After our hike up Red Mountain, we went over to Walnut Canyon National Monument. This is where a group of Native Americans (the Sinagua) made there home in the canyon...
Little tidbit here..240 steps down to the level that has the trail...more exercise. And here is your home...I'm guessing they were pretty careful stepping out the front door!
It was amazing to me that anyone lived here. It was sheer cliffs everywhere. Based on the info at the visitor's center, it looked like they used ropes and ladders to navigate the different levels in the canyon.
Inside, the walls were still blackened from the smoke. It was a pretty ingenious method. They would leave a little hole above and the door. The draft would pull the smoke from the fire right out the hole above the door. We're not sure how many people lived in each room but I think the quarters were probably pretty cramped...
The doors were really small and they would cover them with animal skins except for the small hole at the bottom. Seth could have zipped right in and out of there...me, not so easily.
All in all, pretty impressive. How they found the location, made it inhabitable, survived for many years, amazing.
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