Arizona - Tuzigoot National Monument

 

Very close to us, about a 10 minute drive from Clarkdale is Tuzigoot National Monument. Tuzigoot is Apache for "Crooked Water".

Our National Park Pass got us in on a very windy, but sunny, day.

On the top of a small hill

in a bend in the Verde River.

The pueblo is about a 100 rooms, some may have been 2 stories high.

The rooms did not have doors but were accessed using ladders and trap doors in the ceilings.

Most of the walls have been rebuilt and reinforced with cement but, according to the volunteer who was available to answer questions, they have found that the original mud construction is actually more effective.

 The volunteer also explained that there was a chain of Pueblos each less than a mile apart and it is believed that messages were carried by runners between them. The Southern Sinagua who lived here hunted, fished and grew crops but gradually left the pueblos to become more nomadic. 

From the ruins there was a path

down to a lookout over a marshy area in an ox bow lake. There were info boards explaining the history of the area as well as the fauna and flora. Hard to believe but the area supports beavers and otters.

Cholla cactus at the visitors centre

Driving back we decided to explore a road we hadn't taken before

and it took us to a Verde River access point.

Zooming in on a rectangular cave in the rock I wonder if it is an old cave dwelling.

This little bird was hunting bugs on the surface of the river. I think it is a Black Phoebe.

Rick has had a couple of nights which have been clear and the moon hasn't given too much light pollution. Orion Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula.