Rogers Canyon Cliff Dwellings

[cactuscat]

Enjoyed a great hike Sunday with Arizonaheat, Jmzblond, and her boys.
Things didn't start off that well, with a flat tire a couple miles short of the Woodbury trailhead. Kent quickly overcame that obstacle, and we were once again on our way.
A few minutes later, we hit the JF trail and after a short climb, we came to the stock pond and windmill where various cow paths everywhere made it a bit of a struggle for us to actually locate our trail (hint: left of the windmill). We decided to follow the creek bed and that soon led us to a trail crossing and we were back in business.
Next came the long hard climb up to Tortilla Pass, where we rested for a few minutes before continuing, now on the Rogers Canyon trail. That trail decended gradually into Angel Basin, which is a lovely open area perfect for camping.
After a few more minutes we reached the main attraction - the 700 year old Salado Cliff Dwellings. I can't even describe how amazing the dwellings are! You really have to see them to believe it - they're so well preserved, and thankfully there's been very little vandalism. The walls are still standing on several of the buildings, and even the roof is intact on one of them! Makes me wonder how many buildings being built today will last that long. They sure picked a beautiful place to live, also - it's great to be able to sit where the Salados sat and look at the same view they looked at. Jaimi and the boys also knew of some petroglyphs up a little higher, so we checked those out too. Very cool!
We then made our way back to the Rogers Trough TH via Rogers Canyon and Reavis Trail. Then we walked most of the way back to Woodbury, except for a short ride in the back of a pickup truck - from which we got to see about 6 or 8 mule deer cross right in front of us!
We hiked for about 8 hours and did approximately 12 miles.
But our day wasn't over quite yet - believe it or not, we suffered another flat tire on the way home! Seems as though the road gods were against us, but at least the trail gods were on our side!

[Kristyn]

Sorry I missed it! I always miss the wildlife and mule deer for that matter!
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Formerly known as snow22_5150.

[plummer150]

Sounds like an awesome hike! With exception of the flat tires, it would have been a great day it seems.
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"IRONMAN" cometh, hiketh, destroyeth

[Nighthiker]

These ruins are sometimes refered to as Angel Basin Springs Cliff Dwellings.