A short drive from the campground is Montezuma Castle, our first stop on our jaunt today. Montezuma Castle is in a cliff recess 100 feet above the valley. It is a 5 story dwelling with 20 rooms.
There is also another dwelling within the cliff that had about 45 rooms but is now deteriorated badly.
The Beaver River flows nearby which was a source of water. Time period for this structure is 1100's. Ladders were used to climb up to the structure. (The name Montezuma was given by early settlers that assumed these structures were originated by Aztecs.)
A little further away is Montezuma Well, a natural sink hole 368 feet wide and cliffs 70 feet above the water. Water flows into the well by several vents underwater at the rate of 1.5 million gallons a day.
A cave 300 feet long constructed almost 1000 years ago by the culture living in this area allows the water to exit into an irrigation ditch.
Our last stop was at Tuzigoot, a village built between 1125 and 1400. It is located on the summit of a ridge 120 feet above the Verde Valley. Originally the pueblo had 77 rooms and 2 stories in some places. Because there were no exterior doors entry was through openings in the roof with ladders.
After touring these ruins we rode through the town of Jerome. An interesting town about a mile high with houses built in the side of the mountain. It appeared to have numerous little shops. We didn't stop as it was getting late in the day- maybe some other time.
For dinner we returned to the Cliff Casino for the Tuesday $10.00 prime rib buffet. It was a very good meal- prime rib cut to order, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, salad and roll and butter.
