This weekend my anthropology buddy and I did a little archaeological assessment of a known pre-historic human habitation site down in the Big South Fork. We started our day by climbing a steep 500’ hill to the site. The primary feature of the camp was a large shell-midden which was sheltered under an enormous sandstone overhang. With a very slight kick of your feet, you could uncover the remains of freshwater mussels; left there by Native Americans who once lived at the site. In association with shells, we also discovered a small amount of debitage; chert shards created from flint-knapping. The camp had been previously looted by treasure seekers, probably many years prior, as indicated by the presence of shallow furrows in the midden and a broken shovel.
If I was a Native American, I probably would have chosen to live there too. The camp sat overlooking the confluence of a large creek and a river (good for foraging mussels). Natural shelf contours below the camp made this an ideal site for hunting. And a tiny babbling spring poured out from an enormous break in the rock face. Its intrinsic, shady beauty inspired a feeling of unbounded serenity.
We then took a short hop down to the river to explore the historic Blue Heron mining community before having a quick lunch. My hiking partner found a sign to Ledbetter, so we had to pose for pictures (he’s a huge Pearl Jam fan).
On the road again, we sped up to the top of the plateau on a dusty gravel road. After about an hour’s travel we stopped at the Twin Arches trailhead. We did the 4.6-mile loop past the arches down to Charit Creek Lodge, where he was ever so gracious to buy me a cold beer. We petted the resident bear-dog named Booger, sat in the rocking chairs on the porch, and enjoyed a pleasant conversation with the proprietor before hitting the trail.
We had a slight hiccup. I was too lazy to look at the maps before leaving the lodge, so we took a brief excursion up a spurious trail that climbed straight out of the drainage. About halfway up the road, I finally pulled the maps out and found we were going the wrong way. It added at least 4/10ths of a mile to our trek (thus the five miles in the trip report title).
About a mile into the return portion of the loop, we met a girl (and I suppose her boyfriend). She was wearing dress shoes and a cocktail dress. I sized them up pretty quickly and determined that they were underdressed and underprepared. They were asking directions for a loop back up to the Slave Falls parking lot on the ridge (I estimated it would be another four to five miles, maybe even 7 or 8!!). It was nearing dusk. I doubt they had flashlights, and I very seriously doubt they had maps. I just told them to go back the way they came. My trailbuddy and I briefly looked at each other and just rolled our eyes.
Overall, it was a beautiful, amazing trip. The sky was sunny and clear all day with pleasant temps in the 70s. I’m now 88 miles into my 100-mile Centennial Challenge. Just 12 more miles to go!!!!