Thumb Butte

On separate occasions we have climbed up Thumb Butte in Prescott's National Forest. Here are pictures from a few of those trips. 

This is what it looks like from the base, no problem right? It's steeper than it looks. And be prepared to carry your 2-4 year old with you if you take them along. On the bright side of things that means a better workout for you.

Iolana, Kaylin and our friend Lindy playing around before we head up the mountain.

We made it to the top. Luckily they have benches at the top. And look at the view! Breath taking to see all the mountains everywhere. 

Despite all the hard work all the kids didn't seem too tired. But of course we had to hike back down the mountain.

On a separate trip Adam and I got to the top and then we went a little bit further. The very top of the Butte has no trail, it's all rock. Very popular for rock climbers. We didn't have gear but I wanted to climb up as far as we could thinking we could make it to the top. Adam humored me and followed along. 

We got pretty far up but without gear we weren't able to get to the top. If I didn't have the kids and a family I probably would have tried to get further, but I have more than myself to think about now. It was still fun to do.

And finally here are the kids as we head back from the mountain. They made it but deserve a rest and some food! Next stop is home.

These two are rearing to go seeing as they were carried up most of the way. 

Walnut Canyon

On the same weekend we visited Montezuma's Well we also stopped by Walnut Canyon.  This is a Canyon carved out by water, and because of the water supply it became popular for the Hopi indians. They  built houses in the cliff walls of the canyons. It's beyond me why they would build a house in a wall, I mean talk about waking up on the wrong side of the bed. But it is definitely a neat and beautiful site. 

In this picture you can see the stairs that take you on the island trail on the right side of the picture.

Because of the time that we arrived at the park the island trail was closed. This trail leads down into the canyon where you can see up close some of the cliff dwellings. Some of them you can even walk into. 

So instead of being able to get up close and personal with the dwellings we walked the outer rim trail which took us up above the canyon so we were able to see the dwellings from up above.

There are dwellings all along these cliffs, keep looking for some closer shots.

Along the lighter colored rock you can see a gap in the cliff. This is one of the dwellings. How would you leave and get home every day if you lived here?

I wouldn't mind seeing the view every morning though.

In this picture you can see another one of the dwellings. And that rim of trees that connects the canyon is part of the island trail that we didn't get go on.

We were all a bit disappointed that we couldn't get closer to the dwellings. I guess it's motivation for us to  head out for an adventure again so we can see them.

Montezuma's Well

We decided to take a weekend and do some sight seeing before the school year started. One place we saw was Montezuma's Well. This is a sink hole in the middle of a dessert with an underground spring feeding it about a thousand gallons a minute. Two different settlements of indians lived here, both leaving and we don't really know why.  But it still flows, and the irrigation ditches that were built by the settlers is still in use today. Because of the underwater limestone the well is rich with carbon dioxide and as such no fish live in the water.

We weren't able to go down to the well itself but we were able to get pretty close. Off to the right there's a walk way that leads down to the base of the well. This is where the pit houses are. On the other side of the well you can see the cliff dwellings in the side of the cliff; very cool I thought.

Being June, we all got a little hot.

Even though it was hot, we were all having a good time.

Since we were all so hot, everyone took advantage of the irrigation ditches to cool ourselves off. There is a trail that leads you around the well to the "exit" point where the irrigation canals were built. Down in here it was very shady from the vegetation that grew all around the canal. 

Here's the path that leads down to the base of the well where the irrigation canal begins.

It was very pretty along the walkway, and it was a definite needed break from the sun beating down at full blast.