Devil's Chasm Fortress, Arizona

Devil's Chasm Fortress. Our friend, Dave came up from Tucson to hike and kayak with us. Our first adventure is a hike to Devil's Chasm Fortress in Devil's Chasm on the east side of the Ancha Mountains. The chasm is accessed by Forest Road 203 through Cherry Creek. It's about a 2 hour drive from our camp at Windy Hill on Roosevelt Lake. 4-wheel drive is necessary for the last couple miles. In the photo below the road looks passable by car but this is only a short section that wasn't steep and rocky.

Forest Road 203 looking toward Devil's Chasm. 

The Fortress is about two miles up the chasm from FR 203. There is about a 2000+ foot altitude gain so the trail is often steep. It's not an official trail but a path made by hikers to the ruin so in some places it's sketchy. Some scrambling is necessary to get above rock faces along the stream and to climb around waterfalls. The hike took us about 5 hours round trip including time to enjoy the ruin and appreciate the many beautiful waterfalls along the way.

Entering the chasm.

The chasm narrows as we hike and is filled with a tumble of boulders and decorative cascades. The water carries on a quiet conversation, chuckling softly as it leaps down the rocks.

The creek carries on a quiet conversation in the shadow of the chasm walls.

Decorative cascades.

About half way up the trail we suddenly enter the narrows and come to the first waterfall. In the confines of narrows the falls roar like a stadium crowd and the creek tumbles down the bedrock to its own applause.

Dave and Jim enter the narrows and come to the first waterfall.

Jim and Dave at the first waterfall.

Looking back down canyon from below the first falls.

The falls roars like a stadium crowd.

To continue up the chasm we go to the right of the falls. There's a climbing rope there that makes it easy to walk up the 15 foot, smooth rock face were we can crawl through a passage between two large boulders to come out on top of the falls. We brought a climbing rope along in case the ropes that were there were rotten.

Jim uses the rope assist to climb to a passage between two boulders that we will crawl through to get to the top of the falls.

The second falls.

A few hundred yards up canyon we come to the second falls. If the rocks weren't so wet and slick it may have been possible to scramble up the left side. Instead we have to scramble up to the right and carefully walk a sloping rock face above falls to continue up canyon. You need to be sure-footed.

Jim at the top of the second falls.

Looking down the chasm from the top of the second falls.

Climbing up this series of falls quickly gains us a lot of elevation. The chasm is painted with subtle colors by the low sun angle that filers ambient light through the chasm in February.

Dave at the top of the second falls.

Looking back down canyon to the top of the second falls below us.

As we continue up the chasm there are smaller falls that are easy to walk up.

Jim hikes on past smaller falls.

We come to one of the last falls and the chasm widens. We getting closer to our destination.

One of the last falls as we encounter as we continue up the chasm.

The chasm bedrock and falls come to an end and we work our way up a tight boulder filled drainage until we find a faint path that leads up the right side of the drainage. A few cairns along the way let us know we're on the right track. The path goes straight up a steep, bushy slope that calls for grabbing branches and small tree trunks to pull ourselves up for a several hundred feet. About half way up we get our first view of Devil's Chasm Fortress above us.

Our first view of the Fortress.

We get closer to the Fortress.

We reach the Fortress and have to climb up a rounded 3 foot ledge made a little slick by a seep dripping down from the cliff above coating the rock with algae.

On the ledge with the Fortress.

We'er on the ledge with the Fortress. We see that the rock had to be laid to extend the ledge for the construction.

Looking at an exterior wall.

The walls are nicely laid and chinked on the exterior. Mud mortar is used on the interior walls and you can see the finger impressions of the people as they pressed the mud into place.

The people left their finger impressions as they pressed the mud mortar into the rock.

Looking through the doors of three rooms.

A fire spread through this area in recent times and burned the roof, upper story floors and lintels. We noted rock slabs placed in an organized way on the ceiling beams which would be the floor of the second story. Wonder how they came to be there?

Slabs of rock were placed in an orderly fashion on the ceiling beams.

An opening seems to have been walled up on the left at the cliff face. Note all the finger indentations in the mud mortar that give it a textured appearance.

We also noticed modifications to the structure that weren't consistent with the other stone work. Some openings had been sealed up and some openings had been modified which made them look more like the T-shaped doors of Chaco Canyon.

A modified opening that was rectangular and now looks T-shaped.

Another modified opening.

Looking out  the Fortress to Cherry Creek 2000 ft below.

The people who built here must have been in need of a defensible place. It's a difficult walk down the chasm or a climb to the top. Not a place you'd want to commute to the fields or for a hunting trip.

Looking across the chasm from the Fortress.

We have our lunch sitting on the Fortress ledge and contemplate the grand view as we talk about what might have gone on here.

Me at the entry to the Fortress.

At the entry to the Fortress are tumbled down walls so there were more rooms at one time.

The afternoon sun will soon be behind the mountain and we bound our way back down the chasm, skirting waterfalls as shadows creep along behind us. We'll get back to camp before dark.

Thanks for following our adventure. Join us next time for a look at a contemporary cliff dwelling.

Until then,
Jackie