11/23 Painted Desert/ Petrified Forest/ Montezuma's Castle

We had an originally reserved campsite in New Mexico, that due to their state shutdown found ourselves pulling a long haul from Texas to Arizona instead. 

We have been to Painted Desert and Petrified Forest before, but after a full day in the car we treated ourselves to a much more thorough exploration.

As always, this geologic fantasia amazes:

We wandered through the ruins 

and visited the petroglyphs.

Some of the natives were a little too friendly!

Violet earned her Bark Ranger badge!

No matter how many times you may have seen it, the landscape remains otherworldly and completely enchanting.

After a couple of hours on the south end we made it to the primary petrified wood sites.

Ancient logs transformed over time into jewels.

We've visited petrified wood sites in California and Texas, but have never seen anything like these elsewhere:

We found ourselves with just enough time to visit Montezuma's Castle on our way to our campsite at Dead Horse Ranch State Park. 

This site - which was one of the first national monuments protected in the early 1900s - owes it's completely inaccurate name to the romantic fantasies of 19th century tourists. These are actually the dwellings of the modern Pueblo people's ancestors from approximately 700 years ago.

The ruins themselves are accessible only to restorers and researchers today as they suffered a great deal of depredation from looters and overly enthusiastic visitors in the past. 

The Verde River area where this site is located is particularly lovely at this time of year when the Arizona sycamore's leaves turn,

and the ruins seem to glow gold in the afternoon sun.

We arrived in camp too late for anything but admiring the lovely night sky!