Sedona and Sinaguas

We stopped into another ruin, Tuzigoot. This is high on top of a hill in the valley, a whole series of rooms spread over the high ground, with the highest giving a great view. Back in the 1930’s, when the bottom dropped out of copper, the WPA decided to excavate and stabilize this ruin to give the miner’s something to do, and it is pretty nifty to be inside one that has been much more restored than is considered proper today. There is a roof top and stairs up to it, and lots of cement work on the stones.

This is the upper end of the Verde Valley, where most of the Sinagua ruins lie, and although the Spanish name, without water, seems to indicate dry farming, they seemed to be near a pretty lush valley compared to the rest of AZ. They also raised and wove cotton in beautiful and intricate patterns.

The Grand Canyon where we are headed, and Zion and Bryce canyons are all holes cut into the vivid rocks that rose up as the Colorado plateau. As we drive north, there are hints of the colors to come in the road cuts, but at Sedona the wild west of rocks jumps up with a war whoop.


The towers and canyons are like another movement in the tone poems of Bryce and Zion, the same sequence of white tops, then bands of pink and orange and rust and wine. In Sedona, we can drive and built vastly expensive homes in the midst of this grandeur, one exotic tower and bluff follows another. Downtown is full of expensive shops and bistros, all built since the 80’s. I’m guessing the foreclosure rate here is pretty high.

The road heads north up spectacular Oak Creek Canyon and climbs 2000 feet through the layers until we are back on the top dusting of black volcanic rock at 6200 feet in Flagstaff’s back yard. The walls are dark, and the canyon narrow, with lots of places to tent camp or play in the creek. Although the views in Sedona seem to be a little better from the south, I think the canyon might be more spectacular going down in stead of up. That way you would be able to see the descent into the red rocks better. Steep windy roads seem to be the motif for this section of our trip, these would all be great sports car roads, but that doesn’t stop Don and the truck from pretending and roaring up the hills and blasting around the curves. He has a straight sort of widened tail pipe on his truck that makes a mighty roar that I would know anywhere.

The next day we learn that Don’s fridge needs only a new fan in behind. Because it is contained in a slide and can’t vent out the top, the heat exchange process needs extra help. We probably have been under achieving for a while, but didn’t notice until we were in 90+ heat. A new part will be sent to us, and we will have to deal with it later. In the meantime, it is cool enough that we are OK.

Now we are off to Williams AZ, to investigate how the folks on the South Rim handle the touristas.