Black Rock Canyon Ruins

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 4 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 4486 - 4646 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 3 hrs.
Trailhead: 37.37105, -109.57752
Fee: none
Attractions: ruins, pottery, petroglyphs

Black Rock Canyon feeds into Cottonwood Wash about 7 or more miles north of Bluff, Utah. While the main branch of Black Rock Canyon is dry the branch just to the west is well watered by a natural spring. For this post we hiked about a mile down that wet west branch to where we discovered a few petroglyphs and a minor ruin with lots of pottery.

4 Room Ruin

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 2.7 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 4891 - 5185 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 2 hrs. 30 mins.
Trailhead: 37.42803, -109.62440
Fee: $5/person/day
Attractions: ruin, petroglyphs, pottery

The 4 Room Ruin is the name we gave to a small site that is on the east side of the Lower Butler Wash Road, across from the well known Fishmouth Cave, near Bluff, Utah. All that is left of the ruin are some short sections of wall and some piles of rubble. Besides the ruins location the most interesting aspect of the site is the large amount of pottery shards that are scattered about. Also present are some sharpening grooves and a couple of very faint petroglyphs.

San Francisco Wash Ruin 6

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 0.1 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 6040 - 6056 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: 35.25734, -111.36231
Fee: none
Attractions: ruins

Just north of Winona, Arizona there are 8 ruins that are located in the vicinity of San Francisco Wash. Four of the ruins are on National Forest land, 2 are on Arizona Trust Land, and 2 appear to be on private property. The site that we have labeled as Ruin 6 consists of a handful of pueblo style rooms that were built like nests in a prominent outcrop of basalt.

Rockhouse Tank Pueblo

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 100 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 4130 - 4133 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 15 mins.
Trailhead: FR 593 MM 0.9
Fee: none
Attractions: pueblo ruin, pottery

The Rockhouse Tank Pueblo is located in the Tonto National Forest, bordering on the Agua Fria National Monument, northeast of Black Canyon City, Arizona. The pueblo is in close proximity with those of the Big Rosalie Group, Hackberry Wash, and the Copper Creek Pueblo.

Big Rosalie Group

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 1 mile
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 3994 - 4166 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 2 hrs.
Trailhead: Big Rosalie
Fee: none
Attractions: pueblo ruins

The Big Rosalie Group is located in the Tonto National Forest, bordering on the Agua Fria National Monument, near Black Canyon City, Arizona. The group as we are describing it includes 5 puebloan ruins that are all within close proximity of each other which taken together probably had around 130 rooms. The name of the ruins is derived from the nearby Rosalie Mine. Due to better roads these are some of the easier ruins to visit in the area.