Sedona, AZ - Canyons etc

We had hoped to do more hiking in the Sedona area.  We tried to do two other hikes but were stopped by road conditions.  One road was blocked by a police car and another was just too rough for us to feel comfortable driving on it in the Jeep...it needed a "real" Jeep not just 4 wheel drive.  We did do the Boynton Canyon hike (about 6 1/2 miles).  We also drove the Oak Creek Canyon Road to the overlook.  A friend suggested that we see the Stupa.  Neither one of us had been to a Stupa so we went to the Stupa.  You can learn more about the Stupa here.  We did find it to be peaceful as promised.

Along the Oak Creek Canyon

Looking back on the road up to the overlook on Oak Creek Canyon

Traveling back down Oak Creek Canyon

End of Oak Creek Canyon pictures

Boynton Canyon Hike

Top where we had our picnic

We heard flute music on the way back and saw this guy on top of Boynton Vista.  We passed him on the trail and asked if he was Kokopelli.  He smiled, said yes, and talked about the vortex and Karma and handed us each a sandstone heart that he had carved. Cool.

Boynton Vista

Stupa

Sedona, AZ - Ruins

On Monday September 14 we moved from Williams to Krazy K RV Park in Camp Verde, AZ (near Sedona).  We spent a week in the Sedona area enjoying the beautiful red rock views and seeing Indian Ruins.  I am going to divide my blog for Sedona into three posts one on Ruins, one on Rocks and one on Canyons.

The rock structures in the Sedona area made it a perfect place for the Indians to build homes up in the cliffs or use the large supplies of rocks to make pueblos.  There is enough water in the area to make it a good place for them to live.  The National Park and Forest Service along with some private groups are trying to preserve the sites for future generations to see.  We saw Tuzigoot, Palatki, Montezuma's Well, Montezuma's Castle, V Bar V Ranch Petroglyphs and Honanki.

Tuzigoot is a Pueblo style ruin that that sits on a hill above a creek.  Each room housed one family of 3 to 4 people.  As your children grew older and married you added another room.

This is a roof that has been built in the style that would have been in this Pueblo

Nice view from the door

This was a large pueblo community with over 100 rooms.  Some rooms were in another building down the hill

Palatki had ruins and very nice petroglyphs

The V Bar V Ranch had a great wall of petroglyphs. The pictures did not turn out as well as I had hoped.  Kokopelli above is one of our favorites.

A section of a very full wall of petroglyphs

Montezuma's Well is actually a spring that has created this lake which feeds the river

Built into the wall above the well.

Built into the wall near the edge of the well. There were many rooms here.  It was cool under the shade of the overhang in the rocks.

Montezuma's Castle is 5 stories of rooms built in the side of the hill.  It is not really near the well but is along the river downstream of the well.

Maybe this will give you an idea of how big this is and how far off the ground.  We have seen a lot of ruins this trip but this was unique.

Honanki was another large site with lots of rooms tucked up under the cliff.

Williams - Walnut Canyon and Flagstaff

On Saturday, September 12th we watched the Cowboy Gun Fight at the Train Station in Williams.  They have the gun fight every morning before the train leaves and have a cute skit.  We then went over to Walnut Canyon National Monument.  Walnut Canyon has 130 rooms of ancient ruins, which is a large community.  There was one family per room and the average family was 3 or 4 people. The canyon is unique in that it has an island in the center where many of the rooms are located.  They could use the south facing side for the winter and the north facing side for the summer and only have to move around to the other side. It is a nice park with paved trails that take you to see many of the ruins.  There were a LOT of ravens.  They seemed to be gathering on a rock for some reason.

On Sunday, September 13th we drove the Jeep over to Flagstaff.  We took at 9.7 mile bike ride along what used to be Route 66.  Flagstaff has a lot of nice bike trails. This was the first time I have ever had to brake quickly to avoid hitting a prairie dog.  They were along quite a bit of the trail.  The cars and trains did not seem to bother them but they ran from us, so I had a hard time getting a picture.  We had  a nice lunch at a Vegan Restaurant and then walked around town.  Wayne counted 15 trains that went through town while we were there and he is not sure he counted them all.  They have a LOT of trains in this part of the country.

They used the rock overhang for a roof

Ravens meeting on the rock

The island as seen from the rim of Walnut Canyon

Prairie Dog in Flagstaff

They had a nice visitor center

Me on an original piece of Rte 66 that they saved for the trail

This place has withstood the test of time