Friday, November 6, 2009

Montezuma Castle & Well - Camp Verde, Arizona

After the exciting news this morning, we drove over to Montezuma Castle National Monument. It was built by Sinagua farmers in the early 1100s. The structure is five-stories high and has 20 rooms. Up until 1951, the NPS allowed visitors to climb ladders up to the ruins. Now you can only enjoy them from the ground; or an electronic, virtual tour on a screen in the visitor's center.


A few miles north is the Montezuma Well. The well is a limestone sink that is fed continuously by an underground spring. The Sinagua people irrigated crops with its water by creating ditches to divert the water.

A very large sycamore tree. To Y's left, is where the water exited the well and ditches were built to irrigate crops.

After dinner we were treated to a spectacular sunset.