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| Mindeleff Cavates and Wingfield Mesa Ruin, AZ | | -
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| | Mindeleff Cavates and Wingfield Mesa Ruin, AZ | | | |
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Mindeleff Cavates and Wingfield Mesa Ruin, AZ
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| Hiking | 1.42 Miles |
381 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.42 Miles | 1 Hour 24 Mns | | 1.55 mph |
| 381 ft AEG | 29 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | After leaving Sacred Mountain, our next destination was the Mindeleff Cavates. We drove ~30 minutes to Highway 260, then continued south on the dirt roads across Wingfield Mesa and parked near the south end across from Beasley Flat. Most people visiting the cavates probably start down below near Beasley and wade across the Verde River, but I'd heard it was possible to get down from the mesa.
We descended a steep hill off the mesa and could see some of the cavates to the north across a deep canyon, but we didn't initially find an easy way down to get inside. I went out to a point overlooking the cliffs, and could see cavates everywhere, though I'm sure that was only a fraction of what's around. The ground was scattered with pot sherds, and I eventually found an easy way down a drainage and had time to explore a series of cavates along one of the southern ledges.
The number of rooms is impressive--I've read there are a total of 300+ across the site. It's very reminiscent of the Camp Verde cliff dwellings north of Wingfield Mesa, with manmade expansions of the existing limestone caves to form additional rooms and storage areas. One had a mortared rock wall inside, and another had a small fire ring recessed into the wall with a ventilation hole open to the outside. I only had time to scratch the surface of what's there, so it's definitely worth a return trip to continue exploring.
[ youtube video ]
On our drive out, we made a quick stop at the Wingfield Mesa Ruin. It site itself isn't very impressive--there's a lot of trash around the area, the walls are mostly deteriorated and overgrown, and the square shape of the complex isn't easily discernible from the ground. But the history of the "Meteor Shrine" is interesting--this is one of two sites (the other near Flagstaff) where a meteorite was found ~100 years ago, this one wrapped in a turkey feather blanket and stored in a stone cist in the eastern wall (http://www.archeolog-home.com/pages/con ... inked.html). That was our seventh and final stop in an interesting day of hiking around various native sites in the area...and no slowdowns on I-17 on the way back to Phoenix! |
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