Montezuma's Castle, AZ

Leaving Phoenix up I-17 leads a driver out of the locally lush Sonora desert locations through what's been described as like "the surface of the moon". Rocks and devoid of life. For miles. Then, after about twenty miles and a nice elevation change, plant life begins to return.

The changing flora yields a collection of desert shrubbery and succulents, and after another twenty or so miles you're left in a high hilly plateau, well covered in greenery and windswept with nice breezes.

Even though it's a desert, at this point it's pretty lush.

About a dozen or so more miles will get you to the entrance of Montezuma's Castle National Park.

That's about as close as visitors can get.

The Sinagua (sin-ah-wah) culture thrived in the southwest between 600 and 1400 ACE, and covered an area from Colorado to Mexico and from Nevada to New Mexico. The castle was built as a cool place to live during the blazing hot summers over the course of many years.

There are five distinct levels, and each floor is supported by axed timbers. There was a community of 200 nearby, but archaeologists believe that only thirty-five people lived in the castle at the height of it's use.

It has, over the recent centuries, become the object of conservationists efforts to preserve it.

Here's a closer look, thanks to the Mrs. Blonde Giant's nice camera:

These pictures have been taken along the footpath, and if you follow it around behind the rim of this cliff face, there is another set of ruins, a set to which visitors can get closer.

Maybe we should have led with this, but here's a diagram of the construction sequence of the castles's creation:

Montezuma's castle, the living quarters for Billy Jack in the movie of the same name, looks beautiful and classic, but, if a cliff dwelling site in the Phoenix vicinity is what you're looking for, I'd suggest heading southeast to Tonto National Park. The front isn't quite as complete as Montezuma, but you're allowed to walk around in the space.