After overnighting at Kingman, we drove through Flagstaff and then south into the Verde Valley. Flagstaff, at an elevation of 6,900 feet, had a bit of snow, and a good bit of mud due to some warmer weather. It was quite amazing to drop into Verde Valley and watch the scenery change from pine trees to desert scrub.
Distant Drums Campground is on an Apache reservation with a casino nearby. We didn’t visit the casino, but it was a convenient location for trips to Sedona and Montezuma Castle national monument. Our site was short and sloped, but the campground facilities were good.
Sedona
The drive north to Sedona was through Oak Creek Canyon with breathtaking views of the red rock hills. There were numerous pulloffs for snapping photos or taking a hike. We wandered around downtown and then took a scenic drive on Red Rock Loop Road. There were so many beautiful views that Bob ran out of energy to photograph them! Sedona was continuing the animal decoration theme…
Montezuma Castle National Monument
This place has nothing to do with Montezuma and it isn’t a castle, but it was a very interesting stop. It is an extraordinarily well preserved cliff dwelling built by the Sinagua people, the ancestors of some present-day Hopi clans. This large dwelling was tucked into a natural cave in a cliff. Below was a stream and flat land suitable for farming. In the closeup view, you can see some logs to the right of the central tower which were used to make a roof. These help to establish the scale of the structure, which was a 5 story 20 room dwelling. Nearby are the ruins of another dwelling which was also 5 stories high and had 45 rooms. These ruins can be examined closely from the path below the cliff.
