Montezuma's Castle National Monument

Our walk this morning took us on a road along the edge of a broad valley. It wound its way down steep hills and curves. Signs cautioned that trailers were not allowed. It turned out that the road led to river access on the Verde River. It seemed such a surprise to find ourselves on the banks of a clear rushing stream in the middle of this desert.

After lunch we drove to Montezuma Castle National Monument, where some cliff dwellings built by the Sinagua people can be seen, high in the cliff wall overlooking Beaver Creek. The builders (they were not related to the Aztecs) lived and farmed here for hundreds of years, but mysteriously disappeared around 1400 A.D., perhaps because of disease or conflict. They must have been in great physical shape to scale several ladders up the cliff face to get to their homes!

The ruins are fragile, so visitors are no longer allowed to access the cliff dwellings, but the sight is still impressive. A diorama offers a cutaway view of the rooms and some insight into daily life there.

We went on next to Montezuma Well, where we saw the remains of a pit dwelling. All that is left are the holes in the ground marking the positions of the posts that formed the roof supports and walls. They are fully enclosed in a protective structure.

The "well" is a large natural sinkhole created when an underground cavern roof collapsed. The water bubbles up through the limestone, so it is filled with carbon dioxide and can't support fish life. The main inhabitants of the well are algae, amphipods (small shrimp like creatures) that feed on the algae, and leeches that feed on the amphipods.

Some cliff dwellings can be seen in the 70-foot-high cliff walls surrounding the well. At the outlet, the water from the well flows underground through a swallet and emerges below in an irrigation ditch, parts of which are 1000 years old. It's still in use today.

Golden columbines and scarlet penstemons flower among the sycamore trees at the outlet to the well. It was very pleasant to be in the shade by the water--a real oasis experience.