Walnut Canyon

“Ever heard of a National Monument called Walnut Canyon?” Kathy asked as we drove out of Flagstaff.

“No” Boyd replied. “What’s there?”

Kathy rustles the map on her lap, pokes at the GPS screen while she says: “I have no idea but the exit is just up the road and it’s time for lunch.”

So we stopped. Turns out, there is a nice collection of cliff dwellings in a small canyon only a few miles off I-40 east of Flagstaff. The bad news is the trail is under construction. The good news is it just makes us walk a little farther and we still get to see most of the main ruins. There is a nice visitor center and the walk is down 240 or so steps (and then back up the same steps). The ruins are not as spectacular as some of the other cliff sites but still pretty impressive. We find all of the cliff dwellings impressive when you start thinking about having to walk down to the creek for each drink of water (except when it rained or snowed), or walk up the hill for firewood or food. Those people must have had legs that could push a pro NFL lineman backwards. Now its 240 or so steps up to an air-conditioned visitor center or out to the car and the bottle of cold beverage. Kind of puts all those days of sitting at the computer taking a mandatory training class in perspective.