Twenty one people showed up for the Agua Fria National Monument field trip. We had arranged to meet at the Bloody Basin entrance to the monument. We came in nine vehicles and car-pooled with seven high clearance or 4-wheel drive vehicles. When the leader, Connie Stone, arrived she said that maybe we should postpone the trip because the roads up higher might be too muddy. We had a bird census on the monument a few days prior to our trip and there had only been a light sprinkle since then. I told her there wouldn’t be any trouble with the road but I crossed my fingers that it wouldn’t rain until we finished our trip.

We started up the road to Perry Mesa. My wife said that the trip should be rated a 2 for hiking but a 9 for driving. We also saw the reason for 4-wheel drive or high clearance vehicles. The road is very rough going up to Pueblo Pato on Perry Mesa.

We made a stop and Connie briefed us on the ruins and what anthropologists believed about the Indians who lived in the pueblo. We were all surprised to learn that from the pot shards the anthropologists deduced that the Indians from this area traded with the Hopi and the Sinagua tribes. We were amazed that the Indians living in the pueblo went all the way down to the river to tend their crops. When we got to the pueblo and after another briefing by Connie we had to decide whether we wanted to go down the path to see the Petroglyphs. Seven us decided that we didn’t want to go down into the canyon. The rest of the group were anxious to see the Petroglyphs.

The picture on the left shows some of the group hiking back up from the canyon after seeing the Petroglyphs. I guess you can see from the picture that the hike was a little arduous. Those of us that decided to stay up at the ruins were glad we didn’t go down into the canyon after several of the hikers told us it was a little tricky going down. The picture on the right shows several of the numerous Petroglyphs. All the people who went down said that the hike down was well worth the effort.

I’m sure all the drivers were exhausted from the drive up and down the mesa. It was a bumpy ride that all of us won’t soon forget.