Yavapai Point and Montezuma Well National Monument

Distant Drums RV Resort

Camp Verde, AZ

April 21, 2024 

Our last two days at LDSP were spent staying put and just enjoying doing nothing...well unless you call walking, sitting, grilling and taking in the beauty something to do.  Late afternoon walks to capture the sunsetting is magical at LDSP.  The well known Superstition Mountains that grace the park all day turn from a dull brown/gray color to a beautiful orange/red color right before you eyes.  

Morning walks with Sally...

Late afternoon magic... 

Thursday was travel day.  

Sally settled in under my foot stool...

I enjoyed watching the beautiful scenery...

and Joe did his thing managing the ups and downs, twists and turns of the highway.

We are now all settled in at Distant Drums with a nice pull-in site.  We face west...I am happy ! 

And Sally is happy...she has grass.

The down side...the afternoon breeze has blown the Cottonwood tree's fluffy white seeds everywhere.  The tree is huge and about three sites down from us.

It looks like it is snowing.  The seeds stick to our clothes and in our...well, my hair and Sally's nose and the AC intake.    
   

It's very much worth the mess.

So, what have we done the past couple of days.  Friday was errands to restock veggies and dairy products, but not without a stop for maps at the Ranger Station/Visitor Center and a fun stop at Son-Silver first...both located on State Route 179.   Even though we have visited Camp Verde several times during the past years, we have not stopped by the VC since April 2014...our first visit to the area.  We took a few minutes to study the exhibits.  

This was my favorite display.  

It began with the footprints of a tiny field mouse and ended with these of the bear. When you flip the card there is lots of info about the animal.  And yes, that is the bear's poop!  

A favorite scenic drive is Red Rock Scenic Byway...also known as State Route 179. This byway is less than 8 miles from the interstate and ends within the Sedona city limits. There are many hiking/biking trails and parking areas along the road.  There are also beautiful up close and personal red rocks.  

Bell Rock and The Courthouse

Son-Silver is just fun and I can not imagine coming here and not going there.  

Saturday was hiking day.  Our choice for parking was Yavapai Point.  We combined the Yavapai Vista, Basalt, and Slim Shady Trails for a nice 2.5 miles.  

Lots of big views to take in along the trail...

  

And lots of little things too.

The creamy color of cliff rose...

Blue/gray Juniper berries...

Red and green Manzanita bushes

And dainty little daisies that put a smile on my face.

On the way home we made a stop at Montezuma Well National Monument.  It's a new stop for us and just like Montezuma Castle, which we visited for the first time in the fall of 2022, we were glad we did.  

The first POI is the ruins of a pithouse that was discovered here in 1958.  It took three weeks to excavate this site. 

 

 

The two larger holes in the middle of the dirt floor held the main roof support timbers and the smaller holes around the edge reveal the outline of the house where the wall posts were placed in the ground.  The entry is the  small extended section on the right. 

The pithouse was built around 1050 AD by farming families who used the resources on hand for either a multi family home or a community structure. 

Montezuma Well is really not a well and Montezuma was never here so why it is called Montezuma Well is a mystery to me.  None the less, it is an amazing piece of history from years gone by.  It's a nice paved walk up to the well.  As with he castle we did not know what to expect and were quite surprised.  The "well" is a limestone sinkhole that is continuously fed with water from an underground spring.  

The "well" measures 386 feet in diameter from rim to rim and measures 55 feet deep.   More than a million gallons of water a day flow into the well.  To date, the source of the water has not been discovered.  The "well" with its unique geology and primordial origins provides refuge to species of animals and plants found nowhere else in the world.   

Near the top of the ridge is a cliff dwelling...

A downhill spur trail close by has two POIs.   

The water in the "well" exits thru an underground side cave.   First, you can see the spring that flows from the well.  The water from the well that exits here has been used for many, many years by the people who lived here for irrigation and is still used for that today.  

A few more steps down the second POI is another dwelling site.  

The graffiti you see in the photo was by a photographer who left his advertisement for business there in 1818.  He was a photographer...go figure!  

The graffiti in the photo was left in 1896 by Duke Heflin...

Further along the main trail is one more spur trail that goes to the creek, the outlet, and the canal used for irrigation by the early inhabitants who lived here.  

The narrow walk that hugged the cliff made it difficult to get a photo of the creek, but the sound of the running water was music to my ears.

Wet Beaver Creek is a tributary of the Verde River.

The outlet flows into Wet Beaver Creek.

The man-made canal for irrigating.

The up shot by the creek...

The down shot by the small canal...

Today was a stay at home with Sally day, reading, napping, and blogging kind of a day.  

Hope you have a great week.  Until next time, 

Yavapai Vista Trail

One of the spur trails at Montezuma Well

HAPPY TRAILS!

Hiking and Riding...

Lost Dutchman State Park

Apache Junction, AZ

April 15, 2024 

I think Lost Dutchman Sate Park is the prettiest park we have ever called home.  It might be the time of year we are here.  I wasn't expecting a sea of yellow.  I have never seen so much yellow.  And yellow is my favorite color !

This is the view from our site.

Sally is enjoying her walks and smells.

We were up early for a Sunday hike.  The choice was Siphon Draw.  Siphon Draw is the primary trail from the campground into the Superstition Mountains.  It is a rocky uphill with steep spots that involve rock scrambling. The plan was to go as far as we felt comfortable.  In total, we hiked up hill a mile and a half before turning around.  The rocks are slippery...marbles I say...on the downhill making for a slow go.  Being early birds was not the best choice, but I didn't realize it until I tried to capture the beauty with the camera.  The sun was in my face and caused quite the glare in photos.  

Uphill...

Downhill...

Monday, after a leisurely morning, we decided to take a scenic drive.  I love sharp curves snuggled up against rock cliff walls and the anticipation of what I will see next.  

Heading out of the park and making a right turn put us on Apache Trail...that was easy !  This scenic drive got its name from the Apache Indians who used this trail to move thru the Superstition Mountains.  And in the 1900s, it became a stagecoach route.    

Today, the 40 miles known officially as Route 88 starts at Apache Junction and ends at Roosevelt Lake.  We had tried to take the gravel road when we visited Payson in October 2022, but the road was closed due to a rock slide in 2019.  From our end, the road is paved for about 20 miles and turns into a graded dirt road for the rest of the way to the lake.  The gravel road is still closed about 2 miles after the pavement ends at Fish Creek Vista.   

We crossed two one lane bridges over creeks that run into Canyon Lake. 

It's a pretty lake and although none of my photos show the activities,  we saw several boats zooming by, paddle boarders  and picnics.

We turned around and headed home when we went as far as we could go.  We did make one stop along the way at Tortilla Flats.  It was lunch time !  

Tortilla Flat is nestled deep in the Superstition Mountains.  Back in 1904, it was established as a stagecoach stop and today, is the oldest operating stagecoach town in Arizona.  

Shops are located on 1 Main Street (the only address in town) and boasts a whopping population of 6.  

We had burgers and fries at Superstion Saloon.   The Dutchman's Burger was pilled high with bacon, onion rings, cheese and pickles and smothered in the Dutchman's lost BBQ sauce after the recipe was found.  It was good sauce...a little on the sweeter side and if that didn't feel us up, the thin and crispy fries sure did !

 

I don't usually post about the restrooms, but don't miss the opportunity to be a showgirl if you make a top there.  I hear you guys can be an outlaw if you have a hankering for that !

And did you happen to notice the $1.00 bills?  Our waitress who provided not only great service also told us there are 700,000 + $1.00 bills stapled to the walls, ceilings, and every nook and cranny in the saloon.   And one more thing, the stools at the bar were beautiful leather saddles and I didn't get a photo.  

 

We perused the Country Store and bought homemade fudge.  And at the other end of the street, we bought post cards to mail to the kiddos before heading home.  Big doing is Tortilla Flat !  

The afternoon was spent walking and sitting outside with Sally...

and trying to capture the sunset.  The late afternoon glow on the mountains...

and the sun fading away til tomorrow.

Until next time,

HAPPY TRAILS !