Cold Spring Ruin

Yesterday Kadizzle and company set off on an adventure to find the Cold Spring Indian Ruin. This was the most difficult site we ever encountered. The night before GPS routes and points were loaded, and maps were consulted.

After driving 20 miles on gravel roads we had a stroke of luck. The two elderly Elison's were on the road out for their morning walk. Mrs. Elison, who appeared to be in her late seventies had a genuine Colt Revolver Stuck in the back of her pants. Kadizzle warned Mr. Elison not to piss her off. He said that is why he had one also. Mr. Elison told us how to get to Cold Spring. His country directions were so confusing they did little good. The main thing he did was dissuade us from going to our original destination, Pueblo Canyon.

After driving for a few miles past Elison's ranch on the most treacherous road possible, narrow, and full of fallen rock pasted to the side of a mountain, we had to stop because of a deep place where the culvert has washed out.

After a two mile hike down the road we found the old uranium mine road that got us on the trail. Even with the GPS finding the trail to the site was hard. After we rounded one point we could see the doorway of the site about half way up the 7,000 ft mountain. Immediately we knew this was not going to be easy. About 1,800 feet from the site the trail turned into as steep a rock scramble as you could make. After the scramble there was a traverse across a rock ledge. A slip would result in death.

Finally we reached the little doorway that led into a cave. Three stories of rooms were in the cave. One room had a very unique feature, a balcony from a cliff face. The veiw from the site was commanding, and many people speculate it was a lookout site of some sort. There were absolutely no pot shards or corn cobs. The site had been picked very clean. To see more pictures and get more information look up Cold Spring Ruin on the web.

On the way back, Cissie got a head start. It turned out lucky for her she did. Ruth and Kadizzle went ahead of Rodger. Rodger dislodged about a 75lb boulder that rolled strait down at Ruth, then Kadizzle. The boulder narrowly missed Ruth and then flew about a foot in front of Kadizzle's belt. Not sure how far ahead The Commander was Kadizzle shouted to warn her. Luckily she was out of the way and the rock shot down into the canyon.

The entire area is full of sites and the scenery looks like something you would see in the Andes or Vietnam. Next year we plan to make the hike to Pueblo Canyon which has 75 rooms, and has very good reviews. The country North of Mesa in AZ is far more interesting than one would ever suspect. Our group has probably hiked well over 200 miles this year and have so many more places to check out. Ruth and Rodger have not seen the sites around Cottonwood so we may head up there today