The Ride to Indian Ruins and Seven Springs

Mailman

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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.
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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.
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The beginning of the trail going up, it’s about a half mile to the top, in motorcycle boots. :laugh2:
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Not everything got scorched, the fire skipped around.
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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.
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Back at the bottom, I had lunch at the ramadas. With the brush all burned off, it looks like the surface of the moon.
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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.
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Here I am, just pulling into the recreation area, this road was mossy and slick!
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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.
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Till next time,
-Bob
 
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Similar weather to my backyard but the country is like nothing Iive ever seen, even out west. What a shame you live on the other side of the world Bob, I'd enjoy coming along on these rides.
Cheers

Thanks from the waterlogged state of North Cackalacky..I never tire of the desert climate...especailly your ride reports..:cheers:

Thanks Bob, like the others have said, needed that! Good to be able to see another part of the world where I'm unlikely ever to get to.

Thanks guys! I too enjoy seeing other parts of the world through your eyes. I never do tire of the mountains or the warm winters. :)
 
With it being so dry, where does the water come from? Is there a short wet season?

Even though Arizona is a desert we have a number of lakes, rivers ,creeks and natural springs. Some creeks only flow during rainy seasons or when there is snow melting in the mountains. Seven Springs however is a year round natural spring.

It's all imported, Paul.
Only the best...
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As a matter of fact, there is a company that bottles spring water from Seven Springs.
 
Very cool Bob, had to google “Ramada’s” but now I’ve learnt another word...... Ha ! As Dave said its pretty much like the “outback” as we say, i love remote rides and something with some history to visit on a ride is great. Your bike looks the goods still, lots of lov’in eh. I noticed the new screen, it is familiar to me as I’ve one on my bike too.....the British bike.....thanks for the write up and pictures, not something you see without going to visit yourself
 
Michaelo, me too! Now I know the different between a ramada and a pergola, its all in the roof, or not...:hump:

I have also spend nearly 3 hours touring the Nevada/Utah/Colorado/Arizona area via Google Maps and cannot believe just how many water springs there are. I saw one in Nevada called something like Fish Springs Hot Pool. I bet that would be a great place to ride to and camp out at.
 
Yes, arid and stunted. More hills than a lot of our outback though. Got our share of cactus in places as well - that's how we scored the Cane toad, another environmental f#*kup. Our indigenous people weren't much on construction. There are walls like that in the Gulf but they're used for trapping fish as the tide abates. Interesting.
 

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Very cool Bob, had to google “Ramada’s” but now I’ve learnt another word...... Ha ! As Dave said its pretty much like the “outback” as we say, i love remote rides and something with some history to visit on a ride is great. Your bike looks the goods still, lots of lov’in eh. I noticed the new screen, it is familiar to me as I’ve one on my bike too.....the British bike.....thanks for the write up and pictures, not something you see without going to visit yourself

Thanks Mick! Yeah I’m still lovin the old Yamaha, it’s a good ol bike. I too love going to remote areas and looking for historical things. It’s funny, I have a GPS app on my phone and my wife can see where I’m at in real time, I did this specifically for when I go riding out in the boonies, just in case I ride off a cliff or something. Anyways on this ride, I was out of range for any cell towers and I fell off the grid for about an hour and a half. My wife got a little panicked, imagining the worst. But then I popped back up before she had the chance to call out a search for me! :laugh2:

Now I know the different between a ramada and a pergola, its all in the roof, or not.

Out here anyways, ramadas usually refer to a picnic table with a roof over it for shade.
 
Thanks for sharing Mailman. You have a very conversational way of writing.
I grew up in Southern California so spent a lot of time in the desert. I miss it occasionally but then I recall how we used to have to lie underneath our cars just to get out of the oppressive sun.
 
Thanks for sharing Mailman. You have a very conversational way of writing.
I grew up in Southern California so spent a lot of time in the desert. I miss it occasionally but then I recall how we used to have to lie underneath our cars just to get out of the oppressive sun.

Thanks! I appreciate that. And you’re right about the heat!
 
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