The Spanish Ruin

 Yesterday Kadizzle was up early. The notion to take an ebike ride came into his mind. With the bike on the truck Kadizzle headed down into the valley of the East Verde river. In an instant you leave civilization behind and are in a vast wilderness. A steep road leads up to the Spanish Ruin. Why they call it the Spanish Ruin is a mystery. It is actually a native American site that had nothing to do with the Spanish. Someone concocted the tale it as a Spanish fort or town. 

The road up to the ruin is closed but you can walk or bike it. The road is so steep Kadizzle preferred to walk and push the bike in many parts. Actually the trip was not to the ruin, Kadizzle had been there before. Kadizzle wanted to see where the road went. He found out. The road went nowhere. Well, it did end up by the Verde River at a broken down dilapidated ranch like farmstead. 

Whomever was living there was leading one of the most isolated live on the planet. Kadizzle was announced by hound dogs. Solar panels ere randomly placed everywhere. No humans emerged from any of the ramshackle dwellings. It is hard to describe how isolated this place was. If the resident had to run to the neighbor for a cup of sugar it would be a long trip of at least an hour. The road in to the place looked like the only one who used it was the rancher at the end of the road. He must have a key because the access is blocked five miles from his domicile with a gate that is locked. 

Perhaps Kadizzle is losing his mind but on two occasions he thought he heard voices. Once as where the Arizona Trail crosses the road. Kadizzle thought he heard hikers talking, but when he hailed them he got no response.  On the way back at a magnificent observation point Kadizzle stopped to take in the view of thousands of acres of wilderness. This as near the Spanish Ruin and Kadizzle again heard people talking. Again no one was in sight. Someone could have come to explore the ruin, but that made no sense. There were no tracks, and the only way in or out was on the road. Kadizzle would have seen signs of anyone in the area. 

Arizona and New Mexico have some vast areas of unoccupied wilderness. The quiet and peacefullness is amazing. There is always one exception, that is the planes in the sky. No matter where you go there will always be on jet overhead.  

Whenever one wanders back into these wild places the question arises, how did the natives live here. No doubt they did. The area was perfect in many ways. There was water, good places to plant, and abundant game. On the way out Kadizzle encountered elk. Native people followed rivers.  You will never find a stream that flows year round that does not have signs of early occupation.