A very scary ladder climb to some ruins!

Hail to all. I had heard about this area at least a decade ago but the road out to it is pretty heinous and I never made it out the whole way to the end. I had been told that there was an area where a ladder went over the edge of the Verde River Canyon to some ruins/cliff dwellings and that it was a pretty cool area. (it starts the Wild and Scenic portion of the Verde River and is also a Bald Eagle breeding area). I had always gone out to the Verde Falls area but the F.S. had fenced off the access and now one has to hike in with all your gear and stuff. I just got new shocks for my truck so I decided to try them out to get to the end of the road. I got to the end of the road, (or so I thought), and continued to hike out on a faint 2-track so I could access the river. Well, I cliffed out and couldn't reach the river so I decided to sit and have a beer and a smoke. I looked across the canyon and saw the ladder but I was on the wrong side of the canyon, (funny how you forget important details over time). I do not know who put the ladder there or for what purpose but I am working on that info. Here's some pic's of the area.Attachment 60423Attachment 60423Attachment 60426 The next weekend we went back out on the right side of the river and found the spot with not much trouble. Looked at the approach to the ladder and pretty much laughed out loud. Very crumbly volcanic ash and sketchy edges. Wouldn't do anything on the ladder but you could rap down the dark stained area to the left of the ladder (photo left) pretty easily. Here are a couple of pic's of the top of the ladder. If anybody knows anything about this site please let me know. As I gain more backround info I will be sure to post. OZ...Attachment 60424Attachment 60425

sketchy! so the ruins are down the ladder and not up it? Either way, I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. Haha. What an awesome relic though just sitting out there in the middle of no where. And such a cool TR, man, thanks! :2thumbs:

I had thought that there were ruins at the base of the ladder but after a better look I don't think so. There is suppossed to be ruins around the right corner in the caves, an upper and lower but even that looks sketchy. Time to get on rope. Area is very accessible. OZ....

Update! It seems that they were using this ladder back in the early 30's to access the area for drill testing for a proposed dam in the verde river canyon. The dam never happened, at least in this area, and I think that they are in pretty good shape for being 80 plus years old.

Is that a trail that follows the cliff face from the ladder to the right side? Seems to be some caves there as well.

Possibly a trail but the area is so steep and loose that it would be difficult to get to the caves even from the river. The area is steeper than it looks and is comprised of loose ash and viscous lava. Nothing was stable. OZ....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jdawg

Is that a trail that follows the cliff face from the ladder to the right side? Seems to be some caves there as well.

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Simply amazing. Curious did you find it or had you heard of its existence?



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wnorton @ Southern, UT

good work and editing in there.. the ladder looks really scary...:eek2: