An epic Southwest National Parks journey
For a long time I've wanted to see the Grand Canyon, Antelope Slot Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Bryce Canyon - all of those. They are far from Oklahoma and kind of far apart. BUT there is a tour company that makes it all possible - on a comfy tour bus for travel and nice hotels for overnight. So I saved my money and bought the trip. And from April 5-12, I saw and walked upon and photographed to my heart's delight.
There is so much to share but I will try and not get too caught up in all the minutia and still give you a sense of my experience.
A quick numbers overview: 8 days on the journey; 926 miles traveled in the tour bus; 20 miles hiked; 129,254 steps walked; 538 photos taken; 4 pounds gained from eating whatever I wanted on vacation.
I flew into Phoenix on the redeye out of OKC and had the day to spend there before meeting our group that evening. Luckily, the hotel let me in my room at 7:30am when I got there, giving me plenty time to Uber out to Camelback Mountain for a hike I was planning to do. It was way harder than I anticipated. Didn't do more than a quarter of a mile. It was rocky and steep and I had a 10lb. pack on my back. And it was hot and very crowded. Enough said. Back to the comfort of my air conditioned room.
Met with the group for orientation. It was a relatively small group of 30 for this trip. The next morning, bags out by 7am and on the bus by 8.
First stop was Montezuma's Castle, 90 miles out from Phoenix. We had about an hour to explore.
Montezuma Castle gives us pause to wonder at the ingenuity of the people who began building it over 700 years ago.
Both “Montezuma” and “Castle” are misnomers. In the 1800s, European Americans were fascinated with Inca, Maya, and Aztec civilizations and gave southwestern sites exotic names, in this case for Emperor Motecuhzoma II - who lived long after the Caste was constructed.
The Yavapai call this place “the home of the protectors..”. The Hopi refer to it as both “place where the step ladders are going up,” and “long, high walls.”
Between approximately 1100 and 1400, this Castle neighborhood also included a larger pueblo and numerous small alcove homes in the cliff face along Beaver Creek.
Nestled in a limestone cliff overlooking the creek, Montezuma Castle could have housed about 35 people.
Including families in nearby pueblo and rock shelters, perhaps 150 to 200 people made up this community. In turn, these people belonged to a network of villages united by kinship, agriculture, and cultural traditions that stretched dozens of miles along the Verde River and its tributaries. These farming communities thrived until around 1350 to 1400 when people began leaving the Verde Valley, moving toward other population centers to the north and east, including those along the Little Colorado River and the Hopi Mesas. (Text from sign picture above.)
Montezuma Castle National Monument is managed by the National Parks Service. Admission is $10 a person.
Soon we were back on the bus, headed for Sedona for lunch.
Sedona, Arizona is a beautiful, artsy tourist trap with strong ties to Hollywood celebrities. It is also a well-known hiking destination. Sadly I had no time to check out the trails as we stopped for an hour or so for lunch and shopping. I had an excellent lunch and found enough chocolatey goodness in a fudge factory to carry me through the week.
