Hi, Ciao, Bonjour, Holla.....

our apologies for being away from our blog for a couple of weeks....too much heat and then monsoon storms making travels a challenge.

However, we took a day trip to the Sedona, Arizona area this week and wanted to share our adventures.  Enjoy!

On I-17 North, as you head from Phoenix to Flagstaff there are signs that say Montezuma's Castle. We decided to check it out.  On the way........we had to stop and sample Native Frybread!

Montezuma Castle National Monument is a protected, preserved Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwelling near the town of Camp Verde, Arizona.  The dwellings were built and used by the Sinagua people, a pre-Columbian culture between 1100 and 1425 AD.  The name however has nothing to do with Aztec emperor Montezuma.  It was a mistaken belief that he had been connected to its construction.  However, the dwelling was built 40 years before he was born.  It is not a "castle" either.  It is more like a high rise apartment complex.

The main structure comprises five stories and twenty rooms, at 4,000 sq. feet.  It was built over the course of three centuries.  The walls are examples of early stone and mortar masonry, constructed almost entirely from chunks of limestone found at the base of the cliff, as well as mud and clay from the creek bottom.  The ceilings incorporate sectioned timbers as roof thatching, primarily from the Arizona sycamore tree, a large hardwood tree native to the Verde Valley.  

You can't get close to it, as it is far above the ground and strictly protected.  The dwelling is situated 90 feet or 27. 43 meters up a sheer limestone cliff.  The dwelling faces Beaver Creek which drains into the Verde River.  It is one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America.  During its use the dwelling was accessible via portable,wooden ladders, which made it difficult for enemy tribes to penetrate the natural defense of the vertical barrier. The high location also kept the dwelling safe from floods in the floodplain.There are ruins closer that you can view and appreciate as well. 

We found the area to be awe inspiring more than haunting.  Although a night in the castle itself would more than likely shift that...lol.  A powerful place and a testament to brilliance of the early peoples of this area.

We headed back on I-17 North towards the Sedona exit via I-179.  It you turn left here you will drive up the small highway into Oak Creek Canyon and on to Sedona.  If you turn right you will find yourself in front of a dirt road road with a sign that says, "Montezuma's Well" (again no connection to Montezuma).  It is considered a "detached" unit of Montezuma Castle and built by the same people.  

Of course we had to investigate and we are glad we did!

This strange place is not a well known location, and takes a rocky drive to get to...but it is free and simply amazingly beautiful.  The "well" is a natural limestone sinkhole through which some 1,500,000 US gallons or 5,700,000 Liters of water emerge each day from an underground spring.  The Well measures 386 feet (118 m) in diameter from rim to rim and contains a near-constant volume of spring water, even in times of drought.  The water is highly carbonated and contains high levels of arsenic.  No fish live in the well.  At least five endemic species are found in the Well:  a diatom, aspringtail, a water scorpion, an amphipod and leeches....many leeches, as well as Montezuma Well spring snail.

The Sinagua people and possibly earlier cultures, intensively farmed the land surrounding the Well using its constant outflow as a reliable source of irrigation.

You can hike down to the bottom and the source spring of the well.  There are dwellings at the top, above the well and at the bottom.

And as usual....snakes.

The source spring at the bottom

We found the area near the spring to be very charged with spirit energy.  In fact, two of our cameras went dead at the bottom after these photos were taken.  Once we hiked up to the other side they worked.  Strange.  

On the other side of the well are trails and ruins of several prehistoric dwellings scattered in and around the rim of the Well.  It is believed that they belonged to several indigenous American cultures that are believed to have occupied the Verde Valley between 700 and 1425 CE, the foremost of which being a cultural group termed the Southern Sinagua.  At the entrance of the Well there is a place you can stop and view a "pithouse" ruin.  It is possibly the earliest ruin, and dates to 1050 CE.  There are more than 50 countable rooms inside the park boundaries.

All in all this visit was by far they most amazing to us.  The Well is a strange oasis, surrounded by history and ancient energy.  

We give Montezuma's Well a ghost rating based on energy feel and our cameras shutting off at the same time.

After our Well visit we headed up a connecting road to the V Bar V Heritage Site and the largest "rock art" site in the Red Rock Country.  It is a part of larger Beaver Creek area and the rock art style of the Sinagua culture.  The site consists of more than 1,000 petroglyphs diveded on 13 panels.  It was once part of the V bar V ranch established in 1907, which gave it its name and was bought by the Coconino National Forest in 1994.  Ranchers did their best to preserve the site from destruction, which is the main reason why the drawings are so well preserved.

Part of the original Ranch

There is a visitor center with a small bookstore and restroom.  There is a small fee to view the site.

Once in, a gentle half-mile walk under old trees will lead you to the fenced site where a tour guide will give you information about the rock art and the early people of the area.  Volunteers from the Verde Valley Archaeological Society and the Friends of the Forest provide interpretive tours and on-site management.

About 20% of the petroglyphs are zoomorphs, including snakes, turtles, coyotes, deer and antelope.  

The most common types are anthropomorphs and geometric figures, such as spirals and grids.

V Bar V is unusual in that all of the petroglyphs are of this one style, and almost all were well-spaced without overlap or newer designs drawn over older.

Red Rock Country is rich with historic sites scattered around the area.  From Paleo-Indian culture to the Pueblo, all of the people living here in the past left some part of their lives, be it cliff dwellings, petroglyphs or tools they used, the land is alive with history.