Crown King to Montezuma Well – Solo

JWise Photo of the Day

Road to Crown King, Arizona

Up into the mountains, it should be cooler there. This exit to Bumble Bee and Crown King is about an hour north of us and is one of the nearby areas we’ve never explored.

Road to Crown King, Arizona

The drive to Crown King is about 28 miles of dirt road that leads into the Bradshaw Mountains. Along the way, I pass abandoned buildings and mining equipment.

Crown King, Arizona

After a lot of dust and a few switchbacks, I arrive on this sky island up at about 5,700 feet of elevation. It’s certainly cooler up here, but there’s nothing to do. Don’t need anything from the general store, not going to the saloon, who needs a gift, and I don’t have a quad to go exploring the local forest. While Crown King is certainly beautiful, I think this will be my first and last visit.

Grasshopper at Montezuma Well in Rimrock, Arizona

Hmmm, maybe our car dying was a part of the apocalypse because it seems the locusts are starting to take over. Then again, I am prone to looking for drama.

Montezuma Well in Rimrock, Arizona

While I first visited Montezuma Castle back in the early 1980’s I’ve never been to Montezuma Well. The Sinagua that took this as their home grabbed some prime real estate here on the cliffside, as right below them is a small lake.

Montezuma Well in Rimrock, Arizona

Actually, this “small lake” is a natural spring that is fed by a 1,500,000-gallon underground supply.

Butterfly at Montezuma Well in Rimrock, Arizona

And butterflies, too. Alright, I’ve seen enough to know I have to bring Caroline back to Montezuma Well. The day trip is over; time to head back to Phoenix.

White Tanks – Solo

JWise Photo of the Day

White Tanks Phoenix, Arizona

Yesterday, on the way to Caroline’s office, our VW Beetle called it quits. We’ve only had it for about 18 months, but in that time, we’ve put about 107,000 miles (172,000 km) on it. The bad news is that this car was leased for three years, and we were only supposed to put 36,000 miles on it. The really bad news is that the engine “spun,” thus destroying it, and we now need a new one. The horrible news is that this is going to cost about $7000. The good thing is that the dealer has given us a loaner, and I’m determined to get as much use out of it as I can. Because I’m still recovering from this tragedy, I’m not well planned yet on where I should go, and hence, I’m just on the other side of Phoenix at the White Tank Mountains.

Gila Monster at the White Tanks Phoenix, Arizona

This rather large lizard seemed pretty content with my approach and never flinched once as it pulled within a few inches to snap this closeup.

Grasshopper in the White Tanks Phoenix, Arizona

I wonder how the grasshopper’s worldview is altered with only one antenna.

White Tanks Phoenix, Arizona

Petroglyphs were my inspiration for heading out here. Sadly, many of them are damaged, and it’s obviously from other humans, not the lizards and grasshoppers. It’s also getting quite hot the further out on the trail I went. I think I’ll have to consider points north for my next solo trip out.

New Mexico Missions to Bandelier – Day 2

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

For everything modernity has wrought and all of our technological convenience, humanity will never improve upon the sunrise and sunset. We may excel on the small scale and even one day destroy on a larger scale, but nature is the true master of that which boggles the senses with the profound.

Bandelier National Monument is our first stop today on our exploration weekend of all things Native American. Many of the dwellings here were carved out of the relatively soft tuft. The area was ultimately abandoned around 1600 AD, with the inhabitants moving towards the Rio Grande, joining the Pueblo communities of Cochiti and San Ildefonso.

I don’t think I’m wrong, but I do believe this will be the first time Caroline or I have ever been able to visit a reconstructed Kiva.

Our imaginations will have to fill the gaps of what the environment may have been like when Kachina ceremonies were being observed. What were the sounds, language, smells, shadows, ceremonial clothing, masks, and paint that all came together to tell the story of the moment?

This northwest corner of New Mexico is a diverse one with many contrasts.

San José de Los Jémez Mission is not far from Bandelier and was more or less on our way to Albuquerque, where we had one more historic Native American visit to make.

It’s our goal to snap a photo of us in front of as many National Park and Monument signs as we can; often, they are not worth sharing on the blog here, but we have them. As we age, we’ll have these at our disposal to prove to ourselves that, at one time, we really did go to all the places we claim or have forgotten.

We are on the edge of Albuquerque, and literally down the hill, we can see a newer subdivision of homes that crawls ever closer to displacing more Native American history. Fortunately, for now sites like this under the protection of the National Park Service offer some chance for survival.

Sites such as this Giant Tee Pee in Lupton, Arizona, could be disappearing as travel demographics and the desire for these novelties wane. Maybe nostalgia will help them hold on, but from our recent encounter with neglect and abandonment, as we’d seen in Bowie, Arizona, there’s little hope that these one-time icons will survive.

That’s Flagstaff in the distance, which, if you know your geography, means that we are on Interstate 40 driving west and that most likely, either there or maybe in Holbrook, we’ll turn left and head south back towards Phoenix.

New Mexico Missions to Bandelier – Day 1

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

The sky is blue today….that’s a great reason to take a road trip. Okay, we don’t need a reason to venture out, and when the destination is a new one that’s not too far away, then being inspired is easy.

The Very Large Array in Western New Mexico is a welcome sight as it means we are nearing meal time.

El Camino Family Restaurant in Socorro makes our hearts sing. Bring on the green chile; we are back!

Recent rains make for muddy waters on the Rio Grande, and in the days before summer at the end of spring, things are beautifully green. We are heading northeast, in case you were wondering. Lunch was not today’s sole destination.

The Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument and its three ruins are today’s mission, sorry, not sorry about the pun. This particular ruin is the Abó Mission, which was constructed in 1623, more than 40 years after the Spanish arrived at the pueblo in 1581. Again, we see the settlement of non-British people on Native American lands here 26 years before Jamestown, Virginia, and 39 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, but to listen to American history, our ancestors were from the 13 colonies.

Nearby Gran Quivira is the next Pueblo mission ruin we are visiting. It’s interesting that the religious order of the day back then allowed the kivas to coexist with the churches, as tolerance hasn’t always been Christianity’s strong suit.

We never lack enthusiasm for the beautiful artwork we get to witness. I’d imagine the majority of works never made it to modernity, but those who have demonstrated a knack for visual storytelling should be appropriately respected.

Quarai Mission Ruins are the last of the mission complexes we’ll visit today that are part of Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be another historic monument.

Seems we have enough time left in the day to pay a visit to Pecos National Historical Park. The complex that makes up the Pecos Pueblo was occupied starting approximately 1100 AD and, in its heyday, housed about 2,000 Native Americans. Pecos had their first encounter with Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his explorers back in 1540. It seems there’s a long history of European contact with Native Americans, except my education taught me that didn’t start until Thanksgiving.

More art that suggests to me that the people who lived here had a chill life because as they were painting this stuff, my ancestors were painting images of plague, crucifixion, and conquest.

The humble beetle never set out for conquest, conceded no land, nor deprived anyone of freedom. It just goes about its existence, producing generation after generation of free-roaming descendants that pay no rent and exact no toll. Long live the beetle.

Southern Arizona

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Coronado National Monument in Hereford, Arizona

Our friends in Tucson, Arturo, and Guadalupe, have three children: two young girls and their son, who is about to leave for college. While this young man’s name is Arturo, too, we call him Arturito, though, on occasion, I’ll call him Artoodeetoo. He’s known us since about 1998 and had recently voiced an interest in taking a road trip with us. So, seeing we were taking a day trip around the southern end of the state, we asked him if he’d like to join us today, and on the way through Tucson, we stopped and picked him up. Our first stop was some sightseeing at Coronado National Memorial in Hereford, Arizona, which is 90 miles southwest of Tucson, close to the Mexican border.

Coronado National Monument in Hereford, Arizona

While I could be mistaken, I think we are looking at Mexico in the distance.

Caroline Wise, Arturo Silva, and John Wise at Chiricahua National Monument in Willcox, Arizona

The kid is camera shy, and it took some serious cajoling to get him to join our photo. Now, at Chiricahua National Monument in Willcox, we are again about 90 miles from our last location. Do you see a pattern? Was it planned?

Chiricahua National Monument in Willcox, Arizona

So far, our investigation into places we’ve not been before is suggesting that Chiricahua is a location we must come back to.

Caroline Wise and John Wise at Fort Bowie National Historic Site in Bowie, Arizona

Oh well, we are only 19 miles from Chiricahua so I won’t be able to pull that one on you that all of our stops today are 90 miles apart.

Fort Bowie National Historic Site in Bowie, Arizona

Fort Bowie was opened in 1862 and abandoned not too long after that in 1894. The Fort played a role in the fight with the Chihuahuas, while its most famous prisoner was Geronimo himself. As you can see for yourself, there’s not a lot left out here.

Yucca Lodge Motel in Bowie, Arizona

Who knows the last time this old motel in Bowie saw guests? At one time, Bowie was an important stop on the American experience for people traveling across the states where the Yucca Lodge Motel on the corner of Lincoln and Highway 86 (now the 10 Business Loop) was competing with Home on the Range Motel just across the street on the opposite corner. Another block up the street, you could get a bite to eat at Geronimo’s Castle Cafe, which was shaped like a teepee; it’s still there, but it’s closed too. The town had one last hurrah when, in Rambo Part 2, it was divulged that John Rambo (played by Sylvester Stallone) was from Bowie, Arizona. Happy Memorial Day!

Montezuma Castle to Tuzigoot

JWise Photo of the Day

Montezuma's Castle National Monument in Camp Verde, Arizona

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.

Ants at Montezuma's Castle National Monument in Camp Verde, Arizona

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.

Montezuma's Castle National Monument in Camp Verde, Arizona

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.

Tuzigoot National Monument in Clarkdale, Arizona

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