I had not heard of this monument before looking around for paved road accessible things to do post-river trip. Like with pretty much any monument or park these days it sounded busier than ever before so we worked out camping nearby and being there when it opened. The monument features two main multi-room multi-generational cliff dwellings built into large cliff alcoves, one of which is accessible by a paved trail, the other only by arranged tour. We were the second group to arrive at the parking lot and the first to head out on the trail, which pleasantly meandered upward through lizards and saguaros to the ruins. The dwellings had a commanding view over what would have been the broad valley below, now Roosevelt Reservoir. Though lots of stabilization efforts have modified the ruin, were were able to walk around through some of it to get a sense of the layout. We had just the right amount of time to explore the ruin at a leisurely pace on our own before the next group arrived. We strolled back down the hill already feeling a touch of the day's heat and then walked through the small museum. In all it was a short one hour visit but I thought a worthwhile stop.
 |
| Alcove roof detail |
After leaving the monument we were disappointed to find that the Apache Trail through the Superstition Mountains was closed (and had been since 2019 due to storm damage), and so backtracked once more through Globe. We passed some crazy renaissance fair traffic near Apache Junction and took a slow drive into Tortilla Flats. The Superstitions were as neat as I remembered, though much busier with Sunday drivers, motorcycles and lots of kayakers and paddleboarders on the reservoir. We almost went to explore a canyon but opted to tackle our drive home instead.
No comments:
Post a Comment