World United States Arizona Sedona

The wanderings of Ed & Marion Going to Snowbird school

Jerome & Tuzigoot National Monument Mar 10, 2012

Above Cottonwood there’s an old mining town high up in a mountain we checked out Its probably known thru the motorcycle world as the highway with 158 curves in 12 miles. We toured the Douglas Mansion former owner of mine that’s now part of the State Park System. Looked at a glass top covered mine shaft that went down 1900 ft. Neither of us stood on top to look down that deep hole well just take their word for it ! Then drove further up the hill to the town site and explored a bit. Wow we thought Sedona had tourists! A few days ago we seen a strange vehicle on the road in front of us but could not determine what exactly it was, the light changed and it disappeared in traffic. We found that vehicle today parked up there with the owner and a discussion began with Marion asking about it. It was a motorcycle type trike powered by a small block V-8 with 3 seats built and owned by a biker who you will see in attached pictures. Marion asked how much he charged for rides, he replied that he did not charge but pointed to a TIP can attached to the frame, probably some way to beat a business bylaw we suspect. He would take people to the scenic lookout higher up the mountain if they wished. Ed was impressed with this strange creation and over another fantastic BBQ lunch we decided that we going to ride on this beast. Ed donated to the tip can and we were off, why do the camera batteries always fail when you need them. At the turn around we reloaded and Ed took a video of our ride back down the hill. That video is to large for this site so I've included a few pictures to check out in lieu of. The original video is on my youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NiI_M9BYtg&feature=channel Just copy and paste it into your address bar. After the ride we finished the day by exploring the Tuzigoot National Monument. Tuzigoot is a small national monument, one of several sites south of Flagstaff where the remains of dwellings of the 12th century Sinagua Indians are preserved. Unlike the single cliff house of Montezuma Castle 20 miles southeast, Tuzigoot comprises a cluster of buildings, on top of a small sandstone ridge close to the Verde River valley near the towns of Clarkdale and Cottonwood. Since the time it was abandoned and eventually found, the ruins must have collapsed in upon itself. Over the hundreds of years this area looked more like a small hill of rock like the surrounding area. Somehow someone figured it was worth an excavation and it was found. The pueblo consisted of 110 rooms including second and third story structures. The ruins at Tuzigoot incorporate very few doors. Instead they use trapdoor type openings in the roofs, and use ladders to enter each room.

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