Round Trip Distance: 3 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 3538 - 3693 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 4 hrs.
Trailhead: Pipe Tank
Fee: none
Attractions: pueblo ruins, petroglyphs
The Baby Canyon Pueblo is located on Perry Mesa, overlooking Bishop Creek and Baby Canyon, in the Agua Fria National Monument near Black Canyon City, Arizona. The main pueblo has about 50 rooms and is visible from space on Google Earth or Apple Maps. Another pueblo or fort can be found out on a point below the main ruins. Petroglyphs are found on boulders all around the ruins and just below the rim to the east.
To get there take I-17 Exit 259 and follow the Bloody Basin Road for about 11.3 miles before turning at the kiosk onto Agua Fria Road 9014. Follow 9014 for about 1.8 miles and turn right onto 9025. From this point on you will need a high clearance 4WD or other suitable OHV type of vehicle. Continue on 9025 for 2.2 miles where you will pass the New Windmill. At this point the road gets decidedly rougher as it climbs a hill with a lot of outcropping boulders to crawl over.
Go to the right at the 1.9 mile point after passing the New Windmill. Going straight will take you over to 9611 and the Rattlesnake House Group of ruins. Be advised that that road gets pretty rough, especially where it passes another windmill right before getting to 9611.
After going right at the last fork and bouncing over lava rocks for about 1.5 miles the road comes to a fork where going to the left leads to the Pueblo Pato and Perry Tank trailhead. After taking the right fork the road drops down a rough stretch of road as it passes Batt Tank before smoothing out once again.
Normally you would continue driving all the way to Pipe Tank before parking and starting to hike. At that trailhead you would be looking at a 3-4 miles out-and-back hike to visit the Baby Canyon Pueblo and Baby Canyon Fort. We had what turned out to be some erroneous waypoints that sent us on a different route that formed about a 6.5 mile loop. We actually branched off of the main road at the 0.4 mile point from the Pueblo Pato fork onto an old reclaimed 4WD road.
After following that route until it intersected another reclaimed road we cut across the mesa toward where we were expecting to at least find the main pueblo near the rim of Baby Canyon. Other than a few deer and cows we had the place all to ourselves. We might mention that although we didn't seen any rattlesnakes on this hike we did see them around Rattlesnake House and Bull Tank so don't be surprised anytime that you come across one in Agua Fria.
The 50-60 room pueblo had nothing very remarkable about it but petroglyphs, pottery, and grinding slicks can be found here and there on all sides.
We thought that this petroglyph of what looks like a goose made the entire trip worthwhile.
There are more ruins down on the point below the main pueblo with some good sections of intact walls that are visible.
A large boulder beside the lower ruins has some grinding slicks on top of it and this long, skinny, anthropomorphic looking image on one side.
More petroglyphs can be found on the east side of the main pueblo just below the rim. There is a little exposure on the steep slope as you scramble around on the bench to see them.
Among the images below the rim are a couple of interesting decorated circles.
This one looks a lot like a cut diamond but other than that I'm not sure exactly what it actually represents.
Among the scattering of pottery around the ruins there are a few rather large pieces that are about the size of your hand. Be sure to leave the pottery and any other artifacts where you find them for others to enjoy. To the west of the main pueblo there are a few more rocks with grinding slicks and petroglyphs. In places you can see where smaller rocks were cleared away to make room for farming.
