Castle & Well...thankfully no Revenge;

of the Montezuma variety~

Over the past 12 years I have spent quite a bit of time in the Cottonwood/Sedona/Jerome area. How I missed these ancient grounds...so glad that during this most recent visit to see friends in Cottonwood we actually took the time to go and take the walks!

Historians believed that the Mexican, General Montezuma had ventured this far into what is now Arizona  only to discover it was really the home of the ancient Siguara people living in the cliffs near Cottonwood and what is now known as Montezuma Castle.  It's embarrassing...the castle is 10 mins from downtown Cottonwood - go visit if you are in the neighborhood - don't wait like I did.

I did have a moment of being truly irritated that I had not gotten a degree in archaeology so I could scamper around inside  the cliff dwelling, alas they have been closed to internal visitors for 60 years.

We learned about Montezuma's Well while at the visitor center and decided to take the drive up Hwy 17 to see it and were pleasantly surprised to find a cliff dwelling, a cave dwelling, AND the nearby ruins of a pueblo dwelling. This part of the park is FREE, trails are navigable, well marked and it offers beautiful views of this country's history.

This 3 minute video captures photos of both the castle and the well - enjoy!

Castle & Well were surrounded with these amazingly old and gnarled Sycamore trees that I just fell in love with - tree here is near the visitor center. 

Sycamore Tree


Tree @ well outlet

Tree surface after shedding bark

The tree just to the left and above takes a decided bend as it grows out from the foot of the stone wall to reach the sun. Truly a survivor...the volunteer ranger "guessed" it was 3200 years old - but no one really knows until the rings are counted....then we would just have old wood chips.

 ~ Ciao