The Rarity of Ruins

One of the great things about my work in the Park Service has been to visit some of the more remarkable archaeological sites in the US. Whether it has been mapping the vegetation at Casa Grande NM and running across piles of pottery shards, or visiting sites in the backcountry of Tonto NM that are not open to the public, I've always been keen to value these unique opportunities. This past week I had the utmost of rare opportunities to visit and participate in the botanical and archaeological assessment of what will no doubt remain for me one of the most incredible sites I'll probably ever be able to visit: the Cold Spring ruins in the Sierra Ancha Wilderness in central Arizona. These sites are on National Forest land, but because of the unique skills and resources of the Park Service in preservation and stabilization of archaeological resources we have been making an effort to collaborate with the Forest Service to preserve and protect these unique sites. Difficult to get to and difficult to find, but amazing.

Hematite House

This ruin was the first we visited and was incredible in its own right.

An interior shot at Hematite House of Duane the chief of resources at Tonto working on the stabilization assessment. And then the next day we spent hiking into Cold Spring Canyon and the ruins there. This ruin is the best preserved and most unique ruin I have ever seen. It is three stories tall and built into a crack in the rock.


Can you find the Ruin? Look along the base of the upper cliff face...This is the approach to the ruin and yes, those are cliffs that drop off a couple hundred feet below. The archaeologist that was with us referred to this as the single most defensive site he has ever seen. The photo below is of the ruin front and is what you are looking for in the image above:

The Ruin's front door.

To get inside we carefully went up the logs and gingerly entered the site. The floors are intact which is crazy considering the visitation and even raiding of the site over the years. The lower window is actually the second floor that was built over fill.

This is Roger another NPS archaeologist climbing up to the second floor.

Once on the second floor this is the approach to the third floor. Note the doorway, which actually went into a series of caves below the upper floor. I freaked out a little with my claustrophobia but was able to get some photos of the roof before I had to leave.

You could see the fingerprints in the mortar that the beams were sitting on. This was a well built place. If you went up on top of this roof there was the largest room, which went back into a cave and then took a sharp turn to left. This is the view from that spot.

It was hard to get the right balance because it was so bright outside. And in case you were wondering what was out that window?

Looking directly down along the face of the wall, in the immediate foreground is the constructed portion of the wall. Another view...


And not to worry, I just hung the camera out the opening and started shooting photos looking down. Talk about vertigo... For a bit of perspective, I climbed down and walked away from the site to the cliff edge on the left of the photograph above. It offered a nice perspective and an added, wow.

Can you see the ruin in the photo? All you are looking for is the parapet opening the previous photo was taken from. I'm still a little stunned by the whole experience.

The Garden in fall

Alas, we've finally cut down the cover crops and have gotten our winter garden in and the coop is almost finished and ready for hens. Soon, soon. We're already pulling cucumbers and carrots out slowly and new tomatoes are teasing us along with the cold nights. Still haven't frozen and my fingers are crossed as I leave town tonight...

From Saturday November 13th