Agua Fria

On our way back to Mesa for the winter, we stopped at a place I had been curious about for years.  Agua Fria National Monument is only about 40 miles north of Phoenix and while driving past, we always commented, "We should stop there sometime."  This was the time.

Since it is a national monument, we were surprised that there is no visitors center, just a board with some maps.  We headed out Bloodly Basin Road and had our second surprise - after about 5 miles, the road worsened.  Made us glad we had splurged for a high-clearance vehicle last winter.  Our destination was the remains of a prehistoric pueblo.  See it?

Well, it's no Tuzigoot, but this is what happens when no restoration is done.  I've always been critical of all that repair work, but I think I might be changing my mind.

This structure probably had 100 rooms and was multi-storied, but we'll never know.

What was really cool, though, was the amount of pottery shards all over the ground, making it feel that the natives had just left.

Ron even found one that looked typical of the Zuni tribe who lived a couple hundred miles east.

The location was perfect for defense with 360 degree views.

And it was not far from the river if you didn't mind a climb.

We discovered later that there are petroglyphs in another part of the monument - we'll save that for next time.

Finally, just before arriving home, we stopped at a very unusual RV dump.  This one seems to have some mental problems.