This was a solo trip up north and back for me today. The first stop was Montezuma Castle National Monument in Camp Verde, which, if I’m not mistaken, was the first place in the National Park system I visited as a young adult back in late 1980 or early 1981 after I first moved to Arizona. While this cliff dwelling is not appropriately named, at least it is protected. The original inhabitants of this five-story, twenty-room abode were thought to be the Sinagua people related to the Hohokam. It’s estimated that it was inhabited between 1100 and 1425 AD.

Funny how we only ever see ants in the light of day, but a good part of their life is spent underground in pitch-black tunnels where the ant metropolis hums away, caring for the colony.

This is Beaver Creek and was a major contributing factor to how the inhabitants of Montezuma Castle were able to establish a settlement here in this part of the desert.

Thirty minutes up the road and off the Verde River is Tuzigoot National Monument, another Native American dwelling in ruins.