Squaw Creek Pueblo

The drive across the Aqua Fria National Monument to Squaw Creek Pueblo Ruin is on a dirt road that is best avoided in wet weather. We had canceled the previous week's hike due to bad weather and I had anxiously watched the weather forecast all week. The weather cooperated and we experienced four sunny days preceding the day of our planned hike, itself a fifth sunny day. The road would be dry and hiking conditions good, so it was with great anticipation that fourteen Skyliners left Cottonwood on 16 February 2013 to visit Squaw Creek Pueblo and view the rock art (a lot of petroglyphs along with a few pictographs) located on the cliff wall below the ruins.

Leaving Cottonwood, we drove to Camp Verde and took I-17 south to Bloody Basin Road. This road apparently begins as County Road 172 but becomes BLM Road 9269.

This intriguing name, Bloody Basin, of course elicited a discussion as to its origin. Some thought it came from fighting between cattle ranchers and sheep ranchers, some from the dull red color of some of the rocks in the area.

My favorite explanation is from AZCentral.com which says that, “Bloody Basin ... got its name from a fight between the Army and a band of Apaches¹....” This AZCentral.com quote apparently refers to the 27 March 1873 Battle on Turret Peak which occurred during the Tonto Basin Campaign against the Apaches, commanded by General Crook. Captain George Randall of the 23^rd Cavalry led a punitive expedition against a band of Tonto-Apache Indians in retaliation for the killing of three men, one of whom was taken alive and tortured. The troops slaughtered 26 Indians at Turret Peak. According to The Natural American, “It was Crook's Tonto Campaign, and more specifically the Battle at Turret Peak, that resulted in the name "Bloody Basin" being given to this locale².”

From the I-17 exit we drove eleven miles on Bloody Basin Road, passing the turnoff to Horseshoe Ranch at around five miles and fording the Aqua Fria River on a concrete pad after about another two-tenths of a mile. County maintenance of Bloody Basin road ends at the ranch and we were then on the somewhat rougher, but still easily passable, BLM Road 9269. The turnoff to BLM 9014, leading toward our goal, is marked by a small road number marker, but more prominently, by a BLM information kiosk.

We traveled south on BLM 9014 (which changes to FR 14 when the road crosses into Tonto National Forest after 2.4 miles) for 2.8 miles before turning left at Tank Creek to continue south, still on FR 14 for another 1.6 miles. At this point, we parked our cars to start the hike at a gate which marks the turn onto FR 610.

We parked here and hiked southwest on FR 610 (gate is normally kept closed)

We hiked on FR 610 for only about 0.4 miles before it veered to the right while we continued to the southwest on what was now FR 599 (unsigned). We followed this road for 2 miles before turning to the southeast on FR 3164 (unsigned). From there it was another 0.7-miles to the main ruin on the canyon wall overlooking North Fork Squaw Creek. However, there is a smaller ruin located about a quarter of a mile from FR 599 and we stopped to look at that and take a group photograph before continuing on to the main ruin.

Left to right (kneeling): Colleen Maktenieks, Daisy Williams, the author and Dolly Yapp; (standing):
Donna Goodman, Kwi Johnson, Anita Jackson, Miriam Sterling, Lila Wright, Jim Manning, Frank 

Lombardo, Laurie Sudol and Mark Purcell – photograph by the fourteenth hiker

The ruin itself, not very noticeable from the road, was marked by a number of deteriorated rock-walled structures.

Small ruin located about half a mile from the main Squaw Creek Pueblo Ruin

The road took us to the southwest end of the ruin which is spread out atop the canyon wall above the North Fork of Squaw Creek. The canyon at this point runs in the northeast-southwest direction. Looking directly east, the creek was visible some 700 feet below. The primary route to access the petroglyphs, located along the face of the canyon just below the rim, is by way of a faint trail leading down from this point. However, the rock art is spread out along the rim both ways from that point. Most of them are along the northeastern section; however a few, including some pictographs are located to the southwest of the ruin. The result is that if one descends at this point, it is necessary to retrace ones path in order to see all of the petroglyphs.

Not wanting to retrace my steps along the wall below the rim, I elected to go through the ruin and descend at the northeast perimeter. I would then travel all the way along the rim past the colored figures and return to the rim by way of a hole in the cliff wall that I had used previously. The rest of the group descended along the traditional path as shown in the photograph (right).

As I hiked through the ruin, I saw that it was much the same as the smaller one where we had stopped for a photograph, just more extensive. The structures, as can be seen in the photograph (left) were all of the pit-house style with the plentiful rocks in the area used as walls and to extend the buildings above the dug out pits.

I found it to be relatively easy going as I made my way, sans pack which I had shed upon arrival, through the maze of old deteriorated structures, and I was soon at the northeast corner and ready to descend. At the right edge of the below photograph you can see the end of the steep cliff wall that protected the people living in the ruin above from attack by way of the canyon. My path to view the petroglyphs would follow along below the cliff wall, all the way past the ruin, on past the colored drawings and to the hole by which I would ascent back to the rim.

Descending from the northeast end of the ruin to view the petroglyphs

My trek along the canyon wall would be about 0.3 miles. Most of the petroglyphs were located in the first third of the trip; the colored drawings were in the second third; the last third was primarily to avoid retracing my path, but also because I really wanted to climb through the hole in the rim to return to the top.

The petroglyphs are numerous along the wall directly below the ruin and the following photographs represent just a small sample of them. I will just present the drawings here, leaving identification and commentary to more qualified persons.

The first drawing I saw on this trip 

Miscellaneous drawings

More miscellaneous drawings

More miscellaneous drawings

More miscellaneous drawings

More miscellaneous drawings

Soon enough I was past the main ruin and closing in on the colored drawings (more properly called pictographs). I am told that these differ in that Petroglyphs are formed by removing the patina formed on rock by wind and rain and sculpting and carving the rock beneath, while pictographs are drawn or painted onto a rock surface and require no sculpting, carving or engraving³. The below photograph shows two pictographs seen on the cliff wall just below the rim and a bit southwest of the main ruin above North Fork Squaw Creek.

Pictographs scattered among the petroglyphs at Squaw Creek Pueblo Ruins

There were only a few scattered petroglyphs beyond the pictographs and, seeing nothing to distinguish them from those already photographed, I did not bother with them, but headed straight for the hole in the rim (right) through which we would climb to the top.

By this time all save two other hikers had turned back, preferring to retrace their path and ascend the way they had come. I climbed through what we have referred to as the “rattlesnake” hole, because it would seem a great place for rattlers during hot weather, and positioned myself to take a picture of Colleen as she emerged (left).

The below blow-up of a section of my GPS track shows my path along the face of the cliff (green track), the location of the main ruin (red diamond), the approximate location of the pictographs (green diamond), “rattlesnake hole” (green pin) and the path along the top of the rim (blood red track).

Track along the rim and approximate location of pictographs

The following map (below) shows our track from I-17 to Squaw Creek Pueblo Ruins. Bloody Basin Road is shown in (red), BLM 9014/FR 14 in (green), FR 610 (blue), FR 599 in (dark cyan) and FR 3160 in (magenta).

Route from I-17 to Squaw Creek Pueblo Ruins

1http://www.azcentral.com/travel/articles/2009/05/21/20090521azhist0522.html

2http://www.thenaturalamerican.com/bloody_basin_and_beyond.htm

3http://seethesouthwest.com/3519/what-is-the-difference-between-a-petroglyph-and-a-pictograph/