Dead Horse State Park, Tusigoot Nat'l Monument & little town of Jerome

May 22, 2014

So little time and so much to see.  That’s what goes through my mind when I think of the Sedona area.  That’s why we are thrilled to have 6 days here.  Tonight our campground is totally filled through the Holiday weekend. 

The wildfires are still going on and so nearby.  This is near where the 19 Hotshot firemen were killed in last year’s fires.  The rest of the hotshots are fighting this one and our hearts go out to all those that lost their homes and so much more in the blaze.  It is only 5% contained.  Here is a picture taken from 15- 20 miles away from it but if you look closely,  you can still see the smoke against the red mountains. 

Our first stop was at Dead Horse Ranch State Park.

It was a beautiful park and so serene.  I made myself comfortable on

a camping chair while Ton took the 2 hour hike around the lakes

You can tell I love the Blue Heron, but I really liked the way

the feathers hung on this one.

Beautiful Heron in Flight

Then we went to Clarksville to visit another ruins. The Tuzigoot National Monument.   It is an ancient pueblo built by the Sinagua.  The hilltop dwelling Tuzigoot (Apache for “crooked water) is the remnant of a Sinagua village. The first rooms were built around AD 1100 and consisted of 110 rooms.  The original pueblo was two stories high in places with 57 ground floor rooms.  There were few exterior doors; entry was by ladders through the roof openings.  The village began as a small cluster inhabited by 50 persons for 100 years.  The population grew to 400 within 2 years. 

While Ton hiked up the mountain to the ruins,

I took some pictures in the Visitors center

This was  a small portion of what was found  right here.

This is from much smaller stones.  They are call 

Bird stones.  Much harder to make

From there we went high up the mountain to the little town of Jerome.  It began as a roaring copper mining Boomtown of 15,000 people.  It produced an astonishing 3 million pounds of copper per month.  The first claims were made in 1876.  Americans, Mexicans, Croatians, Irish, Spaniards, Italians, Chinese – over 20 nationalities made up the mining camp and added to the rich life and filled the streets with excitement.  

An old copper mine

Today, it is an Artsy, Quirky and unique little town high in the mountains, making it a fun place to visit. 

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.  J