Sedona, Montezuma, a Church, a Mountain and some Fish

We continue to enjoy our time in the Sedona AZ area. The above pic is a random sighting beside the road. Sedona is quirky 😁

One of the first things we did was a drive up AZ HWY 89A between Sedona and Flagstaff. This was recommended to us by the local visitors bureau. We were blown away by the vistas and scenary. We took a lot of pictures on this drive. If you are interested in seeing them you can follow this link to our YouTube channel for a 5 minute slideshow. YouTube Slide Show

Next we visited The Chapel of the Holy Cross. This church is literally built into the side of a mountain. The construction of the building was completed in 18 months at a cost of $300k. The cross in the second picture rises 90' and serves as both an asthetical and structural centerpiece. If you visit, parking is very limited. You can hop a tour bus in town  that will take you right to the top. If you are fortunate enough to find a parking space, there are courtesy golf carts cruising the parking areas that will transport you up the steep hill to the church.

The next day we visited an area that is unique in the world. It is a deep spring in the desert called Montezuma's Well National Monument. This was an amazing place to visit from both the geological and heritage perspectives. The spring never dries up and every day 1.5 million gallons of water bubble from the well. Montezuma's Well is 368 feet across and 55 feet deep; it sits at an elevation of 3,618 feet.

Around the rim of the well are several ancient Sinagua Indian pueblos. As you can imagine, the safety afforded by the location on the cliff, and the proximity to water made this a highly desirable homestead.  Interesting to note however that this area, and the castle below was misnamed and has nothing to do with Montezuma or the Aztecs.

A few miles away is another impressive site called Montezuma's Castle National Monument. Here we see much more elaborate cliff dwellings. The entrances could only be reached via a series of ladders up the cliff. This provided a great deal of security for the residents and a view of the farm and river lands below. The area was inhabited between approximately 1100 and 1425 AD. The main structure comprises five stories and about 45 to 60 rooms and was built over the course of three centuries.

This area is set adjacent to Beaver Creek, fed by the well, providing water, irrigation for crops and fishing. A few more pics on YouTube.

The next day we headed back to Sedona for some hiking. The whole area is filled with hiking and OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) trails. The area we chose is known as Adobe Jack and is an area of about 20 different trails in the Sedona foothills.

The trail took us through trees, red rocks and dry stream beds. It seemed as though we were miles away from civilization even though we were technically in what is considered the foothills of uptown Sedona.

In total we hiked about 5.5 miles and the scenery was amazing. More pics on YouTube

This is a very enjoyable hike with a lot of scenic variety. We would highly recommend this hike, but would advise caution if there is rain in the forecast or it has recently rained. We expect it would be quite muddy and slippery in spots, and the creek crossings could be a challenge.

Our final stop for this post was at the Page Springs Fish Hatchery. This was a cool stop where we were amazed by the number of trout hatched here, and that they were distributed all across Arizona. Again, this is a location in the desert, and where I would have least expected a hatchery.

There is an area outside called the Show Pond. It may not be apparent at first glance but the picture above is thousands of trout in an area where you can feed them. Wow!

I'll close out this post with a shot of the moonrise over the foothills. Believe me the pic doesn't do it justice.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to share.

Cindy and Terry

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