Ancient Sinagua cliffside homes and fabulous red rock buttes.
The beginning of this trip was quite stressful - the Icelandic volcano erupted just before our original start date and everything was postponed, eventually we got reservations into Phoenix via Chicago. Lufthansa were great. In May the volcano was still erupting and causing problems. We left from Basel to get to Dusseldorf but once there we were delayed while Lufthansa tried to organise a more northerly route, well away from any volcanic activity and the huge ash cloud. Two hours later we left. Extra fuel had to be taken on and cruising altitude was 36000-38000ft. We actually started off heading north-east to Scandinavia! However, the route took us over Baffin Island and was beautifully clear so we had fantastic views of the huge expanses of snow and ice.
The late departure meant we had only an hour to catch our connection in Chicago - we were never going to make that. On arrival we were rebooked on the red-eye into Phoenix with US Airways and Lufthansa provided us with accommodation and a meal at the Doubletree.
No problems the following morning for our 5:10 flight to Phoenix. Three and a half hours in clear skies and we passed over some wonderful scenery: canyons, cliffs, buttes and desert. Very swiftly collected baggage and our car to get out on the road. We were quickly onto I17 and heading north out of the city.
Out of the city the landscape is scrubby desert covered with wonderful cactii. The video isn't great but gives a bit of an idea of the dryness of the landscape.
We stopped off at Montezuma's Castle, just off I17 south of Sedona. Early settlers believed it to be Aztec in origin hence the name.
The cliff dwelling is built into the rock 100 ft above the valley floor. It had five storeys and 20 rooms, housing about thirty people, and would have been reached by ladders. The Southern Sinagua farmers who built this home in the 1100s had lived in this area for thousands of years but they only began to build homes such as these under the influence of neighbouring cultures.
A little to the west are the ruins - little more than low stone walls and holes in the cliff face - of a much larger dwelling, built against the base of the cliff. Designated Castle A this was a six storey 45 room building which may have housed up to a hundred people, but there is very little to see.
The farmers would also have been hunter-gatherers and this small valley would have been an ideal settlement spot, having a good source of water and fertile land.
It's a pleasant spot with some beautiful white-barked Arizona Sycamore trees.
We made our way up to the Red Rock Loop road west of Sedona, which has some great rocks at the turnoff from 89A then not much until Cathedral Rock comes into view and the landscape starts to get quite spectacular.
We stopped for a short walk to Red Rock Crossing on Oak Creek where it's very pleasant under the shady trees.
Lunch was in Sedona at the Coffee Pot for its Mexican specialties. My beef and chicken chimichanga was pretty good but the chorizo and cheese omelette was disappointing - chorizo definitely not as good as it should be!
We left Sedona heading north up Oak Creek Road which has some nice scenery, especially just outside Sedona, but the hairpins aren't really hairpins. We stopped at the view point at the top but again, weren't particularly impressed. The sun had gone behind clouds so maybe it looks better in sunshine.
Before heading off to Page we made a short detour to visit Walnut Canyon. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries this was home to a large community of Sinagua. In this relatively arid landscape (Sinagua literally means "without water") the people grew drought-resitant varieties of corn, beans and squash on the rim of the canyon. They also hunted small animals and gathered edible plants and berries. They practiced a primitive form of irrigation, building terraces and small dams. There is speculation that the Hopi are descendants of the Sinagua.
Their homes were formed from natural depressions in the limestone cliffs, created by the eroding action of water. These shallow caves, perhaps three metres deep, were protected by walls built from limestone rocks cemented together with clay. Doorways were reinforced with wooden beams and all interior and exterior walls were plastered with clay.
The remains of over 80 such homes have been discovered in the canyon, with many more outside the area of this National Monument.
