In this episode, we visit Montezuma Castle National Monument,
a 20-room multi-level structure high on a limestone cliff, as well as Montezuma Well, an
oasis in the desert whose water supported ancient peoples, the land, and species native to the area.
And stick around to the end for a fun extra tip for families visiting the national monument.
We are at Montezuma Castle National Monument this morning. Apparently there is a large five-story
cliff dwelling here, ruins of the Sinagua people from the 12th century.
As we were standing at the sign just getting a quick intro for the video, we saw a four or
five other vehicles go by. And it's first thing in the morning when this place opens at 8 a.m.,
just shortly after. So I'm curious if this is going to be potentially even better than we expect
because it seems pretty popular. There was no entrance hut. Instead, I think we walk through
or next to the visitor center and probably show our pass there. Let's go check it out.
So on the other side of the visitor center that we
just walked up to we just had to pop in real fast, show our pass,
or you pay your entrance fee if you need to do that, and then you walk around and continue on.
All right we've caught our first glimpse of it here. We're gonna walk down and see it face on,
but I mean the scale of that on the cliff face. Look how big that is, and the different colors.
So it sounds like you used to actually be able to climb up there and go check it out. Wouldn't
that have been amazing? I mean it's pretty high up there. I imagine you'd have to have ladders. Now
of course you know trying to protect the monument and preserve it they don't allow that anymore,
uh but it's beautiful just from down here. It's just a short little walk,
one third of a mile I believe, down here along the river. And we just learned that this wasn't
the only structure. There were other structures here. So if it weren't for the sign I would not
have known that that was another structure. So you just got to keep your eyes open.
They used to do farming um out in the fields here. The river runs through it.
So this is Beaver Creek. And I read that it is spring fed, and it's one of the only or one of the
few perennial streams in Arizona. So that made this an especially good spot
for the settlement and for the farmland.
Interesting to imagine what it would have been like. Yeah. All right let's listen.
"Imagine yourself visiting here over seven centuries ago and receiving an invitation
into this cliff-dwelling home. What you would have seen might
well have been something like this cutaway model of Montezuma Castle."
So we had a little bit of a difference of opinion about that and how impressive it was.
I thought it was very impressive just because of the size and scale of it.
All of the other, maybe not all, but a lot of the other historical ruins,
cliff dwellings that you see, they're not as well preserved. They're not as huge and
up on this cliff face and as epic. So I, I really enjoyed that. Kevin, a little harder
to impress I guess. It was, it was neat from a historical perspective. It was neat to see that
there was basically an entire village that lived there. And that in and of itself was
pretty cool. I guess maybe I was expecting more just because of how busy the place seems to be,
but I'm not saying it wasn't neat, just I guess I just wasn't quite wowed by it.
Have you been there? What do you think? Are you team Kevin team, Christine? What did you think
of it? Either way it's worth a stop if you're in the area. Now we're headed over to Montezuma Well.
So they gave us some Junior Ranger packets at the front. If you guys are not familiar
with that, it's a fun way for kids to get a lot more out of national parks, national monuments.
They have a big kid book, and they have a little kid book, which I actually didn't know there was
a difference. We've always just gotten one option at the parks we've been to. This one
is five and under. This is six and seven and up. So we're already working through this as we walk,
counting cactuses, birds, insects. All right, keeps them entertained. Although until they're a
little older I'm the one managing it so, it makes it a little harder on me. Keeps you entertained.
Montezuma Well contains 15 million gallons of water,
and is fed by an underground spring one and a half million gallons of water daily.
The cliff dwellings and stone ruins are the remnants of the ancient farming community that
once lived here, some on the cliff of the well, some down on its banks, and some on its slopes.
Take the Swallet side trail down 112 stairs to see the Swallet Ruin and the well from down below.
So one of the park service volunteers told us that this boat has been sitting here since the 90s.
I guess they used it to trap turtles down here when they found an invasive species here,
and it's just been sitting there ever since. We were told by a park service volunteer that
there are nine dwellings down here in the bottom of Montezuma Well. But there's a sign
that says this area is closed due to possible Hantavirus. I mean a good reason not to go in.
It comes up and follows this and then it flows out and it makes rivers.
The water in the well remains at a constant level, because as the water comes up through the spring
it also flows out through a long narrow cave to an outlet on the other side where farmers channeled
it into irrigation canals for their fields. So it turns out that the ancient canal that was dug
here to irrigate ancient crops is still used today by a ranch a couple of miles from here.
We went back up to the top to walk the rim around and down the other side to the well outlet.
So down here is where the water flows out of the well and into the irrigation canal, but
unfortunately the trail is closed. So the trail just continues over here and heads back to the
parking lot. So where we started going uphill to the well, this trail that we came down took us all
the way around and back to the parking lot. So we realized we would be completely remiss if we
did not mention the picnic area here at Montezuma Well National Monument. This place has been kind
of an unexpected surprise because it's been such a great place to come back to and let the kids play
in this little creek that flows from the well. And then they use it as irrigation for uh some
kind of farming project over here that there's some more nature trails and that kind of thing.
This is actually our third time we've come back just to hang out and have a picnic and
let the kids play here. It's been really neat. If you're in the area, especially if you're down here
wintering over as a family, this has been probably our favorite park to go to in the area. Thanks for
joining us visiting Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well. Just a quick video, quick little tour. So
we're going to say bye here for now, and we hope you join us on our next adventure. Bye. Bye. Next
time we visit Tuzigoot National Monument, an ancient 110 room hilltop public, the largest
and best preserved of the many Sinagua pueblo ruins in the Verde Valley. Make sure to subscribe,
and hit the notification bell so that you're notified the next time we release a travel video.
See you soon. We are at Montezuma cashel... There I go again with cashel. What's a cashel?
So it sounds like you used to actually be able to climb up there and go check it out...
Now we're on to Montezuma We... Now we're headed over to Montezu... I can't say it. Can you say it?
When I say it I'll say cashel.