(logo whooshes) - Hey, I'm Jayaar, and on this season of "Trail Mix'd" I'm gonna take you around under and through Arizona.

Join me in my quest to see the best trails that Arizona has to offer, from the iconic spots to the hidden gems.

Along the way, we'll be diving deep into what makes Arizona's trails some of the best in the world.

So come on, let's take a hike.

(upbeat music) Although Arizona statehood only goes back, a little over 100 years, Arizona history goes back as far as the land itself.

Today, we'll be hiking and exploring two national monuments; Montezuma Castle, and Walnut Canyon, both homes to the ancient Sinagua people.

In between, we'll dive even deeper into the past and learn about Arizona before humans ever existed, (bright upbeat music) - [Announcer] "Trail Mix'd" is made possible in part by a gift from Sue and Bill Ahearn.

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Thank you.

(logo whooshes) - If you're a Phoenix-based history buff, looking for your next great day trip, look no further.

Just about an hour from Phoenix and a short hike away, stands in incredible monument, showcasing the history of the Sinaguan people.

Welcome to Montezuma Castle National Monument.

As you explore Montezuma Castle National Monument, you'll discover the story of a resilient community in the Verde Valley from around 900 years ago.

Take an hour to check out the museum, wander the trails in a beautiful sycamore grove, or maybe have a relaxing lunch at the picnic area by Beaver Creek.

Y'all ready?

Come on, let's take a really short hike.

(gentle music) - Now, Montezuma Castle has one of the distinct honors of being one of the first national monuments in the country.

It's a five-story, 20-room structure that a lot of people cannot fathom, that people 1,000 years ago built such a wonderful marvel.

And the reason we protected to this day is because a lot of contemporary cultures to this day, can tie their roots to the people that lived in this valley and built that castle.

So in a way, we're preserving a culture, we're preserving a heritage, and we're keeping that spirit alive of the people that still exist to this day.

- Was there ever an issue with people looting artifacts?

- Absolutely.

Yeah, even before it was illegal to do so.

You know, Montezuma Castle stuck out like a sore thumb.

It was a tourist destination by the local soldiers and such.

You have Fort Verde not too far from here, and people would come down here, see the castle in human nature.

They wanna go inside, see what's inside there.

If they find a souvenir, it was not against the law to take it home, you know?

It was okay to go ahead and find it, take it with you, sell it, do whatever you wanted to do with it.

It wasn't until later on with the Antiquities Act that it was able to be protected.

- How can people show respect to the monument now?

- At the perfect segue, you know, we're talking about protecting these sites and looting different things that went on in the past.

The best way people can protect them to this day is pretty much realizing and respecting how old these structures are, because this is not only a special place, because that's being a national monument, but a sacred area to mainly those affiliated tribes as I mentioned earlier.

(gentle music) - One of the first things I noticed about this trail is it's very flat and concrete.

So it definitely means it's ADA safe.

So if you have family members who are wheelchair-bound, this would be a great place to bring them to.

- I think that's one of the best features of our site is the accessibility.

It's a third of a mile loop trail.

So folks exit the visitor center, walk to the castle, loop around the castle A, loop around to the river over here, and see the views, and then they go all the way back to the castle.

Now, the trail is paved the whole way.

There's benches along the way, and being accessible, being paved, opens it up to everybody of all ages.

- So I'm already seeing what looked like dwellings.

I know those holes aren't natural, so I'm just, "Oh, yeah, I can already see some spots where people definitely lived."

(gentle music) Well, I get why people would wanna live here, these tall rock cliffs look like, they would give really good shelter from the elements, and that is an important part of survival in the ancient days, for sure.

Despite it being a small stream, Beaver Creek proved to be a steadfast source of water throughout the year, making it an ideal locale for the Sinagua to establish their home.

It seems to be evident that they used a lot of the natural materials that they could find for building.

I just wonder what mix of sediment and stone that they use to create these walls, and the fact that they stood this test of time says a lot about the construction.

Can you tell us about how the castle was constructed?

- So in here, you have the rocks used here to make the castle.

You started getting mud also to do insulation, especially to do the different levels up on top of each other.

You had it insulated with reeds, branches, wood, that mud, and then also you had a type of mortar that was used.

It was like the local clay here from the river area, the grinding of stone, and other types of materials to make a clay, and used to make the castle.

So you had all that being incorporated to build a structure that has stood the test of time.

- That is intense.

I mean, I get why they call it a castle too.

That is just wild.

It's tempting to want to go inside the cliff dwelling, but public access of the ruins was discontinued in 1951 due to damage to the site.

But don't worry, there are ruins out there that we're allowed to go in.

Just wait, we'll get there soon.

While you're here, don't forget to check out the second castle.

This structure is a good example of what a site that is far more worn down can look like.

- When visitors come over here to the monument, I think the best thing that you can bring over here is two things.

One thing is always gonna be water, where a short, one-third of a mile loop trail.

But in that time, I have seen a lot of people absolutely dying of thirst.

And the second thing I always tell folks to bring, is bring your curiosity.

Because being a historical site like we have over here with this architectural marvel, being curious and wondering exactly, how do they make it 1,000 years ago?

Because these weren't people that built a cliff dwelling.

These were architects, these were engineers.

- [Jayaar] Yeah.

- These were people who were masterful at their craft.

So if you come over here with your curiosity and willingness and openness to learn, you'd be amazed at what people were doing 1,000 years ago.

- Yeah.

(gentle music) Just a few miles North of Montezuma Castle, is Montezuma Well, perfect distance between each other to visit both in one day.

You guys ready?

Let's dive in.

(gentle music) So plenty of stairs, thankfully handrails, and the first thing I notice is this path is lined with some plants that I as an amateur explorer can recognize, creosote bushes and juniper trees.

This was the first nature spot that I ever visited in Arizona, so it has a lot of heart-centered energy for me.

Also, there aren't very many spots like this in Arizona in general, this massive well, so I'm really excited to revisit.

(gentle music) Montezuma Well was another important source of water in the area, and hosts some more examples of ancient cliff dwellings.

Despite the area receiving far less rainfall, than a national average, the well remains consistently full.

Somewhere deep toward the bottom, water continually flows in from underground, replenishing the well with 1.5 million gallons of new water every day.

The Sinagua people channeled the excess water from the well into the canals that irrigated their crops of corn, beans, and squash.

If you don't read the signs, you actually probably wouldn't even think to turn around and see the cave dwellings right there.

But yeah, that is, I mean, they're so well built.

They almost look current, as strange as that sounds.

They've really stood the test of time, and you can just see how they use the overhang on the cliff for shelter.

Pretty smart.

Well, I think that's enough of the top.

It's a beautiful view, but I'm ready to explore.

Let's do this.

(gentle music) ♪ Making our way downstairs walking fast and I'm well bound ♪ (bright upbeat music) - [Paul] You know, when you go down to Montezuma Well, you'll see some historical graffiti where photographers advertise for themselves down there by painting into the rock.

And that was 100 years ago.

- [Jayaar] Yeah.

- [Paul] You know, and it's still down there preserved, because it's historical at this point.

- [Jayaar] Wow, cool.

- [Paul] But human nature, people wanna leave their marks somehow.

- Yeah.

The desire to leave our own marks is one that's in us all, even people from the 1800s.

But it's important to leave these locations undisturbed.

(bright upbeat music) This is very idyllic.

It looks like fairies inhabit this place, with a beautiful end to this trail.

(bright upbeat music) (Jayaar sighs) Wow.

Between Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well, there's plenty to see and learn, but if you're hungry for more, there's another incredible national monument just about an hour North.

Long before humans built Montezuma Castle, before humans existed at all in fact, the land we call Arizona was still here.

To learn more about Arizona's long history, today, we're hiking the Trail of Time.

Welcome to the Grand Canyon.

The Trail of Time is a mostly flat 2.8 mile walk, along the Grand Canyon's rim trail.

Today, we're hiking the Trail of Time, where at this point, we're about 2 billion years in the past, and as we slowly go up the trail to the finish, at that point, we will be at today.

I'm excited to learn some things along the way, have some adventures, enjoy the scenery.

Are you guys ready?

Come on, let's take a hike.

As you walk the trail, each meter you hike signifies 1 million years of history.

You can keep track of how far you've walked in time by the bronze markers on the ground.

(gentle music) A series of rocks and exhibits line the trail, explaining more about how the Grand Canyon came to being.

This right here is one of the oldest rocks in the park.

It came from the deepest part of the canyon, and believe it or not, it's 1.8 billion years old.

You heard me right, 1.8 billion.

(gentle music) The bottom layers of rock in the canyon are close to 2 billion years old.

Over the many years, additional layers of rock were laid down, with each layer added, being a bit younger than the rocks below it.

Along the trail, there are numerous viewfinders that help point out notable rock formations and features of the canyon.

10 million, 9 million, eight, seven, six, five, four, it's getting faster, three, two, and 1 million years ago.

I can see some more of these discs, so we have to be close to the present time, but let's see how much further we have to go to get to today.

Even though it's taken the Colorado River millions of years to gradually carve out the canyon, the canyon itself is much younger, than the rocks it's made up of.

The Kaibab Formation, the canyon's youngest and top most layer is still millions of years older than the canyon itself.

10, nine, eight, seven, six years ago, five years ago, four years ago, three years ago, two years ago, one years ago, and we are back in the present.

We just traveled almost 2 billion years from the past into the present.

And I wanna say thank you to you for being present with me on the Trail of Time.

We'll catch you on the next one.

From the bottom layers to the top, the Grand Canyon is an incredible place to learn about the vast (indistinct) of Arizona's history.

But if you're more interested in Arizona's more recent history, I've got the perfect trail for you.

We're heading to Flagstaff.

Nestled 10 miles Southeast of Flagstaff, Arizona, there's a place where time seems to stand still, and the echoes of ancient civilization still resonate through the canyon.

Welcome to Walnut Canyon National Monument.

Two main trails are available to hike in Walnut Canyon.

The Island Trail, a mile long round trip takes you deep into the canyon, allowing you to walk next to the dwellings of the Sinagua people.

Today, I'm chatting with the Walnut Canyon ranger, to learn more about Walnut Canyon and its history.

- There are a little more than 500 archeological sites within Walnut Canyon.

Most of those are cliff dwellings, which we see when we go along the Island Trail.

The reason why it's called an Island Trail, is the way the water has eroded this landscape, and it formed through its meandering an island.

- Today, we're hiking the Island Trail.

So come on, let's take a hike.

(bright upbeat music) Though the island trail is only a mile loop, its descend consists of almost 300 stairsteps.

Be sure to conserve your energy, because remember, you're gonna have to hike back up.

(bright upbeat music) In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson established Walnut Canaan National Monument, initially managed by the US Forest Service, and later transferred to the National Park Service in 1934.

The monument safeguards archeological and natural resources on approximately 3,600 acres.

(bright upbeat music) So I've never seen a plant like this, and it's just moments like this that remind me that in a climate like this, in an environment like this, life has to find a way to exist.

And so this thing is just hanging precariously on the side of this rock, but it's thriving also when you look at it, so.

Just like the plants, the ancient people who lived here found ways to thrive with generations of people living their lives off the side of the canyon.

To learn more about Walnut Canyon and its history, today, I'm hiking with Ranger Jenny.

- So these are ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings.

And so if you do our trail, you're going to see a lot of cliff dwellings that look like this.

They're kind of partial cliff dwellings.

And then as you come around the side, you're gonna see more of our complete cliff dwellings that have doors, and more of our walls built up.

- So it's interesting.

When I first came down, I'm used to when I hike and I find ruins, they don't want us to go in.

And it seems like things are a little bit different here.

- Yes, we can head into our cliff dwellings now.

The only thing that we ask our visitors is that they don't sit or lean on the walls while they're down here.

- And why is that?

- We want to be able to preserve our cliff dwellings the best that we can by having people avoid sitting on them.

It's just a better way to be able to keep our walls still standing.

- I can tell that this wasn't exactly designed with height in mind, you know what I mean, tall people in mind.

- You're correct.

Our ancestral Puebloans, they were much shorter than us, probably about five feet average height.

- Sure.

So I heard that there's more dwellings further up the trail.

Are you down to go hike and see?

- Yeah, let's go for it.

- Hiking buddies.

- All right.

- Let's do this.

(gentle music) - We are here at the next spot.

I noticed that this one is different in that it has a door.

- These doors were connecting our cliff dwellings, probably a community cliff dwelling or a family cliff dwelling, so that they could travel throughout our rooms.

- I noticed that it is quite small.

Why do you think that is?

- We have quite a few of these small doors probably to keep in cool and warm weather, during our different seasons.

There's also the belief that they might have been used to keep out larger predators like mountain lions and bears.

You're quite tall, you've mentioned that.

Do you wanna go take a check at that door?

- Yes, I do.

- All right, let's check it out.

- Wow.

Well, this is tiny.

Oh, this wood here.

Was this part of repairs or is this original?

- This is not original wood.

This is wood that has been put in in our restoring of our cliff dwellings.

We try to make it as historical as possible, and so this is a feature that would have been there, when our ancestral Puebloans were living here, and we're just highlighting this now that our cliff dwellings have been partially rebuilt.

- Sure, you guys have done an absolutely, fantastic job maintaining and restoring this space.

Really appreciate it.

What do you think?

You wanna check on another spot?

- Yeah, let's go for it.

- Come on, let's go.

- All right.

- Yeah, you first.

(gentle music) These are some of the most beautiful rock carvings I've ever seen.

I'd love to hear about how they were formed.

- So we're looking at the Coconino Sandstone here.

This is our lowest visible formation in Walnut Canyon.

These were once ancient sand dunes, and so they were created through a process called differential weathering, which essentially means that there are more than one element creating this.

What you're talking about with all of these different lines through them is what we call cross striations.

And these are formed by wind mostly, but also from water when our river was running through here millions of years ago.

- So water carved it down, and then the wind carved the grooves into it.

Does that make sense?

- Yeah, pretty much.

- You really get a sense of the passage of time when you think about how long it would take to erode something like that.

(gentle music) This area of the monument looks a little different.

Ranger Jenny explained that in the 1880s, tourists came through and use shovels and dynamite to crude the excavate the area.

The tourists would comb through the rubble and take precious artifacts for themselves as souvenirs.

This massive destruction eventually led to Walnut Canyon being established as a national monument in 1915 in order to protect the history.

Today has been amazing, spending time with you, hiking with you.

Thank you so much for the education and your time.

- Thank you for being here.

- Ranger Jenny, really, really good to meet you.

Oh, wait, no, no, no, we're gonna high five this, yeah.

- All right.

- Appreciate you.

- Yeah.

- Have a good day.

- Have a good one.

- In the late 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps worked on improvements to the site, including stabilizing walls, conducting tours, and creating infrastructure.

Their efforts laid the foundation for the preservation and accessibility of Walnut Canyon's treasures now.

Today, the monument stands as a testament to preservation and education, welcoming over 100,000 visitors annually.

(gentle music) (Jayaar panting) - [Cameraperson] Turn and tell me about stairs.

- The stairs are the real deal.

This is the best part of hiking.

It's getting moving.

We sit all day.

Let's be honest, most of us sit all day.

That feels good.

That's the human experience right there.

Moving, blood pumping, getting the sweat.

I'm gonna have to dish this jacket.

When we got here this morning, I needed this jacket.

I do not need it right now.

That feels good.

I'm alive!

I couldn't help myself.

Montezuma Castle, the Grand Canyon, and the dwellings at Walnut Canyon, have stood the test of time, managing to stay in tact through hundreds of years of weather, and sometimes even the destruction of careless humans.

As I explored all these amazing pieces of Arizona history, I'm reminded that the future of these places is in our hands.

Hopefully, through preservation, cooperation, and appreciation for its rich history, these monuments and parks will continue to educate and inspire generations to come.

The people that used to inhabit this region, they left all these little clues about the ways that they existed in their communities, and the ways that they thrived inside the canyon.

What an amazing day.

Thank you so much as always for hiking with me, and I'll catch you on the next trail.

(upbeat music)