Honanki Heritage Site

 Deep in the Coconino National Forest, outside of Sedona, lies the Honanki Heritage Site. From what I read, it's only recently been open to the public by the National Forest Service. We stopped there for about an hour with Pink Jeep Tours to explore the rock art/pictographs and cliff dwelling. My FIRST cliff dwelling! It was fair to say I was excited!

 It was perhaps a 1/2 mile ish hike from the parking lot to the dwelling, fairly easy trek I felt. Archaeologist Jesse Walter Fewkes stumbled upon this gem in the late 1800's during his time in the Verde Valley. The inhabitants of the area were the Sinagua people ("without water") and are considered to be the ancestors of the Hopi. Evidence suggests they arrived in the general area in the early 1100's A.D. and abruptly left in the early to mid 1300's. Perhaps water had become even more scarce? Trust me, I did not see any water source anywhere in the vicinity,except in places I imagined would be prone to flash floods!

Right at the top tree line, now you HAVE to look CLOSE, you can barely make out a lighter shade of rock...its actually small bricks. That's the outside wall of the dwelling. Now, the hallow area above it may have well contained other layers of "apartments" at the time...but the ledge above serves quite nicely as protection against rain and the like.

Like I said, the guide on this tour wasn't too much into botany, but this tree was REALLY cool! It reminded me of an alligator...and sort of felt pretty odd too!

 Looking up the cliff.....the sky was perfect, but temperatures only hovered in the 40's and the wind was ferocious, but the trees and the rock, kept us pretty cozy and protected from the elements.

Archaeologists feel that, in it's heyday, there were perhaps as many as 60-70 rooms and housed a few hundred people.

 Here's me getting close to one of the few walls still standing. It was amazing to think that nearly 9 CENTURIES later, that even SOME of the walls stood! It serves as a testament to their skills and craftsmanship, that's for sure!

 Some interesting rock art, mainly animals and unusual shapes, unfortunately there was no NPS ranger or NF personnel to answer questions about what these symbols might possibly represent. Ike the cave in Aruba, hand prints were also popular here!

Ellie and I in front of the ruins of Honanki.

 Perhaps either a clan symbol, (it was a bit higher off the ground), or perhaps (because of the notches) a calender of sorts.

 Most likely, a medicine man....

 Yep, I think it's got "curb appeal"!

 Despite my fingers being quite chilled due to the wind, every once in a while I just HAD to pick up the camera and take a photo of the breathtaking scenery! And the driver (see comments in the following post) seemed to think that it was of utmost importance to make sure I had juuuusssttt the right lighting and view. Sometimes he would stop when HE felt I should take a photo of something spectacular, it was just easier to lift my camera and aim rather than to pass......I thought I might lose my fingers to frostbite though (did NOT have "proper" "winter" attire with me.....I didn't think that it would get THIS cold for THIS long!).

 Do you see a camel?  Like the one on Camel cigarettes? It was fun to look at the rocks and let your imagination work in the way that it's fun to examine clouds!

And finally, Chimney Rock meant that we were nearly back to the warmth of the condo!