|
Colossal
Cave
Mountain
Park
Just
a few miles southeast of downtown Tucson,
Arizona
is a wonderland of underground adventures, wildlife, native plants, and
history stretching back over a thousand years.
 Colossal
Cave
Mountain
Park
offers visitors the opportunity to take a
trip underground to explore the historic cave that is the centerpiece of
the park, hike desert trails where they may encounter the animals who live
here, camp under a star filled sky, and tour a historic ranch and two
museums.
Archeologists
tell us that the first people lived in Colossal
Cave
Mountain Park
over a thousand years ago. Around 900 A.D. the Hohokam Indians had a
thriving community here, farming in the valley below
Colossal
Cave
and using the cave itself for shelter, storage, and as a shrine. From
about 1450-1880 A.D. Sobaipuri Indians inhabited Colossal
Cave, followed by the Apache and the Papago (now Tohono O'odham).
In
1922, German immigrant Frank Schmidt filed mining claims on the land
occupied by the cave, and rented the land surrounding it from the Empire
Ranch. He and three others are reported by local newspapers to have made
the first extensive survey of the cave, traveling within it for six days
before exhausting their supply of food and water. Schmidt relinquished his
interest in the land to the State of
Arizona
in 1934, clearing the way for Federal funds to be used to make
improvements in the park.
In
May, 1934, a company of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers came to Colossal
Cave
and spent the next four years working on trails, handrails, and lighting
in the cave, as well as construction of the CCC camp, located on La Posta
Quemada Ranch.
 Today
La Posta Quemada Ranch and
Colossal
Cave
are united as the 5,714 acre Colossal
Cave
Mountain
Park.Visitors can take a half mile long tour of the cave, which takes about
45 minutes. Tour guides relate the Cave's history, legends, and geology,
as visitors walk down and back up about six and a half stories and see
beautiful cave formations like stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone,
boxwork, and helictites. Tours are given daily, year-round. Tours are not
pre-scheduled, but the wait is never longer than 30 minutes.
No
special clothing is required in the cave, which is always 70 degrees and
dry. Visitors are welcome to take pictures on the regular tour. High-speed
film and a flash unit are required for cameras.
The
ranch headquarters house on La Posta Quemada Ranch was built in 1967,
after the original adobe ranch house burned to the ground in 1965. Today
it houses a museum with two focuses: the human history and the natural
history, specifically that of caves, of
Colossal
Cave
Mountain
Park
and the Cienega Corridor region.
Beginning
in 1934, young Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees began hewing huge
limestone blocks, milling lumber, and preparing flagstone for the Colossal
Cave Project. The project lasted almost four years. The CCC developed the
tour route in the Cave, enlarged the entrance, built bridges, laid
flagstone pathways, and installed handrails and lighting. They created the
park’s picnic areas, built the park’s roads and stone armadas, and
even the picnic tables. The most visible testimony to the work of the CCC
at Colossal
Cave
Mountain
Park
is the buildings.
 Today
the Park Service building houses the Civilian
Conservation
Corps
Museum, dedicated to the young men who worked here. Evoking the 1930s, the
museum is set up like the Camp
Commandant
's office, complete with furniture built by the enrollees, and in use ever
since. Visitors can also listen to a 1937 radio interview with Robert
Fechner, National Director of the CCC. Located at the park's La Posta Quemada Ranch facility, the museum
is open for visitors every day.
Colossal
Cave
Mountain
Park
has plenty of spots for picnics and other
fun family recreation. If you’d like to spend more than just a day at
the park, overnight camping is available by permit in the picnic areas. Be
prepared to rough it, because there are no hookups, and camping is limited
for larger RVs.
For
more information on Colossal
Cave
Mountain
Park, call (520) 647-7275. The park is located seven miles north of Interstate
10, Exit 279. Parking is limited and visiting the park in large RVs is not
recommended.
Montezuma
Castle
National Monument
Arizona’s Verde
Valley
was a melting pot of prehistoric cultures where Native people met and
intermingled and civilizations flourished and then faded away over the
course of many centuries.
Archeologists
say the first permanent settlers in the region were the Hohokam, peaceful
farmers who arrived about 600 A.D. They lived in simple one room houses
made of sticks and mud, and irrigated their fields from the waters of
Beaver Creek to grow crops of corn, squash and beans.
Sometime
around 1000 A.D. the Hohokam abandoned the area and were replaced by the
Sinagua, who revived the irrigation systems the Hohokam had abandoned.
Sometime around 1125, the Sinagua began to build large pueblos on the
cliffs and hilltops of the Verde
Valley.
 The
Sinagua’s most elaborate masterpiece was a five story, twenty room
apartment house that still stands in the recess of a cliff overlooking
Beaver Creek. The Sinagua culture flourished during the 1300s and remained
strong for over 100 years. Then, like the Hohokam who came before them,
the Sinagua also abandoned the Verde
Valley
around 1400. Scientists have many theories about why they left, from
disease to famine, but they still have not discovered absolute proof of
where the Sinagua went or why.
Early
Spanish explorers discovered the Verde
Valley
and the ruins in the 1700s, followed by Mexican and American trappers and
settlers. These newcomers believed that the regal structure must be
connected to Aztec emperor Montezuma, and began to call it Montezuma
Castle. The name stuck, even though later research proved the “castle” was
abandoned a century before Montezuma’s birth.
In
the early 1900s, officials began to realize the importance of this
archeological treasure, and became concerned about the vandalism and pot
hunting that was destroying the ancient structure. On December 8, 1906,
President Theodore Roosevelt celebrated the passage of the Antiquities Act
by declaring four sites of historic and cultural significance as our
nation's first National Monuments. Among these was
Montezuma
Castle. Although very few original artifacts remained in the structure due to
intensive looting of the site, Roosevelt's decision assured the continued
protection of one of the best preserved prehistoric cliff dwellings in
North America
.
Montezuma
Castle
National Monument
quickly became a destination for America's first car-bound tourists. In 1933, "Castle A", a 45-50 room,
pueblo ruin was excavated, uncovering a wealth of artifacts and greatly
enhancing our understanding of the Sinagua people who inhabited this
riparian "oasis" along Beaver Creek for over 400 years.
Early
visitors to the monument were allowed access to the structure by climbing
a series of ladders up the side of the limestone cliffs. However, due to
extensive damage to this valuable cultural landmark, public access of the
ruins was discontinued in 1951.
Now, approximately 350,000 people a year gaze through the windows of the
past during a visit to Montezuma
Castle. Even 600 years after their departure, the legacy of the Sinagua people
continues to inspire those who visit here.
Visitors
can take a self-guided, 1/3 mile paved loop trail that leads past the
cliff dwelling, through a beautiful sycamore grove, and along spring-fed
Beaver Creek, one of only a few perennial streams in Arizona. Wayside exhibits along the trail describe the cultural and natural
history of the Verde
Valley. Ranger programs are offered daily on the history and culture of the
people who once lived here.
The
Visitor
Center
contains a small museum displaying Hohokam and Sinagua artifacts and a
small bookstore. The Visitor
Center
and paved sidewalk are fully accessible to wheelchairs.
Montezuma
Castle
National Monument
is located 50 miles south of
Flagstaff
and 90 miles north of Phoenix,
Arizona. From Interstate 17, take Exit 289 and follow the signs three miles to
the Visitor
Center
parking lot. Parking is limited though we have seen tour buses and large
RVs at the monument. An alternative is to leave your RV in the RV/truck
parking lot at Cliff Castle Casino, at the highway exit, and drive your
dinghy or tow vehicle.
There
are no camping facilities at Montezuma
Castle, however the surrounding area offers a variety of camping opportunities,
from Forest Service and State Park campgrounds to private RV parks. Cliff
Castle Casino also allows RVers to dry camp overnight in their parking
lot.
For
more information on
Montezuma
Castle
National Monument, call the Visitor
Center
at (928) 567-3322 or Park Headquarters at (928) 567-5276.
Click Here To
Subscribe To The Gypsy Journal
|