Our adventure today is another "re-visit"...Montezuma Castle National Monument and Montezuma Well. Again, it has been 13 years since we first visited these. There is a rain storm forecast for this afternoon, so hopefully we can see it all before it starts.
We headed out just after 9:30...heading southeast down highway 260 to I-17. A few miles north, and we turned off towards the Monument...
Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well are two parts of the same monument, and are separated by about 11 miles. The Visitor Center at Montezuma Castle, has information for both places. Both places have a short, 1/3 mile trail to see the archeological remains, as well as a picnic area.
Steve took a short 25 second video...
Darn glass reflection!
Great seeing it again!
Now onto Montezuma Well....
Montezuma Well has all of the surprise of a lake and lush vegetation in the midst of desert. It is a limestone sink formed long ago, still fed by continuously flowing springs....
The trail drops down into the lush valley along the Wet Beaver Creek where the ancient irrigation canal flows from the Well's outlet...
One outcome was a cool rainbow when we got back to the trailer...
And that concludes our time in Cottonwood. Tomorrow we continue further south.
Always a fun place to visit!
ReplyDeleteIt sure is. Wish we could have stayed longer.
DeleteThanks a bunch for the tour. It's been awhile since we were there too, our first year full-timing, November 2012 :)
ReplyDeleteIt's been fun re-visiting these areas!
DeleteAren't those ruins just incredible?!? The walkway and path to the ruins are almost as incredible as the ruins themselves.
ReplyDeleteThe ancient ruins are some of our favourite places to explore.
DeleteThe time we went to the Well it rained a little. It's all good.
ReplyDeleteGlad we saw it before the major rainstorm hit!
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