Dec 29
First off we visit Montezumas Castle just down the road from our camp. The cliff dwellings have nothing to do with Montezuma, but it has a more tourist ring to it than Sinagua Castle. The Sinagua were the originaly builders and inhabitants of this five-story abode, built in the 1100s. Pretty cool.
Now for Oak Creek Spire. A forbidding 3 pitch tower East of Courthouse Rock with a complex approach if one does not follow the directions.
Dun dun dun - Oak Creek Spire.
Courthouse Rock to the West
Little tiny Marc at the base of the North Face of Oak Creak Spire.
The rock is so beautiful here.
The six foot jump across. Its even scarier in real life. It was getting late (spent too much time at Monetzuma's Castle in the morning) and a perhaps compounded by a lack of appropriate gonad size, we bailed. Our original source said four feet - but this thing was monstrous! I read about one guy who was 6"7' who spanned the gap. Otherwise it is full- on horizontal dino!
Beautiful sunset coming down from the spire.