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Pueblo Canyon Group
in Gila County, AZ
Welcome to the
Pueblo Canyon Group
There are three major sets of ruins in Pueblo Canyon, arranged like multi-story apartment blocks along a shelf halfway up the canyon wall. Any of the three would be worth the trip by themselves: together they form an intriguing and picturesque group.
Don’t let the scenery fool you though, getting to this treasure in Gila County will take some doing. In fact we suggest you read the directions section of this page to better understand what you are getting yourself in to before you start.
There is no mistaking the fact that this is one amazing find and adventure seekers who are brave enough to venture this way will find something they will cherish forever.
Get Directions
Check the Forest Service prior to going and make sure the roads are open.
Learn More From Pueblo Canyon Group Ruin
About the Pueblo Canyon Group Ruins
Find the most important information to create a memorable trip to the Pueblo Canyon Group Ruins.
South of the Town of Young, AZ
Contact: Ranger Station Phone: (928) 462-4300
From Payson take Highway 260 east to the Young Turn off on top of the Mogollon Rim. Follow it to where you cross Cherry Creek (see instructions below). From town of Claypool head north on AZ188 towards Roosevelt Lake. Turn right on AZ288 and continue to unpaved Cherry Creek Rd. take a right to FR 203. Drive 19.5 miles on FR 203 to Ellison Ranch on the banks of Cherry Creek.
Cross Cherry Creek and begin the rough portion of the road past the Ellison Ranch for 2.25 miles to another creek. This creek flows out of Devil's Chasm, crosses the road, and goes through an aluminum pipe about 4 feet in diameter on the other side. Park your vehicle and hike up the creek. A very faint trail begins on the left side of the creek and heads up Devil's Chasm.
There is "ample" parking and a small area where people typically overnight camp prior to starting their journey up Devil's Chasm. From PAYSON (Highway 260 & 87) 65 miles - almost 2 hours
From PHX (I-10 & AZ-51) - 126 mi, 3 hours 27 mins From TUC (Jct 1-10 & Grant) - 150 mi, 4 hours 14 mins From FLG (Jct I-17 & I-40) - 204 mi, 4 hours 54 mins
WORD OF CAUTION:
Cherry Creek Road (FR 203) branches off from State Route 288 just south of the Sierra Ancha Wilderness, follows along the east side of the Wilderness boundary along Cherry Creek for about forty miles, and rejoins 288 to the north, fifteen miles south of Young. In years past it was possible to drive the entire route in a suitable high-clearance vehicle. Today (March of 2008), the road is all but impassable. Coming from the south, the second ford of Cherry Creek is rutted and deep, and should not be attempted unless the water is very low. A few miles farther north at Devil's Chasm, the road is washed out so completely that even quads and dirt bikes are unable to pass. Coming in from the north, the road is passable to quads and bikes (barely) as far as Devil's Chasm, but normal 4WD vehicles are too wide to make it past the many washouts.
Update - April 2009: The washout of Cherry Creek Road at Devil's Chasm has been partially repaired, and is now passable to short-wheelbase 4WD vehicles. Suburbans and the like will still have trouble.
There are no set hours for visiting Pueblo Canyon Ruins. Come at your leisure.
During the summer months it can be blistering hot. This can bring out the rattle snakes so be carfull. You will want to start early in the morning to beat the head.
Winter can be quite cold so have extra clothes if needed. Spring and Fall are quite nice weather months but you will still want to start out early.
Make sure you have water and food to eat with you before you set out on the trail.
There is no fee to experience Pueblo Canyon Ruins.
There is no visitors center for this attraction.
Hiking description by One Rope
Canyoneering: Pueblo canyon is a very remote trip out in the Sierra Anchas Wilderness where you are able to drop your gear and take a short side hike to explore some great ancient Salado Indian ruins along the way down canyon. It should be noted that the ruins of this area are irreplaceable and should be respected and left as they are found. Please bring a camera and take pictures as your memories so others can appreciate the history. While running Pueblo, do not expect to see others in the canyon and realize that any rescue will be a long way off and extremely difficult if needed. A well known trail is often hiked into the bottom of the canyon from NF203/Cherry Creek Road that leads up to and behind a waterfall and eventually to the ruins themselves. This trail is remote, overgrown is spots, and can be challenging. Due to this hiking trail, it seems reasonable that a technical descent of the canyon lends the opportunity to run Upper Pueblo, Lower Pueblo, or Full Pueblo. In total, we dropped enough hardware to complete 16 rappels though what would we would consider Full Pueblo. The trip is best completed with a shuttle driver as setting up a shuttle vehicle will require approximately 2.5 hours one way. As winter approaches, the Workman Creek road used for access is typically closed with snow or after December 15th. It may be advisable to check with the Pleasant Valley Tonto National Forest ranger station to make sure the road is open during the colder months. Our trip through Pueblo canyon began just beyond Aztec Peak. As you are making your way up, just before the road is gated at the Murphy Ranch you will find trail 141 that can be followed towards Edward Spring. Once the spring is reached, the trail goes thin to non-existent but the canyon should be obvious and with some effort you will soon find yourself at the first rappel from a tree with a decent area to get geared up. This entry is a side drainage that soon meets up with Pueblo and gear is needed to complete roughly 7 rappels of up to 130' - 160' (nearly all but the last two drops were under 60' and depending on your approach the final drop of the upper section can be negotiated safely with a 130' to the waterfall platform but 160' will ensure you can reach a pool below the ruins trail). The last rappel of this upper section is directly down the waterfall that is along the hiking trail reached from Cherry Creek road. There is a nice landing platform in the watercourse that allows you to off rope a few steps away from the hiking trail or you could simply keep going another 30' (160' total rap), but is not really recommended unless you are planning to bypass the ruins and simply keep going on to Lower Pueblo.Once off rope at the waterfall, we dropped all our gear and followed the trail around on canyon left and were soon at the start of the Pueblo Indian Ruins. There are many structures here and if memory serves, there were three separate sections containing ruins along this immediate trail. Multi level ruins tucked into the walls with expansive fire areas built in are tucked into the cliff band with noticeable wall seeps where water could be gathered nearly 800 years ago. Once you have explored the ruins and made the way back to the waterfall and your gear, it is possible to either hike out along the trail or begin the descent of Lower Pueblo. Lower Pueblo begins at the base of the trail waterfall where 9 rappels were encountered prior to reaching the vehicle. The longest of these drops requires about 60' of rope as the anchor was somewhat set back among the trees. Soon after starting the Lower section you will find yourself in what we referred to as the "Great Hallway". This was a long hallway like section that contained a handful of drops of various sizes nearly one after another until walls on both sides opened back up. Caution is recommended on at least one of the short raps who incidentally got the name of "Miss Piggy" as she ate our rope and required a short ascent to free it from her jaws. Once through the hallway several more drops are encountered and you may notice some springs begin to pick up the flow a bit. The vegetation in this lower section can get a bit thick in spots, but is also a good indicator that you are nearly completed. Soon you will reach the road and your shuttle vehicle and can begin to make your way back to civilization.