USA

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Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

In 1998, I was fascinated (okay, obsessed) with Scottish medieval history and took a month to backpack around Scotland. In my world, the oldest ruins I could visit dated from the early 17th century. In Glasgow, I stepped into a cathedral that dated back to the 12th century. Weeks later, I walked through Cawdor Castle, built in the 14th century, and continually inhabited since.

I had absolutely no idea until today that sometime between the building of these structures, the ancient peoples of North America’s Sonoran desert were constructing equally impressive structures that would endure through the centuries. One of the most impressive remains of this civilization are the Casa Grande structure and surrounding village site, preserved as the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.

In one of the harshest environments in the world, these ancient people built the kind of civilization that existed all over the world at this time. Why am I so surprised to find such evidence in North America? The well-constructed buildings, impressive system of irrigation ditches, and beautiful artwork, in the form of jewellery, pottery, and weaving, point to a civilization that had evolve well beyond basic subsistence levels.

It is not known exactly what the Casa Grande structure was used for, perhaps as an administrative centre or food storage facility. It is so well constructed that no repairs or maintenance have needed to be done on the structure since it was deemed a protected site in the late 19th century!

This morning’s excursion to the Casa Grande ruins was a revelation. I’m thrilled that I took the detour!

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Cartoon Cacti!

Cacti in general are not an exotic plant to me, certainly not in the way palm trees still are. I mean, I can hike the hills around my property and see some. But the iconic, cartoony saguaro cactus? Now, that’s something as exotic to me as the palm tree!

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On the way into Phoenix yesterday, I saw ‘forests’ of them dotting the hillsides. I couldn’t believe how big they are. It wasn’t until I reached this morning’s destination that I finally had an opportunity to properly observe and photograph this amazing plant. The one in this picture most closely matches my mental image of the cactus, but I saw some that had no spears (‘branches’) at all and others that had dozens, if not hundreds, of them and were absolutely massive, bigger than a two-story house!

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Montezuma Castle National Monument

On the way to Phoenix tonight from Sedona, I stopped at the Montezuma Castle National Monument. Name for the Aztec ruler, even though there is no connection, this is an apartment-type complex carved out of the hills. It was built 1,000 years ago by people now called the Sinagua (for the Sierra Sin Agua mountains), who farmed the valley below, and eventually abandoned the site. To put this place into an historical context, it was built sometime in the middle to the end of Europe’s Middle Ages.

Until the 1950s, you could actually climb up and explore the ruins, but today you have to stand below and gaze up in awe while walking a short loop. Admission is $5 unless you have an interagency pass. 🙂

Of all the information panels, the one that struck me the most said that while the structure was made solidly and there were obvious signs of maintenance and repair, it was ultimately designed to be returned to the Earth when it was no longer needed. How many more of these structures existed, but have left no trace?

There was a nice diorama showing a cross-section of the complex. It really is built like a castle, complete with a fortified keep.

This site was amazing and I wish I had more time to write about it, but the Starbucks is about to close. I invite you to follow the link at the beginning of the post to get more information.

 

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Fun in Sedona, AZ

Driving around Flagstaff last night gave me the impression that it’s not an easy city to drive in. I kept on missing my turns and had to do long detours to get turned around because of the railroad that divides the city. This morning, in the light of day, it wasn’t any better.

There wasn’t anything I particularly wanted to see in Flagstaff, so at reader Sandra’s suggestion, I decided to go spend part of the day in Sedona, a short distance away. Well, it took longer to get out of Flagstaff than to actually get to Sedona!

GPS directions and the paper map told me to take Beulah Blvd, or route 89, to Sedona. So far so good. Until I hit construction and a sign that said, ‘Road ahead closed, take I-17 and exit 337.’ I was at a dead end and had to reverse until I could find a place to turn around. Had I been in the rig, I would have had to unhook and reverse a giant motorhome for about a quarter of a mile!

I finally got turned around and looked for detour signs. There were none. I could see I-17, but no on ramps. My GPS was of no use. The paper map wasn’t detailed enough. Siri had no idea what I wanted. I finally pulled into a parking lot and saw a police officer standing by his patrol car sipping a coffee. I asked him how to get to I-17 and he told me that the gas station over there could sell me a map. Gee, thanks! *rolls eyes*

On the way to the gas station, I passed a lady walking and asked her. She had no idea how to direct me. I made it to the gas station and asked the attendant. He said the on ramp was near Walmart. So I drove around Walmart a bit and finally found the on ramp.

I drove down I-17 until I got to exit 337. Guess what was there? A sign that said, ‘Sedona detour, exit here.’ Seriously, Flagstaff?!

Had I been in the motorhome today, I really doubt I would have made it to Sedona as I would have been caught in dead ends several times and would have been fed up with having to unhook and get myself turned around. For a tourist destination, Flagstaff has a lot to learn about road signage.

When I finally got on the way to Sedona, I enjoyed the drive down a very steep twisty road (the kind that I hated in the RV). We dropped several thousand feet in elevation quite quickly.

I was surprised upon entering Sedona to find tons of signs announcing free three-hour parking all around the main tourist strip. Quite unexpected! I parked and then walked up and down the main street looking into shops, checking out restaurants, and eventually came to the visitor info centre. The city itself is quite unremarkable, but the surrounding landscape is very beautiful! Sedona had a good vibe to it. I felt very relaxed there.

A very helpful lady at the visitor centre gave me some info on hiking trails to check out in the afternoon, telling me that I needed to stay longer to explore Sedona’s 300 miles of trails! She also told me that there is $5 per day fee to hike in the area, but that a number of other passes are accepted, including my interagency pass! She gave me a hang tag for it, something I could have used at Craters of the Moon.

I then headed across the street to the Life is Good store, hoping to replace my now much too big ‘All who wander are lost’ tee-shirt. I found several shirts with the phrase on it, but the only one that had a colour and cartoon on it that I liked was a lady’s size L. The sizing is ample, so I needed at most a medium and didn’t feel like paying $32 for a tent I wouldn’t want to wear in public. Oh, well. I pass Life is Good stores every so often and will keep trying.

It was only just past 11:00 by this time, but I was ravenous, so I decided to hunt down lunch. When I found a well rated restaurant serving rattlesnake, my decision on where to dine was quickly made. That’s all I have to say about that in this post with respect to those of you with sensitive constitutions. For the curious, here’s a review of my lunch.

After lunch, I wanted ice cream seeing as the temperature was now infernal. Most places wanted $5 or more for a small scoop, but I finally found a place that wanted a more reasonable $3.75. I got a scoop of espresso and it tasted exactly like a Tim Horton’s iced cap!

I was then ready to walk off my lunch, so I headed off for a trail head. I wasn’t really dressed for the climate (denim capris and a cotton tee-shirt) and only equipped to carry half a gallon of water, so I didn’t have any ambitious goals except to explore the hillside. I found myself in a warren of hiking trails, all poorly marked, and eventually turned back, certain that I would get lost. I mean, after a few turns, one cactus and pile of red rocks looks pretty much like another! 😀 I still managed to spend about an hour before making my way back to the trail head.

There, a man came up to me and asked if I was visiting from out of town. I cautiously said yes. He said that if I didn’t mind going all the way back up the road to the first round about and coming back down the other side of the divided highway, I just had to do the short Yavapai hike up to a scenic viewpoint. Thank you!

I did exactly that and found a short, but still a bit technical, hike up to a fantastic viewpoint of Sedona’s red hills. I am so grateful to that lovely man and his beautiful and sweet German shepherd! And thank you, Sandra, for making sure I didn’t miss out on this lovely town!

Sedona really charmed me and was much more affordable than expected. I could have easily found a hotel under $50 a night in the area. But unfortunately, border day is coming up fast and I had to make tracks. Yet, there was more magic to be found a short distance down the road.

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An Adventure En Route to Flagstaff

From Pipe Springs, I returned to Utah so I could take route 89 through the southern edge of the Grand Staircase – Escalante Monument, an area famed for its beautiful multicoloured hills. I pulled over at an information sign that indicated that the ghost town of Pahreah and an abandoned movie set from the 1930s, as well as the Paria cemetery lay six miles away in an isolated valley. The sign warned that the road is only passable to high clearance vehicles in dry conditions. Well, this was certainly not something I could do with Miranda or my old toad, a subcompact Accent!

Off I went down the twisty clay road and it was good going at first, but the road became very twisty and steep. I came down one twisty slope into sandy and got the first niggle of worry that maybe my plan wasn’t such a good idea. This is the kind of feeling I was expecting to get on the Angel’s Landing hike, but never felt once. I continued on for a long while and finally got to something, a sign indicating that the ghost town lay ahead and that the old movie set had burned down and what’s there now are replicas. There was also, to my surprise, a clean pit toilet.

I continued on and found the cemetery. There were names and dates on a plaque, but all the gravestones were unmarked.

Shortly after the cemetery, there was a sign that said, ‘High clearance 4×4 vehicles strongly recommended beyond this point.’ The ugly feeling returned to my stomach with a vengeance. It was surprising to feel it there and not at all on the hike the other day. The scenery down into the valley had made the drive worthwhile and I made the decision to trust my gut. It was late and I didn’t even feel like walking the route to see what I might be getting myself into. I had to reverse almost a quarter mile before finding a place to turn around. I have no idea why the sign was placed where it was. 🙁

The trip back up was something! Sure enough, I came this close to getting stuck at the bottom of that steep sandy slope. It was really tricky because I had to make a run up the hill in very low gear and turn at the same time to avoid going over the edge of a cliff. After that, it was smooth going.

Even though I did not make it to the ghost town and movie set, I am very glad I took the detour! The scenery was so beautiful and I got to see what my truck is made of!

From there, I pushed on to Page where I got fuel and discovered that… someone stole my brand new gas cap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I bought fuel yesterday before going to Kolob Canyons and I most certainly remember putting my gas cap back on. I am not impressed. 🙁

Page has a really impressive dam. There was even places to park around it for photo ops.

From Page, route 89 was closed and I had to take a detour that was very, very, very slow going . I was glad when I reached Flagstaff as I was started to feel a little faint from hunger. I pulled into the Cracker Barrel at 5PM local time. BTW Arizona is like SK in that it does not change the clocks, so right now it’s on Pacific Time. Cracker Barrel is a guilty pleasure and this was only the second one I encountered on this trip. I enjoyed their apricot glazed pork chops with pecan wild rice, the special of the day, which made for an inexpensive meal.

It wasn’t even six when I got done with dinner and the evening stretched on ahead. I found a Starbucks where I did the last blog post, but didn’t realise that they closed at seven! I thought to go see a movie, but Flagstaff has only one cinema and there was nothing appealing playing. It was way too early to crawl into my bunk for the evening.

So I went to Walmart to kill some time and picked up some fleece pants since it’s going down to almost freezing tonight and all my warm PJs are in the laundry basket. Yes, it wouldn’t have killed me to wear smelly PJs tonight, but I could afford $8 for a clean new pair. 😉

From Walmart, I drove around for the better part of an hour looking for an overnight spot. Flagstaff has a dizzying amount of motels and hotels, but finding one that met my requirements took ages. I’m happy with what I found, although the train that passes frequently might be an issue.

I’m not sure what I’m doing tomorrow. There’s a few things in Phoenix that are of interest, so I might head there. There isn’t really anything around or in Flagstaff that I particularly want to stick around for, plus the weather here is quite cool since we’re at almost 7,000 feet of elevation and I put away most of my warm clothes! 🙂