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| Hardscrabble Mesa Loop 2, AZ | |
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| | Hardscrabble Mesa Loop 2, AZ | | | |
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Hardscrabble Mesa Loop 2, AZ
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| Hiking | 10.98 Miles |
2,184 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.98 Miles | 8 Hrs 29 Mns | | 1.62 mph |
| 2,184 ft AEG | 1 Hour 42 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I was overdue for some mesa exploration and decided to head back to Hardscrabble near Strawberry. I was there a few months ago and was surprised to find plenty of stuff. There has to be a pretty high density of the things I look for (ruins, petroglyphs, pottery pieces, metates) if a more or less random walk encounters them.
My plan was to return to the same area (a mesa overlook of Heiroglyphic Canyon) and visit a cliffband and "peninsula" I missed the first time. The peninsula itself is a narrow ridge extending further into the canyon and it's a natural place for a habitation site or lookout. Also on my previous trip I crossed a wash near the mesa edge and found petroglyphs at a pool. This trip I planned to walk down that wash from higher up the mesa to see if there were more interesting spots.
My cross-country mesa traverse didn't find much but it was nice walking through the junipers, and I spooked one elk. The wash was well scoured with plenty of bedrock and also nice walking. The first couple target "pools" had nothing (not even pools...the satellite picture was taken at a wet time) but soon there was plenty of petroglyphs and bedrock metates. It was clear that people lived (and pecked images) in the area for a long time because some glyphs were much older than others.
At about the point the wash fell steeply off the mesa edge I went right to bushwack under the cliffband of a highpoint I visited last time. This started a couple hours of rough travel - not just because it was steep but the "stickies" were everywhere. Anyway I got a good look at a fox (who handled the stickies much better than me) and there were some nice glyphs along the rock band.
It's not very far out to the end of the peninsula but it was also a lot of slow work. Plenty of low walls out there with a room or two and some manos/metates suggesting people lived there.
Coming back on that ridge it looked better to drop left and cross that drainage before climbing back to the mesa. That was very slow and nasty for me (diving thru prickly pear, shindaggers, yucca, and catclaw) and I was glad to get on top and start heading back. Excitement came in the form of hail, rain, and thunder and lightening for the next two hours or so. Mud city.
Well it's more work than I like to get out to the interesting spots up there but I'm glad there are more interesting spots to find. |
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