Two snack breaks into this approach it was concluded that there was no safe way to get all the way up there and the same was probably true of the indians who had the good sense not to live there. It took me on a sketchy scramble up the side of the canyon to see if I could find a ruin next to that obvious seep. I spotted a lot of greenery growing out of a crack in the cliff and I became obsessed with it. I had read that cliff dwellings were sometimes built adjacent to natural water sources like seeps - a place where rainwater has gathered in a pocket inside the rock and seeps out like a faucet. The first day I spent hiking up a nameless wash for cliff dwellings. The reward is a cliff dwelling that is called by some “Little Montezuma’s Castle”. I’ve done both, but the hike seems to take less time because the access is more direct. Or you can do it the hard way and take a 1/2 hour 4wd drive and a strenuous 8 mile hike. As the crow flies is the key, it is actually a grueling 3-hour 4wd drive from a paved road plus a 2 mile hike. You can find a cliff dwelling almost identical to Montezuma’s Castle, in its natural state of decay (preservation), that has been untouched by restoration, just a few miles away as the crow flies. These monuments are wonderful for those who prefer not to bushwhack around the wilderness on humid 100 degree days to see history in its natural setting, but the reason they are right next to each other is because they were once part of the natural setting and there are many more like them out there, just a few miles away, undisturbed, being part of our American cultural heritage. Both are preserved and maintained as outdoor museums by the National Park Service. Tuzigoot is a “pueblo” style building that is on flat ground like customary houses. Montezuma’s Castle is a cliff dwelling built into a natural rock overhang on the side of a cliff. They each feature what I call “caged versions” of the hundreds of undisturbed thousand-year-old masonry shelters that are scattered throughout the wilderness, far from the prying eyes and destructive hands of the curious. It is not only astonishingly beautiful (considered to be “the insider’s Grand Canyon”), but also my father grew up with Sycamore Canyon at his backdoor, so trips to the area are especially meaningful to me.īoth Montezuma’s Castle National Monument and Tuzigoot National Monument are adjacent to the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness. I am completely enamored with the region of Sycamore Canyon Wilderness in particular. The most fun I’ve been having this year has been indian ruin hunting in central Arizona. Cliff dwelling wall perched on its own stone spire just wide enough for one room. That is why I explore hidden history in the wilderness. The same can be said of archaeology and why it is good to see it in context instead of under glass. “The only true need anyone has is to be seen as real.” Deepak Chopra. “The only true need anyone has is to be seen as real.” – Deepak Chopra
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