Montezuma Well and a trip to Jerome

For the past 2 nights we have a boondocking spot in the Coconino Forest. While we are here we have visited both the Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well. We did the Well first and the Castle the next day. I personal (actually the whole family) liked the Well better. This surprised me as we heard mainly about how great Montezuma Castle was and heard very little about Montezuma Well.  The Well was FREE to visit. The Castle was amazing don't get me wrong. To even just think about all the work that went into this place so long ago makes my head spin. It truley is amazing! I won't try to remember all the details but feel free to follow the links above for both places in orange if you want to learn more about their history.

The Well...although the dwellings were perhaps not as grand as the Castle, we had a lot more fun exploring the Well. Not only could you view the Well from the top...

As we approach the first sign saying to stay on the trail...where do you
think we found Sierra...you guessed it...off exploring OFF of the trail!



Sierra reading the sign and "learning" about the Well



You could walk down a pathway to the base and see other areas where they had small living areas.

Then further along...another path which led to an amazing little waterway. We met a lady their named Heidi from Nebraska who travels here as often as she can to put her feet in the water and soak up the healing properties in the water. Of course Sierra and Aayla had to sit down, become best friends and get their feet right in there too. It wasn't long before we were all enjoying the natural springs.

Note the heart rock in the far wall

Dipping in the feet with their new friend Heidi

 

Nothing quite like a sundress and rainboots!

Sierra spotted our first little gecko on the trial

and I was over joyed to see my first ever Cardinal. We don't have Cardinals in BC. He was hiding in a thicket and I was having a hard time focusing on him and not the branches so I am fairly please with how they turned out :)

We were going to head to the Castle after the Well but we thought the kids needed a little break from the hike and took a drive over to Jerome since we had the trailer off and have heard that the roads in Jerome have a length restriction. Thankfully we did go when we did as the length is not to exceed 40' and we are about 56'.

The roads were quite narrow and full of hairpins so we are glad we heard ahead of time to drop the trailer if we were going there.

Jerome is a neat little town who prides themselves on being full of ghosts. They offer ghost tours if you are interested. Personally we just wanted to look around a bit and I am happy to say we didn't see any ghosts!

Welcome to deansfield...this one actually is our aunt and uncle..made a typo the other day when I saw the user name...mdfoster and jumped to conclusions it was our aunt and uncle when it is actually our cousins...sorry about the mix up :) Glad you are both along for the ride!