Were cliff dwellings foreclosed on?

You may have camped with us at Battle Creek on the Snake River, above Wild Sheep Rapid, on the left in Oregon. The big bench up there where we put the tents has depressions left from pit houses where Nez Perce wintered I don’t know how many years ago.

After Wild Sheep, we pull over to scout Granite and if you’ve taken that short walk you’ll recall the pictographs under the rock overhang.

I love that stuff. Just absolutely dig knowing someone stood right in this very spot looking at just this very thing thousands of years ago. “Thousands” is a handy term, but perhaps we’re too used to throwing it out there. I mean….thousands. Hundreds and hundreds of 365s. That’s a lot of 24/7s. A lot of sun-ups and sun-downs and the rock art is still there. You can see where the pit house was. You’re walking the same trail.

Couple days ago some friends took me out to some ruins near Prescott, Arizona that aren’t on the map. Drive two hours. Hike around a knob and bam. Right there. Perched up in a natural overhang, sandstone blocks stacked and stuccoed, log rafters still intact. Small tiny corncob lying on the floor. Discreet sign posted nearby asking you to please respect the site and not disturb anything. Walk down the trail and there are more sandstone wall remains.

This morning I took a walk around Montezuma Castle, south of Sedona. Montezuma was never this far north, the folks who know these things say, but someone hung that name on this place and it stuck.

Note the shade wing in the Montezuma picture. Reminds me an awful lot of river camping.

….speaking of rivers, it was nice to see rafting influence at Coyote Joe’s in Prescott. They’ve got some action photos on the wall of paddle rafts, and a broken wooden oar blade above the bar.

Adios for now. I’m hitching up the Minnie Winnie bound for Sedona to take some peeks around.

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