Photo-a-Day - Aug 2012 - Day 24: Path

Photo-a-Day - Aug 2012 - Day 24: Path

On a trip to see my parents in Flagstaff, Arizona, we took a day trip to Meteor Canyon.  On the way, we also stopped at Walnut Creek Canyon where Mom and I talked the trail.  Dad's fear of heights prevented him from joining us.  I'll admit there were times I was desperately clinging to the cliff-wall behind us at points where the trail was incredibly narrow.  Not a railing in sight.

The trail is at 7,000 ft. elevation and is a 1 mile round trip.  The trail descends 185 vertical feet into the canyon, and returns the same way. There are 25 cliff-dwelling rooms you can visit.  This photo is shooting across the canyon to other dwellings archeologists have left unexplored and inaccessible.    

From AmericanSouthwest.net:  In densely-wooded plateau country southeast of Flagstaff, the small seasonal stream Walnut Creek has carved a 600 foot deep canyon as it flows east, eventually joining the Little Colorado River en route to the Grand Canyon. The exposed Kaibab limestone that forms the upper third of the canyon walls occurs in various layers of slightly differing hardness, some of which have eroded more rapidly forming shallow alcoves; during the 12th to 13th centuries many were used by the local Sinagua Indians who constructed cave-dwellings along the steep well-protected ledges, high above the canyon floor.