From
Phoenix, take Interstate 17 to exit 289, and follow the signs
for two miles of easy driving through the Verde Valley to the
ancient home of some of Arizona's Sinagua Indians. In the
twelfth century, the cliff-dwelling tribe built an elaborate
"castle," so majestic that many mistook it as Aztecan,
and thought it was made by Montezuma himself. A
sloping, stone-walled asphalt parking lot gives way to
tree-sheltered National Park Service buildings which house
well-maintained restrooms and offer fountain-fresh drinking
water. A nominal fee takes you into the Visitor Center -- little
more than an elaborate information booth and gift/book store,
surrounded by surprisingly interesting exhibits. Among the
displays of preserved pottery, baskets and tools of the
prehistoric people, are fossil imprints and dried specimens of
insect species that have survived to modern times--even though
the Sinagua didn't.
Exit
the must-see Visitor Center museum, to walk shady, wheelchair
accessible cement paths for a view of Montezuma's Castle. The
magnificent dwelling seems to defy gravity from its 100-foot
high roost in a recessed area beneath the cliff's overhang. Some
speculate the high dwelling, accessible only by ladders and
ropes, provided protection from the sweltering desert heat, and
wild animals. This view from afar does little to spark the
imagination, but on the way out, a glassed-in model of the
castle, complete with Indian figurines and continuous replay
tape, pulls you in to their everyday life. Peering in at the
realistic loin-clothed figures--a young mother chasing a toddler
who has dashed toward the edge--you'll find that despite their
mystical, unexplained disappearance, the ancient Sinagua Indians
were merely people, with social structures and communities
modern to their time, and not so distant from our own.
A few yards west on the
path, is a larger dwelling, now badly deteriorated. The foremost
rooms are accessible to visitors, but in comparison to the
higher pueblo with its attractive palace veneers, the lower open
rooms serve merely as a tease. The inner corridors, which once
housed 45 rooms, are blocked off, leading you to gaze back at
the high, palatial dwelling up above, and wonder what treasures
must lie inside.
Continue
along the looping path, stopping to soak in the sounds of
vacationing families and camera shutters clicking. Those modern
day sounds combine with more natural ones, the shade-cooled wind
rustling through the leaves of trees made lush and green by the
refreshing waters of adjacent Beaver Creek. Though its smooth
black stones were almost completely dry on the late summer day
we visited, the creek must have been a main source of food and a
lively center of activity for the tribe.
Pose for a few pictures
alongside the creek, and between the wide, V-trunked trees. Let
your film capture faces dappled by sparks of golden sunlight
that spade down through the lush, leafy canopy above. You'll
long to stay in the shady serenity of the Monument's picnic
area, knowing when you reach your car in the lot, it's back to
the hot, desert highway.
From
Phoenix, take Interstate 17 to exit 289, and follow the signs
for two miles of easy driving through the Verde Valley to the
ancient home of some of Arizona's Sinagua Indians. In the
twelfth century, the cliff-dwelling tribe built an elaborate
"castle," so majestic that many mistook it as Aztecan,
and thought it was made by Montezuma himself. A
sloping, stone-walled asphalt parking lot gives way to
tree-sheltered National Park Service buildings which house
well-maintained restrooms and offer fountain-fresh drinking
water. A nominal fee takes you into the Visitor Center -- little
more than an elaborate information booth and gift/book store,
surrounded by surprisingly interesting exhibits. Among the
displays of preserved pottery, baskets and tools of the
prehistoric people, are fossil imprints and dried specimens of
insect species that have survived to modern times--even though
the Sinagua didn't.
Exit
the must-see Visitor Center museum, to walk shady, wheelchair
accessible cement paths for a view of Montezuma's Castle. The
magnificent dwelling seems to defy gravity from its 100-foot
high roost in a recessed area beneath the cliff's overhang. Some
speculate the high dwelling, accessible only by ladders and
ropes, provided protection from the sweltering desert heat, and
wild animals. This view from afar does little to spark the
imagination, but on the way out, a glassed-in model of the
castle, complete with Indian figurines and continuous replay
tape, pulls you in to their everyday life. Peering in at the
realistic loin-clothed figures--a young mother chasing a toddler
who has dashed toward the edge--you'll find that despite their
mystical, unexplained disappearance, the ancient Sinagua Indians
were merely people, with social structures and communities
modern to their time, and not so distant from our own.
Continue
along the looping path, stopping to soak in the sounds of
vacationing families and camera shutters clicking. Those modern
day sounds combine with more natural ones, the shade-cooled wind
rustling through the leaves of trees made lush and green by the
refreshing waters of adjacent Beaver Creek. Though its smooth
black stones were almost completely dry on the late summer day
we visited, the creek must have been a main source of food and a
lively center of activity for the tribe.