This is last Tuesday - Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well. Both the Well and the Castle are ruins of Native American homes that were built into canyon walls, similar to Canyon de Chelly. First stop, Montezuma Well. The cliff dwelling overlooks this well, a limestone sink that is fed continuously by flowing springs. There is an outlet, which regulates the water in the sink. The Well is replenished with about 1.5 million gallons of water every day.
This is the view from close to the cliff dwelling. Because of the fragile character of the dwelling and thieves from the past, we can't go into the ruin anymore. Nice front porch with the most precious commodity right at your fingertips. Location...location...location.
Between 1125 and 1400, about 100-150 people lived here.
Ouch...this paddle cactus looks sharp even from this distance. Plants have great defense mechanisms to protect their water, which in the desert is the most important thing. And this lizard was out sunning himself, warming up for the day's activities.
We left the Well and went about 15 miles down I-17 to Montezuma Castle. The main structure comprises five stories and twenty rooms, and was built over the course of three centuries.
Just to clarify, Montezuma never came to this area and never had any influence here. When European-Americans first observed the ruins in the 1860s, by then long-abandoned, they named them for the famous Aztec emperor Montezuma, in the mistaken belief that he had been connected to their construction. In fact, the dwelling was abandoned more than 40 years before Montezuma was born! And this is not a "castle" in the traditional sense, but instead functioned more like a "prehistoric high rise apartment complex".
Continuing down the path, we encountered another ruin. This one had previously been excavated. Check out the rooms carved into the hillside and imagine logs protruding out to create the rooms. Great design because the Indians didn't have to build all 4 walls. But incredibly difficult because they had to climb the cliff face to create the rooms.
When Susan and I sat down for lunch, we were joined by "Bob." This scarlet tanager is well know by the locals; thus his name. He was friendly to the point of being aggressive; he wanted our PB&J sandwiches! We ignored him; didn't feed him; and eventually he left. But not before making another close pass over our food.
On the way out, we found more paddle cactus. The blooms make this a bit more appealing, but still...
On our way to Holbrook, just off I-40, is Meteor Crater. This is on private property, so the admission price was a little steep. But still worth it. 50,000 years ago a meteor crashed into the earth at 26,000 miles per hour, creating this crater 700 feet deep and 4000 feet across. 180 degree panorama below.
In the center of the crater, there is a hole and a steam engine. In the 1920s, the owners tried boring into the crater to find the remains of the meteor, to no avail. The equipment has been sitting there ever since.
The meteor is estimated to have been about 150 feet across at impact, and amazingly did not break up during it's trip through the earth's atmosphere. It then crashed into this area of northern Arizona, spewing fragments of limestone, sandstone, and molten iron-nickel (the meteor itself) into the air before raining down as fallout in the area.
This is a house sized rock sitting on the rim of the crater.
NASA astronauts have come to Meteor Crater for training.
At Meteor Crater, it's hard to get a sense of scale. So this is the only aerial shot that I could take. Check out the visitor center buildings in the center bottom of the picture.
At Meteor Crater, we were visited by another bird friend, but I never did get his name. Ha ha ha...
Tomorrow, on to Petrified Forest National Park (affectionately known as PEFO).
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