May 4 - Montezuma Castle

We woke early with the intention of driving the 50 minutes back to see Montezuma Castle, spend the recommended 45-60 minutes there, then drive to the Grand Canyon, once again back through Flagstaff, with an ETA at the Grand Canyon of 1.30 pm.

However, Claire asked to do the Junior Ranger Program at MC which she did with a lot of diligence, and we left Montezuma Castle at 3.15 pm!

 





Jnr Ranger at work.










 





Montezuma Castle

What the internal dwellings would have been like.

Montezuma Castle was built by the Sinagua Indians during the 1100's and is one of the most well preserved ancient cliff dwellings in America.  They are 20 room high rise apartments carved into limestone cliffs that tower above the ground and they show an amazing ingenuity of an Indian tribe of survival and a tenacity that turned this desert landscape into one where they were able to live comfortably and make their livelihoods from trading food, jewellery and minerals.

The Sinagua abandoned the dwellings in the 1400's.  They may have put too much agricultural pressure on the land, there may have been a prolonged drought or they could have been eliminated through conflict with ancient Yavapai Indians.  Most Sinaguans were likely absorbed into other tribes to the north.  Hopi Indians of today believe they are the descendants of the Sinagua.

We hit the road again and drove back up the highway to Flagstaff for a Sizzlers of a meal, then picked up some supplies at Williams, a little town bypassed by the new highway in 1982.  We got in one queue at Safeway but promptly shifted lines after spotting a woman in front of us with a gun in its holster sitting fair and square on her hip - as you do when doing the family shopping.  We loaded the car and took off for Grand Canyon.

On the old Route 66