Pat and I both left this morning, with Pat catching a 5:00 am flight to Charlotte, then to Pittsburgh, and finally back to Jamestown. Unbelievably, all three legs went perfectly and she got home right on time. I had breakfast with Patrick this morning and headed up I-17 toward Flagstaff, where I'm spending the night.
I stopped at Montezuma's Castle, a cliff dwelling about 60 miles south of Flagstaff. The buildings were occupied from approximately 700 AD to 1400 AD, and then abandoned. The reason for the abandonment is not known. Here area a few pics from Montezuma's Castle:
The structure was named "Montezuma's Castle" by early archaeologists, who thought they were built by the Aztecs of Mexico...they weren't. The structure itself is five stories high, but only housed about 35-50 people at the most. You can also see other holes in the cliffs, most of which are storage areas for food. Here are a couple other pictures;
About five miles up the road was Montezuma's Well, a naturally-occurring sinkhole that is fed by a spring. The early Indians utilized the water by building canals to irrigate their fields.
There are ancient ruins inside the well itself, built and occupied around the same time as Montezuma's Castle:
The water in the well is saturated with carbon dioxide, which prevents fish and most other aquatic animals from surviving in it. The well is home, though, to five species of leeches, eels, scorpions, snails, and diatoms. The water is also very high in arsenic content, which must have adversely affected the health of the local residents.
Tomorrow, I'm headed north from Flagstaff through Monument Valley and on up to Utah.
Miles today: 205
Total: 12,951
