Back in 2014, on one of my first serious trips to Nine Mile Canyon, I had noticed from below a constructed stock trail leading up through a couple of small cliff bands, but I’d never been motivated enough to climb up and see it up close. That changed on a more recent trip when I was high up across the canyon, scanning with binoculars, and I spotted a small rock wall atop a butte on the ridge above that trail. Even that didn’t fully pique my interest until after returning home and looking at that spot in Google Earth and seeing two circular structures below the butte. Suddenly hiking up that trail and ridge shot to the top of my priority list. On Friday morning I set out to do this hike. Over the summer I’d gotten used to starting hikes at or before dawn, and though I was getting what felt like a very late start, with the shorter days now I actually began just after sunrise. A relatively faint trail led up toward the cliffs, and along the way I encountered a boulder with a nice petroglyph panel on it.
Lower trail
Petroglyph boulder
Main figure
Snake figures
Bighorn sheep and lines
I reached the base of the cliffs and, instead of going straight to the constructed trail, I traversed below the cliffs searching for rock art. I only saw a few wavy lines and a big panel of dots, none of which photographed well in the low-angle light. The trail was more impressive than I was expecting. Two huge ramps of boulders and rocks had been piled up to get livestock to the next level. The top of the trail had been blasted out of sandstone and there was a wooden post with a wire across it for a gate.
Two snake-like petroglyphs (right) and rock wall (distant left)
Large constructed ramp
Ramp through a small cliff band
Another ramp higher up
Fence at the top of the constructed trail
There’s a relatively small grazing area above the constructed trail and I assumed I could find signs of another trail leading to a much larger plateau above, but I couldn’t find any such trail in Google Earth or in person on the ground. It’s definitely doable for me to climb up to the top of the plateau but I didn’t see any signs that cattle or sheep had done so. I may return another day to make that climb because there’s something else I did see in the satellite imagery that’s of interest. I had to skirt around a side canyon to get to the base of the ridge where the ruins are, and looking down into the canyon I could see a bighorn sheep just chilling out at the base of a cliff. I also used binoculars to scour the cliffs and ledges below and saw a granary and pictographs in a seemingly impossible-to-reach spot, and a pile of rib bones with some wire or string wrapped around them (the wire/string isn’t visible in the resized photo below but can be seen in the original).
The ridge with ruins on it
Side canyon from above
Bighorn sheep resting below
Pit beneath an overhang
Two crude petroglyphs
Granary and pictographs in upper-left quadrant
Closer view of granary and pictos
Pile of bones high up in the ledges
Rib bones
At the bottom of the ridge leading up to the ruins there were several potholes full of water which, during wet weather, probably made living 600′ above the creek a lot easier. I ascended the ridge, finding a collapsed granary along the lower section that still had a small amount of adobe mortar, without which I’d have just assumed it was a pile of rocks. I reached the base of the butte with the rock wall on top that I’d seen on that earlier trip, and all around the base were several slab granaries. They were mostly collapsed but most still had some visible mortar. The larger of the two circular structures appears to have been a very large pit house. All around the interior the rocks had turned red from fire, so I assume the wooden part of the structure may have burned. Inside was a small concentration of potsherds and chert flakes that was probably gathered and placed there more recently. The smaller circle consisted of only one course of loosely-connected rocks. Under a small overhang was a mano, which was the only other artifact I saw. I really expected to see more here considering the remoteness of the site.
Potholes below the ridge
Collapsed granary
Scant remnant of mortar
Slab granary
Slab granary
Slab and mortar
Large pit house
Large pit house
Large pit house and butte
Fire-reddened rocks
Potsherds and chert flakes
Potsherds
Smaller rock circle
Mano under a small overhang
Mano
I could see the way to the top of the butte–it appeared to be a tough climb up a crack–but before attempting it I dropped my pack and gear and ate an early lunch. I approached the crack and it looked easier up close. I only had a little difficulty climbing to the top and standing on the smaller detached portion of the butte on one side of the crack. From there I could probably have easily crawled up onto the other side of the crack and stood atop the larger butte but I didn’t like the amount of exposure below me. I could see the entire top of the larger butte so I took some photos and decided that would suffice. The only things on top were the rock wall I’d seen from across the canyon and what appeared to be another wall that had fallen. Getting back down the crack was more difficult and I had to pause a couple of times to figure out the next move since I couldn’t remember exactly where I’d placed my hands and feet on the ascent.
Crack to access the top of the butte
View up the crack
Straddling a big crack
My shadow below
Low rock wall
Toppled rock wall
Seeing all there was to see at the site, I headed back down. At the constructed trail I saw an arrow carved into the cliff that wasn’t visible in the early morning light. I got back to the truck and drove up Nine Mile Canyon a short distance and stopped again to hike up that side canyon where I’d seen the bighorn sheep. It was gone and there wasn’t much to see in there so I drove on, checking out some ridges and cliffs with binoculars on the drive home. I saw a couple of ruins that I’d never noticed before so now I have something to look forward to on a future trip.
Arrow at the constructed trail
Photo Gallery: Nine Mile Canyon: Trail Ridge