Another day in Camp Verde and Sedona

We took Brad & Kathleen on a day's trip to see Sedona and all the archeological sites in the Verde valley. It was a beautiful trip up and a lovely warm day. Not too hot that we had to worry about sun stroke though so that was a plus! We started out going to Montezuma's Castle. Since I already posted pictures of this site when we took Norm & Dianna there earlier this year, I am only starting my pictures when we went to Montezuma Well

 Actually, I lie! This picture was taken as we went down to Montezuma's Castle. It is a Scarlet Flowering Hedgehog.

 Montezuma Well is a geological marvel where a limestone roof of a large cavern collapsed to form this small lake. There are springs in the base that keep it fed and it has one underground outlet in one corner of the submerged lake where water exits to the valley on the far side and into the Verde River. The springs produce exactly the same amount of water as what exits the sink hole so the level of the lake never changes. The ancient Sinaqua Indians built Pueblos on the ridge around the sink hole, cliff dwellings in the side of the sink hole and there are cave dwellings down at the water's edge. The picture above is of some of the cliff dwellings.

 This is the sink hole lake looking down from above

 Brad, Kathleen and I went down the steep stairs to the bottom of the sink hole and you could really see all the cliff dwellings all around the lake from this vantage point

 You can see more cliff dwellings up to the right

 Hard to see in this picture but there were remnants of cliff dwellings all along the side of the lake

 This is right down at the bottom near the water's edge and you can tell the caves had been used by the Indians due to the blacken roofs from their cooking fires

 Another bottom cave dwelling with walls still intact

 Some of the walls from the ancient homes still intact. Ignore the graffiti on the walls, how anyone can desecrate such a spectacular site is beyond me!

 Another view of the dwellings down at the lakeside

 Looking across the lake from the bottom dwellings. It was so beautiful cool down there and i imagine a welcome respite for the Indians in the scorching summer heat

 Looking across the lake you can see more cliff dwellings in the centre of the picture

 More cliff dwellings everywhere you look. You can imagine how well they were made that they are still here 1000 years later!

 They must have been very small people to get through doorways that small!

 Doug up on top where the remains of the pueblos are

 Doug, Sharon & Kathleen above the lake

 Not sure what this bush is but it sure was pretty

 Remains of another cliff top pueblo

 More wildflowers down by the river's edge

 We climbed down the outside of the sink hole to see where the water came out under the ground on the other side of the sink hole. The canals the Sinaqua Indians made to channel the water to their crops in the valley are still present. They were absolutely amazing. You can see one running under the wooden walkway by the poison ivy sign. Needless to say we stayed on the trail.

 The rock face was so amazing showing the different rocks imbedded in the wall

 A huge Sycamore tree growing out at an angle, You can imagine its size when you look at Doug's arm next to it

 Doug had to test the water temperature as the water came out of the underground tunnel to the otherside of the cliff wall. The water was warm Doug said. He tasted it and said it tasted good!

 Another picture of the Sycamore tree as it grows out of the side of the cliff

When we left here, we headed for the V-Bar-V Ranch Heritage Site.

 The V-Bar-V Ranch has a red colored cliff wall covered in petroglyphs. It is the best preserved petroglyphs in Arizona. It was hard taking pictures with the limited light we had due to the large shade trees and the angle of the sun.

 This site is also one of the only petroglyph sites that had a lunar calendar depicted on the walls. There are 2 rocks imbedded in the cliff wall near the top that when the sun shines through at certain times of the year and lands on a drawing of the sun on the wall or drawings of corn etc. it tells the farmers it is the spring/fall equinox or summer/winter solstice and also when the sun hits the corn depictions it is time to plant. You can see the shaded and sun areas and the drawings on the wall. You can see the sun rays are now past the sun drawing on the left meaning we were a few week's past the spring equinox. It was totally amazing

 Close up pictures of the petroglyphs

 Lichen growing on the rocks can make it easier or more difficult to see the petroglyphs depending on the time of day

 After we had our fill of the petroglyphs, we then drove in to Sedona. As I have already posted pictures of Sedona again earlier in the year. I have only added a couple to the site.

 These pictures were taken up at the airport overlook, looking down at part of the town of Sedona and the red rocks

 We stopped to take a picture of Cathedral Rock and of course I just loved this Juniper tree and its twisted trunk

 Then we had to get Kathleen in the picture with me!

 We found another one that Doug loved so had to take a picture

 Cathedral Rock - the most picturesque formation in Sedona

We had another lovely day, a long busy one and we arrived home to Apache Junction about 8pm and of course immediately put our bathing suits on and went for a swim and hot tub! We took Kath and Brad to the airport the next morning and then took a deep breath, relaxed and got ourselves ready for the task of preparing to go home to Campbell River!