Camp Verde, Arizona
Journal Entry
July 30, 2009
There is a word, used almost exclusively by British speakers of English, spoken in reaction to something that is absolutely, mind-blowingly impressive—either in a good or a bad way. That word is gobsmacked. I just love how it sounds. It denotes a combination of surprise and amazement, but times 10. Every time I visit Montezuma Castle and experience the dramatic “reveal” when reaching the point along the trail where the ruin virtually explodes into view above me I am, well, gobsmacked.
As I mentioned in the introduction, Montezuma Castle is misnamed. It had nothing whatsoever to do with the fifteenth-century Aztec ruler Montezuma. It isn’t even a castle. The structure is, in fact, nothing more—and nothing less—than a small apartment house built within the confines of a natural cave located high up on a cliff in central Arizona. Its builders were a group of people belonging to the Sinagua culture. Two additional sites among my fifty, Site 26, Walnut Canyon and Site 27, Wupatki (both also in Arizona), are also considered to be affiliated with that culture. As I discussed earlier, Sinagua is one of several groups ancestral to the modern Hopi Indians who inhabit the American Southwest today. Cliff Dwellings, Great Houses, and Stone Towers
As is the case for all the cliff dwellings listed among my fifty sites, the overwhelming beauty of Montezuma Castle cannot be fully conveyed or adequately appreciated in a two-dimensional image, but I’ll provide a couple of photographs here just to give readers an impression of how incredible a place it is. Though there are only twenty rooms, the building is imposing. Even my then 11-year-old son Jacob was impressed, and he’s pretty blasé about most everything. Jacob’s primary question about the site was, at the same time, both obvious and smart: Why would people build a house and choose to live in so inconvenient a setting, one that was such an incredible challenge to even get into and then back out of? Indeed, that is a key question we’ll tackle in a little bit.
What You Will See
After you arrive at Montezuma Castle National Monument, you pass through a small, informative museum where you’ll pay your entrance fee (or your America the Beautiful or Senior National Parks pass will get you in for free). From the museum it’s a short, flat, very easy hike across a paved pathway to the site. You don’t need to be an avid hiker to see Montezuma Castle; the flat pathway actually makes the major viewing points wheelchair-accessible.
As you approach the ruin, all you can see at first is a subtly shadowed niche located three-quarters of the way up the cliff ahead of you and to your right. You continue walking a very short distance along that path and then, bam (I-11)! You are standing directly below the structure, which appears almost to be floating above you from your vantage point on the trail (Figure 56). As I said, I’m gobsmacked every time.
The site’s general appearance is quite beautiful, and its setting is extremely dramatic. I’m convinced that this was quite intentional on the part of the builders. After all, why would ancient architects be any different from modern ones? I think it’s little more than temporal conceit to assume that ancient buildings were designed only with practical or utilitarian considerations in mind. Highly functional of course, Montezuma Castle also is truly beautiful in its simplicity and filled with thoughtful touches, including a front wall that is curved inward, matching the concave surface of the cliff in which it is secreted. I bet the ancient builders and residents of the structure thought it looked pretty amazing too. Though there are only twenty rooms spread out across five stories—Montezuma Castle is far smaller and less grand than most of the cliff dwellings at Site 29, Mesa Verde (Colorado)—its construction nevertheless was an impressive and massive undertaking. Built in about AD 1100, the site was occupied for more than 300 years. It was abandoned after AD 1425, possibly as the result of a prolonged drought.
When Montezuma Castle was first opened to the public in the early twentieth century, visitors were allowed to climb up the cliff and explore the interior of the ruin. That practice ended in 1951. The building had begun to deteriorate as a result of so many people traipsing through the fragile, more than 600-year-old site, so it was closed to the public. Binoculars or a telephoto lens will come in handy for your visit. With the close-up view thus afforded, you’ll be able to clearly see the building’s elegant masonry as well as the exposed ends of some of the original sycamore logs used as roof and ceiling beams.
You can get up-close views of the remains of ten additional structures as you continue along on the paved trail, including Castle A, a larger but not as well-preserved building consisting of more than forty rooms located at the base of the cliff. The site, then, was not just a single impressive structure but an entire neighborhood.
If you have the time, you should definitely walk the length of the loop trail back to your car. You’ll get a variety of interesting views of the “castle,” have opportunities for great photos, and see a nifty little diorama in a kiosk along the way. If you have a bit more time, you can drive an additional 11 miles to a fascinating companion site, Montezuma Well. The well is a natural feature, a lake that resulted from the collapse of a cavern. Look closely and you’ll see two cliff dwellings built by the Sinagua in a niche above the well (Figure 57). More than a million gallons of water flow through the well every day (so these Sinaguans, in fact, were not “without water”), serving as an irrigation source to farmers both ancient and modern.
Though named for the dryness of their home territory, the Sinagua were farmers who relied on water to grow corn, beans, and squash as part of a broad diet that included a significant component of wild plants and animals. Rainfall in the area was undependable for agriculture, so the Sinagua developed sophisticated irrigation strategies involving small dams and lengthy channels to direct water to their planting fields from sources like the nearby Beaver Creek as well as Montezuma Well. Some of their irrigation channels continue to be used to this day.
Why Is Montezuma Castle Important?
At least one of the reasons you should see Montezuma Castle is its setting. Imagine people with no mechanical assistance or animal power building a small, elegant, five-story apartment complex in a naturally eroded alcove situated about 90 feet up a crumbly cliff. Now imagine daily life there. Tending to their agricultural fields, hunting wild game, fetching water, collecting clay for pottery making, visiting neighbors—all these daily tasks involved a nearly 90-foot climb down and then back up with the use of ladders as well as hand- and footholds carved into the rock. That brings me back to my son Jacob’s question: Why would people go to all that trouble? The answer is pretty simple: The difficulties presented by Montezuma Castle’s setting were more than compensated for by the advantages that setting provided. In its natural alcove, the building is shaded from the brutal Arizona summer sun. Its positioning is also important for the protection it afforded its residents; it must have been very difficult for enemies to mount a sneak attack on a building located in a niche 90 feet up a cliff. The thickness of the walls as well as the dearth of windows further rendered the structure impervious to the slings and arrows not of outrageous fortune but of nasty neighbors. Bottom line: When you’re up there, you’re largely safe from enemy attack.
The thick walls and very few windows were also smartly conceived to keep it cool inside during the day and warm at night. Modern architects and builders in the Southwest mimic some of those same strategies, utilizing thick exterior walls with a high thermal mass in today’s energy-efficient construction practices. Finally, the building is more than high enough to avoid the surging waters of Beaver Creek when it floods. Montezuma Castle, therefore, reflects the ingenuity, capability, and adaptability of the ancient Sinagua people and for that reason alone is an important site that’s worth a visit during your archaeological odyssey.
The US government has long formally recognized the site’s significance. After the passage of the American Antiquities Act in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt was given the power to officially designate places in the United States as “National Monuments.” Roosevelt was a true visionary about the need to preserve for future Americans places that exemplify our nation’s natural and cultural heritage, and he wasted little time in naming monuments. The first place so designated was Devil’s Tower in Wyoming (that’s the volcanic mountain that plays a major role in the Steven Spielberg movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind). El Morro in New Mexico, a striking sandstone promontory covered in historical graffiti, was number two. On December 6, 1906, Montezuma Castle was the third place to be designated by President Roosevelt as a national monument. As of this writing, there are 109 places so designated (a number that likely will continue to grow), twelve of which are included in my fifty sites.
Site Type: Cliff Dwelling
Wow Factor: ***** It’s a small cliff dwelling, but the setting is gorgeous.
Museum: ***** There’s a terrific National Park Service museum on-site.
Ease of Road Access: ***** It’s a very short drive off the highway on a paved road; well sign-posted.
Ease of Hike: ***** The hike to Montezuma Castle is very short and paved. It is wheelchair friendly.
Natural Beauty of Surroundings: **** The surrounding Arizona desert is notable for its stark beauty. The presence of Beaver Creek, which attracted human settlement to the area in the first place, provides a nice habitat for lots of greenery.
Kid Friendly: *** There’s nothing particularly geared toward little kids, but the hike is easy and short, which helps with short attention spans.
Food: Bring your own. There’s no food service in the park.
How to Get There: Montezuma Castle is located just a few minutes off I-17, about a 90-minute drive north from Phoenix. Take I-17 north from Phoenix to exit 289. Drive east through two traffic circles for approximately 0.5 mile to the blinking red light. Turn left onto Montezuma Castle Road.
Hours of Operation: Open daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cost: See website. There is no additional fee for Montezuma Well.
Best Season to Visit: Central Arizona can be brutally hot in summer, so you might want to visit in any other season. However, the hike is short, not particularly challenging, and there’s is an air-conditioned museum on-site.
Website: www.nps.gov/moca/index.htm
Designation: National Monument