Road trippin!

[CHUDs]

Happy New Year All!
I’m road tripping through AZ with the family for our holiday vacation. We have camped in Mojave National Preserve and Sedona so far. The desert and red rock country is pretty amazing this time of year. Very few people but really cold!
In Mojave we came across some really cool petroglyphs at the intersection of 3 large valleys. From the pics it can be hard to tell what you are seeing but there are clearly visible bighorn sheep, snakes, suns and geometric patterns.
In Sedona we hiked into Boynton Canyon and hiked up the sandstone bluffs to some cliff dwellings in the back of a canyon. We didn’t see another soul once we left the main trail. In the upper canyon, you can see the small dwellings under the shelter of the overhanging cliffs. Ice was hanging from the cliffs but it was warm in the sun.
The dwelling was just a few boxes of stacked stone mortared together. There was strewn pottery shards and flakes down the whole canyon wall. Some black pottery, textured and patterned. Some painted white and some natural ochre colored. I found a small obsidian tip or bird point but failed to get a pic of it. The coolest thing I found though was a 4” long piece of twisted fiber. It was partially encased in very dry , compacted organic material just outside the shelter. The brownish black material smelled like composted human waste and wouldn’t surprise me if it was. The string is clearly twisted, natural fiber! Amazing that it has survived so long! I left everything there. Just took pictures. It was truly an amazing day!

 

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[newnan man]

Sounds like an interesting & fun trip. Great pics too. Thanks for sharing.

 

[CHUDs]

Sounds like an interesting & fun trip. Great pics too. Thanks for sharing.

You’re welcome! We are just visiting some cool sites and while I’m not hunting for keeps at these spots, there are some interesting artifacts still around that I thought some of y’all would want to see!

 

[southfork]

Great pics love road trips in the southwest the snow in the red rock country is breathtaking.

 

[pickaway]

Nice ive always wanted to get out that way, somewhere in Arizona were some pay to dig sites, but if you found something you had to buy the artifacts seperatley , great pics

 

[dognose]

very nice photos thanks for sharing.

it looks like it was a very nice day.

 

[CHUDs]

Great pics love road trips in the southwest the snow in the red rock country is breathtaking.

It really is. It was easy to see why they chose the caves they did to build shelters in. This particular one was in the shade until about noon but got direct sunlight from then until about 4:30, which warmed you up pretty well. Ice in the shade and 60 in the sun!

 

[CHUDs]

very nice photos thanks for sharing.

it looks like it was a very nice day.

It was. It’s always great when the family comes along and you can scratch an artifact itch!

Nice ive always wanted to get out that way, somewhere in Arizona were some pay to dig sites, but if you found something you had to buy the artifacts seperatley , great pics

i tried to research those type of spots but couldn’t find anything.

 

[Tnmountains]

Thanks Chuds for sharing those pictures. It sounds like you are having a fun adventure.
Happy New Year!

 

[CaptEsteban]

I love looking at petroglyphs, ancient sites like those. You can see the stain from smoke in the ceiling of the cave. Usually, each " cubicle " that you see was the home of a family.

 

[pepperj]

You're going through some beautiful country.
Thanks for posting up the great pictures

Actually we got hitched in Sedona

 

[crj1968]

Gotta love Arizona. Great stuff !

 

[CHUDs]

Thanks Chuds for sharing those pictures. It sounds like you are having a fun adventure.
Happy New Year!

You're going through some beautiful country.
Thanks for posting up the great pictures

Actually we got hitched in Sedona

It’s a great spot! I caught some beautiful trout too!

 

[pepperj]

It’s a great spot! I caught some beautiful trout too!

Would that have been in Oak Creek?
We got married there so no playtime.
Did Jarome the mining town on the way out.

 

[CHUDs]

Would that have been in Oak Creek?
We got married there so no playtime.
Did Jarome the mining town on the way out.

Yes, just below Slide Rock. It was one of the first places I landed trout on a fly almost 20 years ago. It was cool to revisit and land some fatties. We didJerome on the way in. Interesting little town! Great wine and beer scene! Highly recommend.

 

[pepperj]

Yes, just below Slide Rock. It was one of the first places I landed trout on a fly almost 20 years ago. It was cool to revisit and land some fatties. We didJerome on the way in. Interesting little town! Great wine and beer scene! Highly recommend.

Jerome was a nice visit.
Then we got carded at the Hoover Dam.
Seems that a vehicle same as the rental was seen in Sedona/Jerome.
The other vehicle dropped his 2 kids off on the NM&AZ border and drove off.
We had to drive the car into a big car tent, then they started the questioning.
Soon realized that I was not the parent of two brats abandoned.
Free and happy honeymoon trip continued.