track from our previous trip (February 17, 2010) to this location.

It appears that we total elevation change for the hike was about 1150 feet. Again, I can’t say for sure because I really don’t know that we had quite reached the high point before my batteries went out.

The GPS track for this hike is shown (with some interpolation) on the included map (below). Note that the green section of track is approximate, having been drawn by hand after my GPS batteries failed.