When we got up Sunday morning in the still very hot Bullhead City, Arizona we had no idea of where we were going, but after our morning walk, we unhooked the RV from the water and electric and headed in the direction of Kingman, Arizona.  We were going in the general direction of the Grand Canyon where we had a reservation beginning July 3 and, after looking at a map (the old-fashioned kind), we decided to take the scenic Route 66 through the Hualapai Indian Reservation.  It was there that we took another look at the map and decided where we were going – to Dead Horse Ranch State Park, Arizona.  Why did we choose that as a destination you may ask?  It was because we liked the name; anyone who knows us would understand.  And we like state parks.

We switched over to Highway 89A which took us through the Jerome-Clarkdale-Cottonwood Historic Road; a more challenging and beautiful road would be hard to find.  Twists and turns, up high in the mountains and back down again.  We compared it to someone playing a video game with the exception that if we crashed and burned, we really crashed and burned and wouldn’t be able to start over.  We took it slowly, mostly at 15 mph; there was very little traffic behind us but it did get interesting when fast-moving over-the-speed-limit traffic came from the opposite direction. 

Sima enjoyed the scenery; Bill kept his eyes straight ahead.

We stopped for a breather at an overlook and enjoyed the beautiful vista of the mountain we were on and the valley below.  Soon we were in Jerome, Arizona, once a booming copper-mining town, but now a tourist center with small-town European-size roads, again twisting down the mountain.  At the bottom we were almost at our destination

Dead Horse Ranch State Park was named by the Ireys family, the previous owners, who came from Minnesota to buy a ranch.  After seeing a few properties, Mr. Ireys asked his children which ranch they liked best and they responded, “the one with the dead horse, dad!” and that became the name.  In 1973, when Arizona State Parks acquired the park, the Ireys made retaining the name a condition of sale. 

Though our reservation was only for one night, we liked the campground so much we decided to stay for three.  There is a beautiful shade tree next to our campsite and a good distance between us and other sites.  We are surrounded by forests and mountains and there is a lovely lagoon and park nearby.  We are also not far from Cottonwood, Arizona which has a laundromat, supermarket, and of course, a Walmart.  And about a half-hour down the road are Sedona, Arizona, and Red Rock State Park, places we wanted to see.

Day 2 in the Sedona area

We headed out in the morning (fairly early to beat the heat; it was about 100 degrees F today, but honestly, we are getting used to it), to Red Rock State Park, a 286-acre nature preserve and environmental education center. Trails wind throughout the park, from the dry, smaller plants higher up to the rush riparian habitat surrounding Oak Creek which meanders throughout the park.  (We learned a new word, for us: “riparian” is where land meets water and refers to the vegetation along the banks.) 

The red sandstone rocks all around are beautiful.

We arrived just in time for a volunteer ranger-led walk and, as we were his only customers, had a private tour.  The ranger, who we guessed was probably in his 80s but walked like someone twenty years younger, was very knowledgeable about the history and geology of the park.  He led us on the Smoke Trail, where he pointed out signs of the Indian tribes who had lived there; it is called smoke because when it was later settled, charcoal mounds, remnants of cooking, were found. 

We also learned that Oak Creek was prone to flash floods during two seasons a year, March and November, and the ranger showed us the bridges over the creek that the state had built, only to be washed out (more than once, no matter what their engineers had tried).   He also pointed out a petroglyph, a rock carving.  As with others we have seen in the southwest, no one can definitively say what it represents, but Bill thinks it looks like a house.

Tlaquepaque We left Red Rock State Park and drove to Sedona, Arizona, just a few miles away.  Sedona is certainly among the most beautiful cities we have seen; it is surrounded by red-rock buttes (a hill with steep sides and a flat top) which tower above it.  Since we did not want to just walk around in the still 100 degrees F weather, we found our way to the Tlaquepaque Arts and Shopping Village (Tuh-lah-kee-pah-kee), on the bank of the Oak Creek.

Built to replicate a town in Mexico by that name, Tlaquepaque houses over 50 shops and galleries and a few restaurants.  The name means “the best of everything,” and its shops and galleries are indeed first-class, whether sculpture, ceramics, glass, photography, jewelry…. After walking through the village and making a few purchases we ended our excursion with a trip to – you guessed it – Walmart for supplies and even more fun.

Day 3 – Three National Monuments, No Waiting

When you are in a place for three days, you are able to look for the less well-known sites.  And that is what we did.  At the suggestion of the ranger at Red Rock State Park, who saw that we were interested in “old things,” we visited three national monuments.  Old is, of course, relative, as here we are speaking of the Sinagua Indian villages of approximately 1100 – 1400 CE in the River Verde area.  Sinagua means “no water,” and in the desert, that was always a commodity hard to find (except, of course, during the flooding seasons – and then there was too much).

National monuments are not large areas, generally, and are centered around one attraction.  Each of today’s sites included a 1/3- mile walk.  It was 104 degrees F, so short walks were in order.

First, however, we did laundry.

Montezuma Castle National Monument

Then on to the first national monument, Montezuma Castle National Monument.  Not related in any way to Montezuma, the Aztec emperor of the early 1500s, but early American settlers assumed the castle was Aztec in origin and so named it after him.  Nor is it a castle, but a cliff dwelling.

The castle is a 20-room dwelling built under an overhang about 100 feet up a limestone cliff.  Access into it was by a series of portable ladders which made it difficult to penetrate and was a natural protection from the elements, as the nearby Beaver Creek flooded almost annually.  In fact, during February 2019, the creek overflowed and reached the sidewalks we were standing on (maybe 20-30 feet above river level) depositing mud and uprooting metal picnic tables (which take two people to move) and shoving them against a wall.  The Park Service closed the trail until staff could remove the mud and debris.

Not far from the castle was a much-less well-preserved castle, “Castle A,” which was even larger, a five-story apartment-like building with 45 rooms.

Montezuma Castle reminded us a bit (but in a much smaller way) of the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde. 

As a side note (pun intended), there was a musician just outside the visitor’s center playing native American flutes named Harry Seavey, a musician of some renown in Indian music.  We enjoyed his performance and struck up a delightful conversation.  It ended up with Bill buying a High Spirits flute from the gift shop.

Montezuma Well National Monument

We had seen photos of Montezuma Well National Monument, our next stop, but while climbing up to it, it was hard to imagine the surprise lake – a natural limestone sinkhole measuring approximately 100-120 yards in the middle of the desert – which awaited us.  Montezuma Well contains over 15 million gallons of water – in an area which receives less than 13 inches of rain a year – and each day it is replenished by 1.5 million gallons of new water fed by continuously flowing springs.

Here, too, there is a cliff dwelling and between the years of 1125 and 1400 CE about 100-150 people lived here.

Tuzigoot National Monument

Third, and last for the day, was Tuzigoot (Apache for “crooked water”) National Monument, built between 1000 and 1400 CE.  It is a large pueblo structure rising 120 feet above the Verde Valley and is two stories high (in some places) with 87 ground-floor rooms.  There were few exterior doors and entry was by ladders through roof openings.

The pueblo was reconstructed by the Park Service and so one gets a very good idea of how it looked.

At all of the parks there were rangers who answer questions and give lectures about what we were seeing.  And the Park Service puts many signs along the way with interesting and informative background material, including pictures.

Then, back to the campground, preparing to leave one of the nicest state park campgrounds we have been in.