Read about our stop at Montezuma Castle National Monument in Camp Verde, AZ. We are on our way from Flagstaff to Tucson as part of Our Road Trip from Florida to Arizona and Back. You can read about our whole trip or continue reading about this stop along the way.
Montezuma Castle is home to a 20 room dwelling built into a large limestone cliff. These cliff dwellings were built by the Sinagua people between 1100 and 1400 AD. To read more, check out their webpage at: Montezuma Castle National Monument (nps.gov)
Entrance to Montezuma Castle and Visitor Center
We park near the visitor center where you pay for entrance. To enter this park, it is $10 per adult, but luckily we have our National Parks annual pass that covers us. After we show them our pass, they let us enter. Becky broke her foot a couple weeks ago, and she is using a knee scooter to get around. So, we walk on the sidewalk around the back of the visitor center where there’s a line to get in. Becky wants to get her Passport stamp as well as check out their store. They are limiting guests inside due to Covid, so we wait for about 10 minutes before we enter.
Inside the building we get the stamp and check out the store. There is a museum area which is currently closed. However, we also get a junior ranger activity booklet for our daughter. These books are free and has a lot in it, but luckily she only has to complete part of it. Once we leave, we are ready for the 1/3 mile trail to the cliff dwellings.
Montezuma Castle Trail
This 1/3 mile paved trail goes through Arizona sycamore trees to the base of the cliff dwellings. The trail is smooth and wide and perfect for Becky or anyone that needs to take it slow.
As we get to the base of the dwellings, a friendly park ranger offers some history. She also helps our daughter with the junior ranger booklet. It is amazing to see the dwellings from the trail, but learn visitors used to be able to climb ladders into them! However, they haven’t let people climb into the dwellings for last 50 years.
As we continue on the trail, the next stop is the archaeological site named Castle A. It’s another ancient dwelling that looks like holes in the rock but is actually 5 floors against this cliff face. After a few minutes, we continue on the trail to the Beaver Creek overlook. This creek would have been a primary source of water for these cliff dwellers. Just past here we find the park ranger again who helps us complete our daughter’s junior ranger activity. She then swears her in as a junior ranger and gives her a badge.
From here we continue back on the trail to the visitor center. The trail is shaded by beautiful trees along the way. There are benches and even picnic areas as well. We take it easy and rest on a bench before heading back to our car.
Summary
Montezuma Castle National Monument was an interesting stop. We were only here about an hour, but they had a short nice paved trail to the cliff dwellings and back. Walking along the trail was a nice break from being in the car and easy for all of us. The cliff dwellings were very interesting and we enjoyed the junior ranger activity with our daughter. An hour is all you need here, but there is another location, the Montezuma Castle Well. It is 11 miles away and is part of this national monument. But maybe we can visit it next time in the area. Overall we enjoyed our Montezuma Castle National Monument stop!