Montezuma Castle

We left the Phoenix area this morning and arrived a little north in Cottonwood, AZ. We will spend a few days here to see some sites and it is close to Sedona.
Montezuma Castle is another cliff dwelling, built in the early 1100's by the Sinagua Indians. It is a 20-room, five story dwelling recessed in a cliff 100 feet above the valley, once accessible only by ladders. As a preservative measure, they do not allow tours. So these pictures were taken from the trail below. The Sinagua lived here for about 300 years then abandoned these dwellings, without explanation.
We also drove up the mountains to see Jerome, which was once a copper mining town of 15,000 residents, then became a virtual ghost town when the mines closed in 1953. Population today is 329 residents who are trying to restore the town, which clings to the sides of Mingus Mountains, literally. The elevation was a 1,500 foot climb from Cottonwood. It became colder, windier and started snowing! Again, more snow in our way.
This has been a very strange winter in Arizona. The total rainfall in 2009 was 8.25 inches. Today, early March, the amount of rain is 7.9 inches. And this is a desert! Yesterday, there was minor flooding and much standing water.