Like this:

MMMOOUNTAINSSSS!! Leaving Pine was just as beautiful as entering it, and just as mountainous.  We started off our morning with a 10 mile uphill climb to the top of the “Mongollan Rim,” enjoying the vast beauty of the mountains as we went.  We were promptly rewarded for our labor with an incredibly fun 9 mile downhill (6% grade! woooo!).  One of the coolest things about these mammoth downhills we’ve been experiencing in NM and AZ is watching the scenery (and even feeling the temperature!) change with our descent.  As we got closer to the bottom the pine tree forest gave way to desert once more.

From Pine we coasted into Camp Verde, where we enjoyed a gourmet lunch of falafel and salmon burgers From there we checked out the bookstore next door to where we got lunch, and met a really kind couple who talked to us and gave us a HUGE bag of popcorn (: YUM.  We then proceeded to our evenings lodgings: A HOTEL!!!!!!!! Rhyne, who we had stayed with in Globe, contacted his friends at the Yavapai-Apache nation in Camp Verde about putting us up in the Cliff Castle Casino hotel, which is run by the nation.  We were so lucky and SO honored that the Yavapai-Apache nation welcomed us into the casino hotel, free of charge! We thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of hot showers, cozy beds, and most exciting of all, a HOT TUB!! We have all been talking about how much we want a hot tub for practically this whole trip, so finding one at the hotel was SUCH a treat.

The next morning we headed over to Montezuma’s Castle, a short 2 mile bike ride from our hotel.  Montezuma’s castle is an absolutely AMAZING cliff dwelling.  It is TRULY remarkable.  Hundreds of years ago the ancestors to the Hopi people built these ingenius dwellings right into the side of a veritable CLIFF.  They built it using ladders and carrying items up on their heads and backs.  AND! Get this: WOMEN did all the work! (: While there we met some really nice park rangers, one of whom taught us all about the desert animals, reptiles, and insects (including tarantula’s, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and javelina’s, a potentially deadly pig-like creature that is prominent here, and is actually related to the hippopotomas! Rica and Jeanie actually saw a live one, Sarah saw a roadkilled one).  Another ranger named John who lives in Sedona advised us on where to go and what to see once we arrived there, our next destination.  We all loved talking to both of these interesting rangers!

After we had toured Montezuma’s castle we headed over to the Tribal Administration Office of the Yavapai-Apache nation, where we met Karla and Chairman Beauty, two folks who work there and had been a part of getting us a free room at the hotel.  We loved talking with them and they even gave us each a t-shirt (a really cool t-shirt, by the way) and an informational booklet on the history of the Yavapai-Apache nation.  It was a sobering contrast after the decadence of the hotel to read about the atrocities committed against the Yavapai and Apache tribes, including a death march and fatally violent efforts to quench Yavapai/Apache culture.  It’s a depressing reminder to us that while we have benefited from the kindness of humanity on this trip, there is another side to humanity that is difficult to understand.  Anyway…

From Camp Verde we biked to Sedona, the land of the red rock.  It is a truly magical place! We all were significantly inhibited in our biking speed by our continual stopping for photos (: There is really no place like this that any of us have ever seen.  The rocks are, I mean, REALLY red.  REALLY red.  And the whole area is ringed by massively beautiful red mountains and cliffsides.  We spent a chilly night camping in a church yard, enjoying the stars and the brisk mountain air.  We had planned on continuing our journey early in the morning, but it wasn’t long before we decided we simply HAD to stick around for an additional day to see and enjoy all that Sedona has to offer.  It is just TOO darn beautiful to pass through so quickly!

Well, we’re off to enjoy Sedona, then!  More soon (:

Advertisement