Day 51- Montezuma Castle, Montezuma Well, Camp Verde, AZ and Meteor Crater RV Park, Flagstaff, AZ

On the way to Flagstaff we stopped at Montezuma Castle in Camp Verde. Southern Sinagua farmers built the  five-story 20 room dwelling between 1100 and 1300.  The castle is in a cliff recess 100 feet above the valley. Early American settlers assumed that it was Aztec in origin, hence the  Montezuma Castle. In order to stop further destruction of the castle visitors are not allowed in. 

To the west of the castle is castle A. It is badly deteriorated but was once a five story apartment –like  building with about 45 rooms.

Next we drove to Montezuma Well about five miles from the castle. Amazingly, this well is replenished with 1.5 million gallons  of new water daily. It is like a bowl with a crack in its side that  allows the water to overflow through a long, narrow cave in the east rim to reappear on the other side the outlet.

The well receives only 13 inches of water a year yet the well contains over 15 million gallons of water. Until 2011 it was unknown where all this water came from. The theory is that more then 10,000 years ago, the well’s water fell as rain and snow atop the Mogollon Rim. Over millennia, it has percolated slowly through hundreds of yards of rock, draining drop by drop through the path of least resistance.

 

         

Ron took Jewel down to the outlet. It was very steep with a lot of stairs so I opted out. There are great trails but I had already done about 50 stairs and thought it best for me to wait for them.

                                   

We had to park our MH pretty far from the entrance to the well. We were able to get a birds eye view from the top of the hill.

It was very interesting to see this well that continues to pump millions of gallons of water in the middle of the desert.

Before arriving at the CG we stopped for groceries and gas. The CG is ideally located 6 miles from Meteor Crater.

We settled in  and I did several loads of laundry. The other important  chore was to get the blog posted. We have not had good internet service so I was behind getting the blog posted. Tomorrow we will be going to the Meteor Crater site.