Simon Canyon Ruins
Not long after supper last night there was a very strong windstorm. It was part of the thunderstorms that have been continuing today, but they are mostly wind and very little rain. Last night’s storm whipped up a great deal of dust, and blew over our bikes which were standing behind the trailer.
Today we took it easy and read, played a game of scrabble, and then in the afternoon I went for a bit of a hike up to Simon Canyon. Enid walked around the campsite a bit.
At Simon Canyon there is a small rock pueblo structure on top of a large rock. However this is a very recent site compared to those we have been seeing, and is of Navajo origin. It is believed to have been constructed in the 1770’s, and looks very much like a fortress position from it’s difficult-to-access site on a high bolder.
The sign at the ruins reads: “The Simon Canyon site is the most northwestern of the structures attributed to the Gobernador phase of Navajo history (1700 – 1775). The site consists of a single room on a large bolder. The room is rather well preserved with the greater part of the roof intact. Of all the remaining structures of this period in Navajo history, it appears to have been the most vulnerable to Ute raiding which has frequently been named as one of the causes for the Navajo abandonment of the area. There are no other sites in this vicinity which have been attributed to the Navajo. The site position north of the San Juan River separates it from the major contemporary Navajo populations in Gobernado and Largo canyons. Simon Canyon Ruin was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The site was stabilized by the BLM stabilization team in 1975.”