Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument

The Mogollon people built 40 rooms inside 5 natural caves.  They grew corn, beans, and squash.  They built these rooms with rock, mortar, and timber between 1276 and 1287.  They moved on around 1300.  

Montezuma Castle & Tuzigoot National Monuments

Tuzigoot is a Southern Sinagua village built between 1000 and 1400.  It sits on a summit 120 feet above the Verde Valley.  

The original pueblo was 2 stories high with 87 ground-floor rooms.  Entry was primarily from ladders through roof openings. 

Montezuma Well is a limestone sink and is still fed by continuously flowing springs.  The Southern Sinagua irrigated crops and you can still see traces of the lime coated irrigation ditches.  The dwellings surrounding the well range from one room houses to large pueblos.

Montezuma Castle is a 5 story 20 room dwelling built between 1100 and 1300.  It occupies a cliff recess 100 feet above the valley.

The Painted Desert & Petrified Forest

The painted desert and the petrified forest offered amazing vistas.

The Painted desert inn served as a watering hole for thirsty visitors.  It no longer serves visitors but it is a cool historic landmark.

 A 1932 Studebaker sits where Route 66 once cut through the park.

Note the etchings on the rocks

A petrified tree makes a natural bridge

Glad I didn't have to face him on the trip!