ON THE ROAD AGAIN

If you were visiting Arizona and read glowing reviews of a site called Montezuma's Castle, would you be excited?  Well, in all honesty, maybe yes and maybe no. While our recent visitors were a definite "YES", I was a tepid "OK" figuring it was on the way to Sedona, wouldn't be far off the highway, and we could see it and do it within minutes. So, after eleven years of speeding past numerous signs on I-17 pointing toward Montezuma's Castle, we tapped the brakes and turned in.

And here it is...Montezuma's Castle.  Whereas it may seem a little anti-climactic if you're expecting Windsor or Balmoral, once you begin thinking about it, it's a pretty amazing place. 

First of all, this five story, twenty room high-rise was carved out of this sheer limestone cliff.  The Sinagua wandered into this area near today's Camp Verde about 700 CE, and probably built their cliff dwelling about 1100 CE.  Since they placed it high on the cliff wall, it was accessible only by a series of ladders precariously balanced on various outcroppings.  Everything necessary for its construction and maintenance was hauled first into the area and then carried up those flights of ladders. 

As we wandered the trail near the base of the cliff, we learned that the limestone overhang kept the fifty or so inhabitants shaded from the sun and protected from the infrequent rains. The fact that the dwelling was nestled deep in the rock cliff also kept them a cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.  Early environmentalists.

Beaver Creeek runs nearby, and provided water for the crops the Sinagua nurtured in the slightly forbidding landscape surrounding their home...not to mention the gallons of water that would have been carried from the creek each day to the cliff dwelling for cooking, washing, cleaning, and etc.  If memory serves me right, a gallon of water weighs about eight pounds.  Actually, after double checking, 8.345 pounds. 

Montezuma's Castle was not an isolated dwelling.  There was a larger community on the same cliff wall, but it has been completely destroyed and, unless you're clutching a guide book, you wouldn't notice it at all.  Maps in the museum show cliff dwellings and pueblos scattered up and down this area of Arizona. I had no idea.  But, somewhere around 1425 those dwellings began to be abandoned as the families moved on.  No one knows why, but some assume that droughts and wars with other groups led to their disappearance. 

And, bummer...Montezuma's Castle bears absolutely no relationship to the real Montezuma who died 100 years before the castle was discovered.  It was named sometime in the 1860's by a soldier sent here to maintain the peace who apparently had just a touch of romance in his soul.

And, who can we thank for the preservation of Montezuma's Castle?  Why, good old Teddy Roosevelt who was a real National Parks kind of guy.  Thank you, Teddy.  Despite my reservations, this was a really cool place to visit!  And, we still made Sedona in time for a late lunch.  It was a good day!