Late last year, as I was driving home from California, I stopped at Montezuma Castle National Monument in central Arizona. It’s a little thing as National Monuments go, but I like to check them out. Don’t want to miss something good.
The day was sunny and warm. I parked, checked out the visitor center museum, and headed down the the trail to the cliff dwelling, camera at the ready.
When I got there, I was disappointed to see a series of aluminum ladders leaning against the rock face, giving access to the ruins. I was further disappointed to see three heads peeking down at me from the uppermost level.
Archeologists, students, cleaning team — whatever they were, they were screwing up my photos. But, short of Photoshopping out the heads and ladders, there was nothing I could do.
After a while, I walked back to the visitor center and stopped at the front desk. Three rangers were on duty.
“Who are the guys up in the cliff dwelling?” I asked.
“What guys?” one of the rangers asked.
I said, “Three people are up at the top level. There are several ladders leading up the cliff face.”
“Oh, crap.” said one ranger.
“”I’ll go,” said another. She grabbed a radio and hurried to the door.
I said, “You mean, they aren’t authorized to be up there?”
“We don’t know yet.”
I wandered around the gift shop for a few minutes and waited for the ranger, but she didn’t return. Finally, I concluded that it wasn’t necessary for me to know whether the three heads were legitimate. I wanted to have supper at Joe’s Real Barbecue in Gilbert, and that was a couple of hours away, so I left.
Big mistake. Now it’s driving me mad — not knowing the truth.
The telltale ladders. A mysterious head peering down.
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