On the road again, from Tucson through Phoenix, north to Cottonwood, Arizona. Mid day travel through Phoenix was smooth. 4 hours later, 218 miles north, and over 2500' higher, we gain altitude and cool off. We check into a campground for 2 nights. We had camped on BLM land outside Tucson with our friends Don and Jill for almost 10 days, now time for housekeeping. It’s still snowing at the north rim of the Grand Canyon. We’ll enjoy the Verde Valley and Red Rock country while we wait for the weather to clear.
Sunny days in the low 70’s are great. We start to explore at the local visitors center, this area is loaded with 1800’s history. Our first day trip from Cottonwood is to Prescott on 89a through Jerome, the road is narrow with tight turns and steep grades. We take the car, no vehicles over 40' allowed. 158 turns in 41 miles on a 2 lane blacktop road over 7000' mountains. The views are incredible. We spend a few hours climbing the streets of Jerome, fantastic views of the Verde valley from this old mining town. Jerome was named for a New York investor who never visited his namesake. The mine produced over a billion dollars in copper, silver, and gold in it’s 70 year history. A notorious wild west town, once characterized as the “wickedest town in the west”, is now a tourist, art, and liberal political center in conservative Yavapai County, Arizona.
On to Prescott the home of amazing natural beauty and old west tradition. The court house square, whiskey row, and the Prescott Rodeo are cherished areas of old town. We have a late lunch at the Palace Saloon, where the movie “Junior Bonner” (Steve McQueen) was filmed, great food and still feels like that era.
The Verde valley is home to Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments. The spectacular pine-clad cliffs of the Mongolian rim of central Arizona form a huge geological transition between desert, grassland, and forest zones. The Sinaguan people we first learned about last fall in Walnut Canyon,Arizona had villages here too. Montezuma Castle is the best preserved and most dramatic cliff dwelling in the US. The 110 room pueblo at Tuzigoot, on a ridge overlooking the Verde River, is still being studied while we visit. Archeologist continue finding clues to these native people who flourished centuries before Columbus claimed the New World.
When we’re ready to move to a new area the US Forestry offers dispersed camping toward Sedona off 89a. We find a spot in the Red Rock Country with scenic drives, lookouts, vistas, rock art and ruins. For the next week the area around Sedona is amazing. The weather is good other than a few windy days. The geology of the red rocks along forest trails is fantastic.
Cliff dwellings, petroglyphs, museums, hikes, restaurants, markets and dramatic natural beauty has left us in awe. Red Rock Country Wilderness is literally Sedona’s back yard.. A large portion of the visiting population also has come for some kind of spiritual experience. Sedona is believed by some to be a vortex meditation site, places of power in the red rocks that enhance prayer and reflection for people of all faiths. We learn the trail we’re camped near is just above the site of the tragic sweat lodge deaths during a cleansing ceremony last year.
After almost 2 weeks in the area we’re getting itchy feet. Time to move on to Flagstaff and then the Grand Canyon. It’s warming to the north and we stop for a few days just outside Flagstaff in a Forestry Campground. Sunset Crater and Wupatki Ruins are the highlights of this area. After a visit to the Northern Arizona Museum were headed to the North Rim…. On the road again, Skip and Linda
