A thousand years ago the Hohokam Indians were building fortified hill top villages in the Arizona Desert, today I am riding to one.
9:00 AM.....48 degrees and sunny, kickstand up...let’s go! This ride has been on my to do list for a long time, but Covid closed all of the state parks for a long time, then last September, a very large brush fire swept through the area as you will see.
I headed North East to the town of Cave Creek and Carefree, past through them and turned North into the mountains, about 50 miles from home and I reach the turn in to the Sears Kay ruins, this is the only one that is easily accessible and managed by Forest service. There are some ramadas at the base of the trail.
The beginning of the trail going up, it’s about a half mile to the top, in motorcycle boots.
Not everything got scorched, the fire skipped around.
At the summit, I reached the ruins. These were discovered by the US Calvary out of Fort McDowell in 1867.
There were 40 rooms scattered across the hill top and at one time their were approximately 100 people living here. There is a 360 degree downhill view from the village. These were built to be a defensive position to guard against rival tribes.
Back at the bottom, I had lunch at the ramadas. With the brush all burned off, it looks like the surface of the moon.
After lunch I hit the road again, further up in the mountains headed towards the recreation and camping area known as Seven Springs, the road was paved for a while, then 9 miles of dirt and gravel road. This road was full of wash boards and had some serious rocks jutting out of it in places, but me and my little dirt bike just plowed on.
Here I am, just pulling into the recreation area, this road was mossy and slick!
And here I’ve reached the end of the road for me today, nothing but forest service road beyond here. So I turned around and headed for home.
Till next time,
-Bob
9:00 AM.....48 degrees and sunny, kickstand up...let’s go! This ride has been on my to do list for a long time, but Covid closed all of the state parks for a long time, then last September, a very large brush fire swept through the area as you will see.
I headed North East to the town of Cave Creek and Carefree, past through them and turned North into the mountains, about 50 miles from home and I reach the turn in to the Sears Kay ruins, this is the only one that is easily accessible and managed by Forest service. There are some ramadas at the base of the trail.
The beginning of the trail going up, it’s about a half mile to the top, in motorcycle boots.
Not everything got scorched, the fire skipped around.
At the summit, I reached the ruins. These were discovered by the US Calvary out of Fort McDowell in 1867.
There were 40 rooms scattered across the hill top and at one time their were approximately 100 people living here. There is a 360 degree downhill view from the village. These were built to be a defensive position to guard against rival tribes.
Back at the bottom, I had lunch at the ramadas. With the brush all burned off, it looks like the surface of the moon.
After lunch I hit the road again, further up in the mountains headed towards the recreation and camping area known as Seven Springs, the road was paved for a while, then 9 miles of dirt and gravel road. This road was full of wash boards and had some serious rocks jutting out of it in places, but me and my little dirt bike just plowed on.
Here I am, just pulling into the recreation area, this road was mossy and slick!
And here I’ve reached the end of the road for me today, nothing but forest service road beyond here. So I turned around and headed for home.
Till next time,
-Bob
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