Tuesday, December 1, 2009

ABC Wednesday / "T" is for Trail









We walked on a trail beneath these cliff dwellings of a prehistoric culture that once flourished in the Verde Valley of Arizona about 50 miles south of Flagstaff. This area is known as Montezuma's Castle. Southern Sinagua farmers began building this five-story, 20 room dwelling early in the 1100's CE (Common Era). It stands in a cliff recess 100 feet above the valley. The Sinagua lived principally by farming, supplementing their staple crops by hunting and gathering. There was water in the river and streams, fertile land alongside the waterways, and sufficient game to augment a diet that relied heavily on corn.

The trail provided a very pleasant walk through colorful sycamore trees and along streams in the area and an amazing view of the cliff dwelling above.

This information was taken from the brochure given to us by the National Park Service - U.S. Department of the Interior - National Monuments of Arizona

ABC Wednesday

17 comments:

photowannabe said...

Totally terrific trail. Beautiful photos for the letter T.

Tania said...

Beautiful, love it!
Here I would like to be. Really like the pictures from Outdoor Wednesday to! Looks like it's possible to climb there:-)

jay said...

Wow, what a wonderful dwelling! I wonder what they did for water? Did they channel rainwater? I can't imagine carrying it all the way up there!

Beautiful pictures. :)

Rune Eide said...

I have heard of those cliff-buildings. They look very impressive, especially with that multi-layered rock all around it.

Maggie May said...

The buildings in these rocks are just phenomenal. I have heard of them before.

Nuts in May

Lindz said...

nice day for a walk, the pictures shows how nice and clear the blue sky is, and the autumn season provided a very nice colorful in the sorroundings, very nice photos..

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Amazing photography! You just socked it out of the ballpark with these images. I'm ready to go hiking!

Happy Outdoor Wed!

XO,

Sheila :-)

Dimple said...

Thanks for the tour along that trail! I think the last shot of the autumn colors is terrific!
Thanks for the visit!

Martha Z said...

You sure saw a lot and got many fine posts on your trip to Arizona. We went to Montezuma's castle once but it was so hot we didn't enjoy it. Maybe we'll go in the fall.

Rose said...

Beautiful photos! I visited Sedona two years ago while visiting my Daughter in Phoenix, but we missed Montezuma's castle. She toured it on a later excursion with her in-laws and said it was fascinating. I'll have to make this stop on my next visit!

Martha said...

Beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing!

My ABC and Watery Wednesday

ladyviral said...

Hi there Carolyn,

Thanks for dropping my blog :). Wow I love your blog and the pictures ^_^. I will definitely keep coming back for more of this great shots.

Tumblewords: said...

Terrific shots of that spectacular place!

Judi said...

Spectacular! Thanks for sharing.

SquirrelQueen said...

What a remarkable structure, building in those cliffs must have been quite an undertaking. The area is beautiful, love your photos.

Roger Owen Green said...

the cliff building is impressive, as is the photo of it, but I swear it gave me vertigo.

Joe Todd said...

From one trail lover to another: Happy trails.. I sometimes stray off the trail