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

Dwellings with a view....

We decided to re-visit the Silver City area for the sole purpose of going to the Gila Cliff dwellings. We are so happy that we did too! In speaking with the park volunteers we learned several things that we were unaware of: 1) US budget cuts have increased the need for volunteers to serve as rangers and guides in our national parks;  2) this is the last cliff dwelling site to allow visitors the ability to enter and walk through the actual dwellings. All of the others are now just photo opps from afar.  We are so thrilled that we had already visited Mesa Verde and Canyon de Chelly back in 2000....we got to scamper around those sites like monkeys high on bananas!

Gila Cliff dwellings park offers a glimpse into the homes and lives of the Mogollon people who lived in this area over 700 years ago. By the time the area was "discovered" much of the artifacts documenting the Mogollon culture had been removed and so the photos below are considered to be examples only of what they may have used.


 








The monument is a mere 44 miles outside Silver City and the drive through the pine forest at 7200' is breathtaking, even the 18 miles of unmarked winding yet paved roadway is, with a few hairpins turns to does hold your attention.

My 3 min movie will take you through our visit to both the cliff dwellings and a spot down the road with pictographs and a dwelling that doesn't require hiking boots and a walking stick.

If it wasn't for the volunteers this monument would most likely be closed...we were so happy we decided to take the time to tour it. There were several trails that begged for a hike, however, the park closes at 4pm daily. We will just have to come back. Dear Silver City maybe we'll see you next year.

~Ciao

Caving at Carlsbad Cavern in New Mexico





Mission accomplished....we found Carlsbad, New Mexico. Getting here from the highway was fun. (The main street is undergoing a complete repaving, including left turn lanes...must be driving the small business owners nuts.)  We can check this park off our bucket list....although we would have loved to have seen the night flight of bats...alas, they are in Mexico until late March when the weather warms a bit here.

We were so sad to see the area around the caverns...apparently a fire last June (2011) swept through the park and closed it for 2 days. New foliage is appearing so not all is lost, but it will be quite a while before the cacti and agave plants are back to their once former glory.

Today we 'just' walked the "Big Room" of the caverns....our self-guided tour took us 3.5 hours. We were just amazed, with every turn we came upon such exquisite "decorations" - the term the park employees use. For all the early "trampling" - way before the paved pathways, railings and curbs - it is astonishingly unmarred. Or, maybe I just wasn't looking far enough into the nooks and crannies.

We'll do the Natural Entrance and the guided tour of the King's Palace tomorrow.

So many photos, far too many to do justice here - do a short movie is before that will give you an idea we hope of some of the beauty we saw 750' below the surface. Short, only 1.42 minutes...enjoy.

Enjoy~~

~ Ciao.

Tour of Kartchner Caverns State Park

We arrived at our destination of Huachuca City, AZ late yesterday afternoon. The Tombstone Territories RV Resort is really nice with a large community center that offers tours, daily activities and a Friday night "JAM" session for musicians. We plan to attend that social time as we have discovered many talented musicians along the way.

Our goal today was Kartchner Caverns State Park once we got warm enough to move that is. We awoke to a record cold of about 17 degrees. It is expected to be around 10 degrees tonight....a big burrrrr for us. But I digress. Arriving at the park we were informed that had we made reservations for a tour (online or by phone) we would have saved the $6/vehicle parking fee. The Park also includes a RV camp for $25/night, hiking on designated trails (which translate to - no cross country hiking), a day picnic area and a parking lot that accommodates motor homes.

 

The visitor center is very informative and has a lot of inter-active consoles in which to discover the history of the caverns. Discovered in 1977, designated as a state park in '88 - it was opened for tours in 2003. The tours are good, if a bit on the expensive side ($22.95/pp+tax), and there are 3 different tours one can take, the longest is 1hr-45min - The Big Room tour. Groups are small and  the Big Room has an age requirement of 7 yrs old.

No cameras or cell phones are allowed so most of the photos in the "additional photo roll" are from the visitor center interpretive center...


"Fried egg" stalagmite example



Lunch in the Bat Cave Cafe was really delicious roasted red pepper/chicken quesadilla and Starbucks coffee. Desert was free, the Dichos - the Mexican take on fortune cookies and they had fortunes. Mine was "an old friend is the best mirror" and Mike's was "following the path, no one will get lost" - nice.

As we left I looked over to the small cactus garden and noticed that one of the prickly pears was hosting a bird's nest.  They also host a hummingbird trail outside the center.

 

Bird's nest in the cactus - cool.

Check out the park website :http://azstateparks.com/Parks/KACA/index.html for more information and to make reservations. Also the caverns are closed Apr 16 2011 to Oct 14, 2011 - to accommodate the 700-1000 pregnant bats to roost, give birth and raise they young. Never mind the maintenance time to clean up bat guano - park rangers have interesting jobs. Counting bats and cleaning up bat poop.

Enjoy the short video from the inter-active component of the visitor center, one of many.

Adios!