Walnut Canyon NM

Walnut Canyon National Monument is located 10 miles southeast of Flagstaff.  Yesterday we stopped in at the visitor’s center, watched the introductory film and toured the museum.  There are steep trails that wind 400’ down into the Canyon but we opted out on those.

 

Between 1125 and 1250, the Sinagua Indians built and lived in 100s of small cliff dwellings tucked under the rock shelves that line the canyon walls.  They farmed on the rim, growing corn, squash and beans.  They had to haul drinking water up the steep canyon slopes from Walnut Creek.  The Creek dried up for about 3 months each year so they stored water in clay pots to tide them over.

Taken from near the Visitor Center, cliff dwellings are in center of picture.

They moved out of the area in the late 1200s, probably because they had exhausted nearby supplies of wild game, and timber for cooking and heating.  It is assumed that they were later assimilated into the Hopi tribe.

At 10x zoom, a close up of the dwellings barely visible in the above picture.

Souvenir hunters discovered the dwellings in 1880 and for the next several decades, proceeded to decimate them, even using dynamite to improve access and provide light to the dark interiors.  The hunters didn’t leave much for the archaeologists to find so little is known about the Sinagua way of life.

Walnut Canyon, looking east.

We’ve been camped at Fort Tuthill Park near Flagstaff for 3 nights and will stay 2 more before heading back to the barn.  We bought firewood upon arrival, hoping to enjoy a couple nights of roasting our weenies, warming our buns and (Trish) toasting marshmallows stuffed with dark chocolate.  That hasn’t happened though, due to daily torrential rains.  This area has received roughly 5 times more precipitation than the historical average.  The weather is supposed to improve so maybe we can still roast and toast.

Artist's conception of Sinagua life in the summer.

Winters can be severe at 7000' elevation so they had fires inside the dwellings and swapped out their lightweight cotton summer loincloths for the heavier, warmer, wool ones.  Or the fur ones if it got really cold.  

I wonder: did they climb up to the rim in the frigid winters to conduct their personal business or just hang it over the side - bombs away?  I'm guessing it was the latter and that's why my dwelling would have been located just below the very top shelf.  Talk about your slippery slope!  "You want me to climb down through that mess and fetch a pot of water?  Up yours, Dances With Gophers!  Get it yourself!"

This scenario gives rise to another theory regarding their reason for moving out of the area.  It may have been due to the accumulation of waste rather than the depletion of resources.  After putting up with the waste for 100+ years they just couldn't take it anymore: they were crapped out.