Wednesday, May 9th. We were on our way to the cliff dwelling at 8:00. There is a shear cliff between our campsite and the trailhead, so we took two dinghies to get the six of us there.
Then it was up a riverbed, over the riverbed, through some scrubby bushes, climb some rocks... and then we could see our destination: half way UP the cliff. Here is evidence that the water level was once higher...
Everyone had good hiking shoes on, and we carefully made our way up; some parts were pretty decent, some were pretty steep.
From the ground it didn’t look like much. Once you climbed several hundred feet, you could see what was once an Anastazi cliff dwelling... with a definite gathering room and sleeping rooms.
The crew who made the hike.
The Park Service has restored this dwelling and allows people (willing to make the climb) to move about the dwelling. We did just that. It is an impressive view from up there... and interesting that families would choose to be there, where they’d have to carry food and water to the dwelling. We spent much of the morning looking around and then started the climb back down to the riverbed. We took a different path back to our boats that was only visible from up in the dwelling. As the water level raises and lowers, the paths here get washed away, making it a challenge to get to this place.
Near where we parked the dinghies there was a couple camped. They came in with an older small runabout and the battery was dead. They asked if we could help. Their small kicker could get them to our boats, where Brent jump started them with Discovery.
We were off. Along the way there was more gorgeous scenery: the steep cliffs rising straight out of the water. Very rugged, most unusual and beautiful.
Because of those steep canyon walls, there is very little cell phone coverage. Occasionally you can get a glimpse of the mountain with the cell tower. We quickly made a phone call and checked e-mail messages. It will be a couple days again before we have any reception.
We stoppped again at Hall’s Crossing Marina; we needed to pump out our waste tank, and planned to give Molly some time on the dock.
We made our way back to Oak Canyon. Brent and Dixie stopped off to fish, Chris stopped to see if some folks along the shore needed help (he gave them a ride back to their boat - two rescues in one day), and Jim took a side trip to see Rainbow Bridge (he wasn’t with our group when we stopped there earlier); that left two of us to pick the campsite.
When Brent and Dixie came in, they picked up Joan to go fishing, while I stayed on the boat to get my logbook up to date... the days here have been so amazing that I had forgotten to fill in my log. Before long, we were all back in camp... and this time Joan had quite a catch: a whole stringer full of fish!
After photographing the catch, Brent went to work cleaning the fish. With striped bass, you fillet them; he made it look effortless, and in just a few minutes he had two good size bags of fillets ready to be prepared.
There was a brief discussion amongst the campers regarding who had what and everyone went back to their boats to prepare their parts of supper. A half hour later we gathered our tables and chairs on the beach for a lovely meal: poached bass (in white wine and butter), two different types of pasta, salad, fruit salad, and wine... served in a gorgeous setting as the sun went down. We are living large.
Best wishes,
Jim B.
Then it was up a riverbed, over the riverbed, through some scrubby bushes, climb some rocks... and then we could see our destination: half way UP the cliff. Here is evidence that the water level was once higher...
Everyone had good hiking shoes on, and we carefully made our way up; some parts were pretty decent, some were pretty steep.
From the ground it didn’t look like much. Once you climbed several hundred feet, you could see what was once an Anastazi cliff dwelling... with a definite gathering room and sleeping rooms.
The crew who made the hike.
The Park Service has restored this dwelling and allows people (willing to make the climb) to move about the dwelling. We did just that. It is an impressive view from up there... and interesting that families would choose to be there, where they’d have to carry food and water to the dwelling. We spent much of the morning looking around and then started the climb back down to the riverbed. We took a different path back to our boats that was only visible from up in the dwelling. As the water level raises and lowers, the paths here get washed away, making it a challenge to get to this place.
Near where we parked the dinghies there was a couple camped. They came in with an older small runabout and the battery was dead. They asked if we could help. Their small kicker could get them to our boats, where Brent jump started them with Discovery.
We were off. Along the way there was more gorgeous scenery: the steep cliffs rising straight out of the water. Very rugged, most unusual and beautiful.
Because of those steep canyon walls, there is very little cell phone coverage. Occasionally you can get a glimpse of the mountain with the cell tower. We quickly made a phone call and checked e-mail messages. It will be a couple days again before we have any reception.
We stoppped again at Hall’s Crossing Marina; we needed to pump out our waste tank, and planned to give Molly some time on the dock.
We made our way back to Oak Canyon. Brent and Dixie stopped off to fish, Chris stopped to see if some folks along the shore needed help (he gave them a ride back to their boat - two rescues in one day), and Jim took a side trip to see Rainbow Bridge (he wasn’t with our group when we stopped there earlier); that left two of us to pick the campsite.
When Brent and Dixie came in, they picked up Joan to go fishing, while I stayed on the boat to get my logbook up to date... the days here have been so amazing that I had forgotten to fill in my log. Before long, we were all back in camp... and this time Joan had quite a catch: a whole stringer full of fish!
After photographing the catch, Brent went to work cleaning the fish. With striped bass, you fillet them; he made it look effortless, and in just a few minutes he had two good size bags of fillets ready to be prepared.
There was a brief discussion amongst the campers regarding who had what and everyone went back to their boats to prepare their parts of supper. A half hour later we gathered our tables and chairs on the beach for a lovely meal: poached bass (in white wine and butter), two different types of pasta, salad, fruit salad, and wine... served in a gorgeous setting as the sun went down. We are living large.
Best wishes,
Jim B.
