Montezuma Castle and Tom Thumb Mountain

     This is the last installment of posts from our Arizona vacation.  After thoroughly enjoying Sedona, we wanted to see a great example of some cliff dwellings left by ancient indigenous people.  However, we did not have much time to spare before needing to head south to Scottsdale.  We found a place called Montezuma Castle which was close to our route along Interstate 17 in Camp Verde.

Montezuma Castle National Monument, Arizona

     Being a National Monument operated by the National Park Service, the area was well developed with a large parking lot, paved trails, and a visitor center.  It cost $5 per person and it was a nice facility.  We were actually hoping that the place was going to be less developed (and less visited), but even in the late afternoon on a weekday in November the site was fairly populated.  After enduring the usual bureaucratic delay, we paid the entrance fee and walked out onto the short 1/3 mile trail to view Montezuma Castle.

     Montezuma Castle is one of the best preserved prehistoric cliff dwellings in North America and is so well built that it has stood for over 700 years.  Theodore Roosevelt called it a place "of the greatest ethnological value and scientific interest" and declared it one of the first National Monuments in the country in 1906.  It was built by the Southern Sinagua, reached its maximum size in 1300, and was inhabited for another century. It is not clear why they left, but with an "undiscovered" continent to roam, why stay in one place for long?

Montezuma Castle cliff dwelling

          Originally, visitors could climb up into the ruins by using a series of ladders that were placed along the limestone cliffs.  Due to damage by visitors, the ladders were removed and public access was discontinued in 1951.  Although most of the original artifacts were removed by early looters, a wealth of artifacts have been recovered from this site, particularly from an excavation in 1933.

     The nearby Verde River flows through the valley and it was easy to see why this site was chosen for a cliff dwelling.  Early visitors assumed the site was Aztec in origin, hence the name "Montezuma."

     There were some interpretive signs along the way explaining the vegetation and we really liked the Arizona Sycamore (Platanus wrightii), very similar to the American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) we have back in Illinois.  As they say, the bark of this species looks normal at the base, but as you go up the bark, it looks "more sick."  One way to remember it at least.

Susan and I by the Arizona Sycamores (Platanus wrightii)

     Since the rental car was due back in the evening we had to boogie on back down south.  Everything seemed so close on this trip, two hours here, two hours there.  Soon we were back at the Hertz rental car location.  My father picked us up and we returned to my parents' house.  They live in a gated community and there is a heated pool and hot tub across the street.  Sore from all the hiking and travelling, we took advantage of the hot tub.  It was a beautiful, big, and bright full moon and a perfect way to end our vacation. Except we had one more hike planned for the next morning before our flight back to Chicago.

Sitting in the hot tub under the full moon

     My father is quite active and fit and wanted to take us on a hike nearby.  We decided on Tom Thumb Mountain in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.  The is a nearly 28,000 acre non-motorized desert habitat owned by the city of Scottsdale.  In an area with such urban sprawl, it was nice to see at least a little bit of desert set aside and left almost untouched. It was a lovely Sunday and there were a lot of people hiking on the trails, but there was plenty to share with everyone.

Susan and I hiking Tom Thumb Mountain

     I especially enjoyed the interpretive signs next to the plants close to the trailhead.  It is so important in my opinion to teach people about plants and particularly native species.  Here are a couple neat plants we observed along the way.

Teddy Bear Cholla (Cylindropuntia biglovii)

Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa)

     It was a more difficult hike than I expected, although I was consuming plenty of water in the mild autumn sunshine, I felt rather terrible by the end.  I think a week of super vacation was catching up to me!  We managed our way up and up around the granite boulders that seemed to be formed in every shape and configuration possible.

Hiking the trail up Tom Thumb Mountain

     The slow action of erosion, wind, water, ice, and gravity have weathered the rocks and left them in the condition we see today.  The rock left exposed on the surface was quite rounded and this was evident on many of the largest boulders near the summit of the mountain, such as Tom Thumb Mountain, rounded in such a way to look like the shape of a thumb finger.

McDowell Sonoran Preserve

     It was interesting to see the diversity of people on the trail.  Diversity in the sense of attire, age, ethnicity, and physical fitness.  It reminded me of why I love the wilderness. Not very many people are willing to work for the solitude.  But nature is important wherever it exists, even right on the outskirts of a major metropolitan area.  Before long, we made it to the top, at least as far as we could go without ropes.  I scrambled my way up a little further and had some photos taken.

Me on the granite rocks

     The views from the summit were pretty much spectacular!  It is so interesting to me how steep and jagged mountains meet the flat and gently sloping valleys.  As they say geology rocks!

View from Tom Thumb Mountain

     After snapping more photos at the top, we made our way down the trail the same way we came.  The trail was mostly easy, with some fun maneuvers along the way.

At Tom Thumb Mountain

     Such concludes our 2013 fall vacation to Arizona!  I had wanted to visit my folks and see their winter home for some time.  Since they plan on selling it next fall, I am glad we took the opportunity to travel out there and hang out with them, as well as travel to a few of the many popular destinations in the state of Arizona.  Until our next adventure, take care now ya hear.

Cowboy Benda

The Devil's Bridge and Sedona, Arizona

     As tempting as it was to stay at the Grand Canyon for sunset, we had more to explore elsewhere and needed to continue our road warrior pace by heading back south to Sedona, Arizona.  We drove down the crazy switchbacks of highway 89A through Oak Creek Canyon, which turned out to be a very scenic drive.

Driving down Oak Creek Canyon

     We later stopped to stretch our legs at a trail under the highway bridge.  It was super windy and so we did not loiter for long but instead headed into town for some early dinner.  I had the best cream of celery soup!

Bridge on highway 89A and the town of Sedona

     There was just about enough time in the day to find a place to catch the sun go down.  I read about a good spot away from the hordes of tourists to see a view of Cathedral Rock.  We parked at the Airport Mesa trailhead, one of the many vortexes in Sedona, and headed along the trail on the east side of the plateau.  It didn't take us long to realize that this wasn't going to produce the desired scene, but I did manage to get a decent photo of the late afternoon sunshine on the red rocks.

Sedona at sunset

     After our early morning rise, we were pretty worn out but after cleaning up in our hotel room, we headed out to a bar to try the local specialty, margaritas made with prickly pear infused tequila.  It was terrible.

Prickly Pear Margarita

     When we return to the hotel it was raining very hard.  Unusual weather for the desert.  This thwarted any chance of a nice sunrise to photograph, but we were glad for the extra sleep.

     When I did a simple internet search for things to see in Sedona, I saw a photo of Devil's Bridge and knew right away that was one hike we should do.  But none of the tourist information I read said anything about it in their guide books, and my parents, who have visited Sedona many times, had never heard of it either.  I managed to find it on some of the maps though and it was located just outside of town.  

     There was a nice paved parking lot at the suggested trailhead, although those with 4x4 vehicles could drive the 1 mile dirt road to the actual trailhead.  We were ready to hike and had no issue parking our vehicle and walking from the parking lot.

Hiking up to the dirt road to the Devil's Bridge trailhead

     We were passed by a few high clearance vehicles but they were friendly enough.  Despite the less than ideal weather, there were quite a few people out hiking and we could tell it was a Saturday.  I took time along the road to check out some of the more common plants.  I recognized the cones of this shrub right away and later learned that is was called Arizona cypress (Cypressus arizonica).

Arizona cypress (Cypressus arizonica)

     I found it quite odd that a cypress tree would grow in the desert since I am most familiar with the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), being from southern Illinois (which is the northern extent of the vast southern cypress swamps).  It turns out that the term cypress refers to many species in the Cypressaceae and that the cypress family is the most widely distributed group of conifers in the world.  This is not too surprising as it is quite a large family.  In fact, in the recent taxonomic changes, the bald cypress has been moved to its own family, the Taxodiaceae.  It's hard to keep up with all the botanical name changes, but it is important to continually advance the scientific understanding of relationships between species.  Learning all the new names can be difficult, since in most cases you really need to know the old names as well, and so I hope that the changes are really based on solid evidence and are not arbitrary or superficial.

    Susan tolerates my botanical wanderings and photography very well and will even listen to my corny jokes and interesting "gee whiz" facts.  Turns out that the Arizona cypress "cones remain closed for many years, only opening after the parent tree is killed in a wildfire, thereby allowing the seeds to colonize the bare ground exposed by fire" and is the only member of the Cypressaceae known from the desert southwest.

    Before long, we reached the trail register at the edge of the wilderness and the steep rock stairs that would lead us up the cliff to the top of the bridge.  

Entering the Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness

Rock staircase up cliff

    There was another trail that led to the bottom of the arch, but we wanted to see the top.  Before getting there, we were rewarded with some outstanding views of the valley just outside the wilderness area.

Susan overlooking the Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness

     The Devil's Bridge is located within the Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness Area which is part of the Coconino National Forest.  It is the longest spanning arch in the Sedona area.  We realized on the way there why the area was not listed in the guide books.  It was a about a two-mile hike, which is nothing to us seasoned hikers but since every trail or landmark in Sedona has relatively easy access, most people tended to stay on the short trails and driveable overlooks.  That being said, there were still a lot of people hiking the trail that day.  It was like I said, a Saturday morning after all.  

     We knew we had to get a photo standing on the top of the arch and we did.  Even though there were lots of people in the area, people were respectful in letting everyone take their turn getting photographed on the top.  I offered to take the photograph of a couple trying to do it themselves, and they obliged in return.  I had my tripod with, but it would have taken quick footing to press the button and get out to the arch within 10 seconds!  As I mentioned in a previous post, asking random folks to take photos rarely yields a great photograph.  The person we asked zoomed in on us, not getting the background for most of the photos, but the first one was at normal zoom and turned out pretty well.

Susan and I on the Devil's Bridge

     I even did what no one else did or could watch.  I went out to the arch and sat on the edge.  It sure made for a sweet photo!

Me sitting on the edge of the arch

     I find it interesting that so many beautiful and natural wonders on this planet are named after the devil. Devil's staircase, devil's backbone, devil's smokestack are a few that come to mind.  They are always really cool features too and so I do not get the association with the devil, unless you think the devil is a cool dude. Religious folk certainly do not and if you are not religious, then you probably don't believe in the devil anyway.  

     But I digress, where were we?  Talking about plants no doubt.  We observed a very neat looking shrub all over the cliffs and in the chaparral zone, called Manzanita (Arctostaphlos sp.).  I found it interesting because again it is something like what we have in Illinois.  In the sand dunes along Lake Michigan, there is an Arctostaphylos species that is rare in the state, called bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi). However, the Illinois bearberry is an Artic and Subartic species, circumpolar in its distribution, whereas most of the other species are Mediterranean in origin.

Manzanita (Arctostaphylos sp.)

     Up on the red sandstone rocks, this shrub was everywhere and it was quite beautiful in its growth form and texture.  We took plenty of artistic photos and managed our way down the cliff.  On the way back, we took a different trail back, which is also a mountain bike trail, instead of the dirt road.  It made me wish we had our bikes and in one spot we watched an old dude totally crank it hard up a series of rock steps that would challenge any rider.  I said "nice job!" to which he quickly replied, "thanks!"  We stopped for some more choice photos.

Susan and red rock country

     I noticed the dead leaves of several Agave plants, a perennial monocot that is monocarpic, meaning it lives several years to maturity, then sets seeds and dies.  I found an Agave leaf that looked neat and held it up to my face, pretending it was my Agave goatee!

My Agave goatee

     Though there were many places we wanted to see in Sedona, we didn't have enough time.  But we promised my Dad we would take photos with the cowboy hats he loaned us and since we didn't want to carry them on our hike we had to make another stop.  We decided to drive up to an overlook at the end of Airport Road.

With silly cowboy hats on at Airport Road overlook

     From here, we had one more stop before heading back to Scottsdale and returning the rental car to Hertz (which is a terrible name by the way, because every time I rent from them it hurts!).  We wanted to see an example of cliff dwellings left by indigenous people.  That will be the subject of my next blog post!  Stay tuned for more and follow this blog by adding your email address to the box in the upper right corner.

Grand Canyon National Park

     The third day of our vacation led us farther north to what can be described as a huge crack in the earth.  But that would leave a false impression as to the geologic events at play here.  The canyon was formed mostly by erosion and not faulting.Of course I am referring to the Grand Canyon, an accurate name in all aspects, in fact it is surely the grandest of them all.
     We managed to get to the south rim before sunrise, hoping for an epic photo.  But it was windy and cold, and the lighting and aspect of the overlook were marginal.  I snapped a few photos, hanging onto my hat as the winds gusted up to 23 miles an hour.  But we were glad to see views of the Colorado River in the canyon below.

Grand Canyon sunrise

     We stopped at every overlook on the Desert View road which is along the eastern section of the south rim.  With over five million visitors a year, the south rim can be a place you do not want to be in your car, unless you like traffic.  The park has instituted a shuttle bus system to alleviate congestion, but on a weekday in mid-November, traffic was of little concern.  We were literally the only vehicle at most of the overlooks in the early morning.  We ventured over to the main visitor center and watched the video about the Grand Canyon.  Then we walked along the main part of the south rim area and were amazed by the immensity of it all.

Panorama of the Grand Canyon

     As we walked along the south rim, there were markers in the pavement that corresponded to geologic time, where each step equals one million years.  The oldest rocks at the bottom of the canyon are 4.5 billion years old.

   

Paved walkway along the Grand Canyon

     Which is another aspect of the Grand Canyon that is unfathomable. You can literally see over half of the age of the Earth displayed in its geologic glory which leads me thinking only one thing, "holy schist, that's gneiss!"

"Holy schist that's gneiss!"

     While there weren't many flowers in bloom or a diversity of plants to botanize, I did observe some some interesting features on some of the shrubs.  This one was my favorite.  I recognized it as a Potentilla species but it turned out to be another member of the Rose family, Purshia stanburiana, or Stansbury cliffrose.

Stansbury Cliffrose (Purshia stansburiana) 

     As we walked along the path I couldn't help but take a ton of photos.  The lighting and cloud cover were not to my liking but it was so nice to have the place basically to ourselves and marvel in the expansive views of this wonderful national park and the artistic opportunities it presented to the visitor.

Dead tree and Agave flower stalk

     We paused along the way to read the signs and look deep into the canyon where I found a large boulder and tried to push it down into the canyon.  I could not get it to move!

Trying to push a rock down into the canyon

     The place is a geologist's dream!

Sedimentary rock

     Grand Canyon National Park is well photographed and well visited.  We were happy to have a chance to see it in all its wonder and hope to return someday to explore the depths of the canyon and the wilderness it contains.

Susan at the Grand Canyon

Humphrey's Peak (12,633 ft) - The Highest Point in Arizona

     On day two of our Arizona vacation we were anxious to get on the road, as we had quite an ambitious adventure planned for the rest of the week.  We rented a car from Hertz (which turned out to be a POS) for four days and headed north to Flagstaff.  From Scottsdale, it was only a three-hour drive.  After regularly making the six-hour drive from Palatine in northern Illinois to Carbondale in southern Illinois, compounded by our excitement to get out and explore, the trip seemed to go by quickly.
     We arrived in Flagstaff in the late afternoon and before checking into our hotel room, we decided to drive up to the trailhead of Humphrey's Peak.  A few miles north of Flagstaff on Highway 180 is the road leading to the Arizona Snow Bowl, a ski resort on federal property in the Coconino National Forest and this is where the trailhead is located. Knowing that we may be navigating the area in the early morning darkness, we wanted get a view of the lay of the land and the beginning of the trail.  Our timing turned out to provide a decent sunset view of the mountains to the west.

Sunset from Humphrey's Peak trailhead

     Confident that we knew where to go in the morning, we drove back to Flagstaff.  We had reservations at a historic hotel in the downtown area called the Weatherford Hotel. The hotel was built in 1897 when "Arizona was a territory and vigilantes ruled the dirt streets."  As their website says, this is more than just a hotel. First of all, there are many ghosts that are purported to inhabit the hotel.  Second, the building had a lot of character and contained a restaurant, two bars, and a ballroom.  After a quick stroll looking at the other bars and shops of the downtown area, we settled in at Charly's Pub, the bar on the first floor of the Weatherford Hotel.  It just so happened that all the other bars we looked at, although quaint and trendy, were nearly vacant and we realized why when we looked for seating at Charly's Pub.

     It was trivia night at Charly's and the place was packed.  It was a simple affair and that was part of its charm and success.  No fancy machines or overhead displays, each team wrote their answers on a piece of paper after a MC read the trivia questions out loud.  In between questions, they played songs of the 80's. Although not formally playing, Susan and I listened to the questions and came up with our own answers.  It was tough to compete but it was fun.

The Weatherford Hotel, downtown Flagstaff, AZ

     The hotel had several styles of rooms. The largest rooms had a phone, television, and private bath, and were the most expensive.  The cheapest and smallest rooms did not have any of these things and the bathroom was across the hall.  We opted for one of the intermediate rooms, which was small and had no phone or television, but did have a tiny bathroom.  The double bed was smaller than preferred but since we planned an early morning start, we didn't much care about the few hours of sleep in a smaller bed.

European style room at the Weatherford Hotel

     We originally set the clock for 5:30am but when I woke up around 4:00am I reset it for 6:15.  We finally got up at 6:37 and headed out to the trailhead.  The idea when climbing tall mountains is that hazardous weather usually comes in the afternoon and so it is best to get to the summit by late morning.  This means getting on the trail early.

At the Humphrey's Peak trailhead, 7:47am

      Although we did not get as early as a start as anticipated, it was early enough and it sure was chilly out!  We were glad we brought our winter gear (which seemed a little odd when planning a trip to Phoenix) and since the trail went up the west side of the mountain, it would be awhile before we warmed up.

     In about a half an hour we reached the boundary of the wilderness and the trail register.  Humphrey's Peak is located in the Kachina Peaks Wilderness within the Coconino National Forest.  It is one of six mountain summits that circle the caldera of a now inactive volcano known as the San Francisco Peaks, named in honor of St. Francis of Assissi by the Spanish friars that settled in the area around 1620.

Signing the trail register to enter the Kachina Peaks Wilderness

     The trail was in good condition although there were many large rocks and gnarly tree roots bisecting the trail.  Our excitement led to a fairly expeditious pace and I kept telling Susan, "rest often, but briefly, and keep a consistent cadence."  The trail was easy to follow and there were many stumps to stop and sit on along the way.  In fact, the forest in general had a large amount of fallen trees and I wondered if the forest was a relic of fire suppression or if there happened to be a large windstorm in the recent past.

The trail up Humphrey's Peak and resting on tree stumps along the trail

     We continued up the trail without incident or landmark until we reached another sign, this one warning of the fragile habitat above 11,400 feet and that adherence to the trail was mandatory.  Among the tundra grows a plant known as the San Francisco peaks groundsel (Packera franciscanus) that grows nowhere else in the world.  For this reason, the neighboring peak, Mount Agassiz, is closed to public hiking except during the winter months when it is covered in snow.  Trespassers are subject to a $500 fine.

A sign warning us to stay on the trail to protect the fragile tundra

     Shortly after the sign we reached the treeline.  At a certain altitude, trees are incapable of growing due to cold temperatures or lack of moisture.  This is where we encountered one of the oldest known trees on earth, the bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata).  The tree gets it name from the cones whose scales are each tipped with a claw-like bristle. 

Bristlecone Pine (Pinus aristata)

     Shortly after reaching treeline, we made it to the saddle, which is the the lowest point in between two peaks, also known as the top of the pass.  Once reaching this location, we were provided with generous views to the east.

Looking east from the saddle in between Humphrey's Peak and Mount Agassiz

     Looking back to the west we could see the ski slopes of the Arizona Ski Bowl.  It was too early in the year for the slopes to be open, which was good for our summit bid.  Not knowing what to expect, just before the trip we purchased Ice Trekkers, which are basically chains attached to stretchable rubber bands that can be attached to our boots. It was good to have them but we did not need them.

Ski slopes on the Arizona Snow Bowl

     Although we still had a bit of climbing to go, I was relieved to finally reach the saddle after almost three hours of uphill walking.  We had read about the three false summits on the way to the top and I tried to count them from the saddle in order to prepare us for the first two disappointing revelations.  It really didn't seem that far in my opinion, but I have been on many 14ers in Colorado that seemed to go on forever.

Looking at the summit from the saddle

     While I expected it to be much steeper on the final 500 feet of mountain, it still was not a piece of cake. There were many large boulders that required stepping up onto and at this point we were tired.  But we had passed one couple on the way to the top and we were determined to be the first ones on the summit that day.  We were getting close, but moving slowly.

Nearing the summit of Humphrey's Peak, trail to the left of the ridge

     We were passed by one couple just before reaching the summit but they were very friendly and we took turns photographing each other, even though I had brought my tripod (which Susan graciously carried to the top) so I could take a photo of us on the summit. Being a photographer, I find that asking random people to take photos rarely yields a quality photo and being picky I like to compose the photo to my liking anyway. We took a bunch of photos and videos, signed the summit register, and had a snack on the summit.

Susan upon reaching the summit

     Humphrey's Peak is the highest point in Arizona at 12,633 feet.  If you consider just the highest point of each state individually, Arizona ranks 12th in the United States.  Although I have not been on the highest point the United States, which is Mount McKinley in Alaska, I have been on the summits in the states that rank #2 (Mount Whitney in California), #3 (Mount Elbert in Colorado), and #15 (Harney Peak in South Dakota).  This was Susan's first mountain summit and she worked for every foot of it.

On the summit of Humphrey's Peak

      This is also a very sacred area and I kept that in my mind and my heart as I scanned the outstanding views.  The Navajo consider this the land where heaven meets the earth and their medicine men used herbs collected from these mountains in their healing ceremonies.  The area also has symbolic significance to other groups, such as the Hopi, Zuni, Havasupai, and Yavapai-Apache.
     With huge views in every direction, sunny skies, and calm winds, we were in little hurry to leave the summit.  But eventually we decided to leave since we had more planned for the day.

Panoramic view from the summit of Humphrey's Peak

     Descending down mountains can be almost as difficult as ascending them as it is often very hard on the knees.  I found the hiking pole my father loaned me to be quite useful as I deliberately stepped carefully on my way down the peak.

Descending Humphrey's Peak

     We quickly made our way down the mountain on the lovely sunny day and were quite happy in our accomplishment.  Before we knew it, we were back at the boundary of the wilderness area and took some photos at the sign.

At the wilderness boundary

     What a day!  It took us 4 hours to reach the summit and we spent an hour reveling in the summit sunshine.  It took us three hours to get down the mountain to the car for a round trip of 8 hours.  It gave us just enough time to get to the Grand Canyon for our next day of sightseeing.  On our way out of town, I stopped to take this photo and I couldn't believe that just a few hours earlier, we were on top of this mountain.

Humphrey's Peak, Flagstaff, AZ

     The couple that passed us on the way to the summit informed us about Lava Cave, a nearby landmark in the direction we were going, and we hoped to stop by and check it out before dark.  We wanted to get to the Grand Canyon by sunset, but it took us a little longer to leave the parking area because we found a dog in the parking lot that was separated from its owner.  About an hour earlier we encountered a young man on the trail who had lost his dog. His husky had been let off the leash, ran after an animal, and did not come back.  I told him not to worry because they always come back, at least my hound dog that would occasionally run off always did, attempting to console him.  As we walked away, I asked if he had his cell phone on him and that if he gave me his number, I'd contact him if we saw a dog.

     While I think that having a dog on a leash in the woods is rather ridiculous, there was a sign at the beginning of the trail that indicated it was illegal and subject to fine for letting your dog off its leash.  But I felt sorry for this guy and could empathize with his situation.  I figured the dog went back to the parking lot but understood that the guy didn't want to leave the location where he last saw his dog, since he was a little ways up the mountain.  But just as I suspected, when we got closer to the parking lot, we saw a beautiful black and white husky come hesitantly in our direction.  I texted a photo of the dog to the man and he said he'd be right down.  While we were packing up, the dog went and laid down in the shade next to his vehicle like a good dog should.  

Husky and Subaru

     The man texted me back when he returned to his dog and his car and thanked us for our kindness.  He asked if he could repay us somehow, then admitted he didn't have much to offer.  He said he taught a yoga class in Flagstaff and that we were welcome anytime!  He reminded me a little of myself as a younger man in college and that made me smile.

     Looking at my watch, I debated whether or not to stop at the cave our hiker friends told us about, and wondered how long it would take to get to the Grand Canyon.  You see I have this really neat gadget in my pocket that can tell you all kinds of information like how long it takes to travel and it even displays a map! Maybe you've heard of one of these things, I think they are termed cellular devices or something, but I call mine the dohicky thingamajig (insert incredible sarcasm here).

     As is my usual reasoning, I figured "when are we going to be back here?" and used that to justify a side trip to see the cave.  The cave was only 5 miles one way off our our route north on highway 180.

Lava River Cave, Coconino National Forest

      Lava River Cave is a 3/4 mile long cave in the Coconino National Forest and was "discovered" by loggers in 1915.  This cave was formed when molten rock flowed though the ground during a nearby volcanic episode.  Evidence of the flow can be seen inside as the ground rock has undulations that represent the final flows of lava out of the cave. "Stone icicles," also called lavasicles, are present on the ceiling and formed when heat from the volcanic blast re-liquefied the rocks and then they hardened while dripping. Unlike most geologic events, Lava River Cave formed rapidly and probably looks exactly like it did shortly after it was formed, about 675,000 years ago!  Thus it is considered "frozen in time."

Inside and at the entrance of Lava River Cave

     Although I had my headlamp with me, I only ventured inside for a little way. It was cold in there!  Here is a picture of a cave map on a sign near the entrance.

Sign at the entrance of the cave

     We made it to Tusayan, the last town before the entrance to the south rim of the Grand Canyon at sunset.  Unfortunately, we missed the sunset at the rim, but we were worn out and tired from a thoroughly satisfying day in central Arizona.

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