Day 68: Montezuma Castle & Lava River Cave

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This morning on the way out of Camp Verde we stopped at the Montezuma Castle National Monument which is an ancient castle which was built into a wall of rock that 35 people used to live in. We walked around the bottom of it for awhile and then drove to Flagstaff, to the hostel we were going to be staying at. We got directions to the Lava River Cave, which was about 30 minutes out of Flagstaff. The cave was formed during an eruption and before the lava hardened rocks dropped into it, so as you walk through it you can see all the rocks under the surface. The cave was pitch black so we needed our torches, and we were told there might be bats but luckily we didn't see any. The cave was a mile long and then a mile back out and we had to wear winter gear because it was quite cold inside. It was really cool walking through it, some of the rocks were quite slippery but it was fun climbing through the tight spaces and up and down the rocks. We managed to get out nearly unscathed - Rach grazed her leg down a rock, and I hit my head on one, but nothing too bad.
When we got out of the caves it had been raining so we headed back to the hostel just as another thunderstorm started. We cooked another stirfry dinner (5th one! but this one was the best) and played some pool with a few people at the hostel. We did get invited to go line dancing but politely declined :P Tomorrow we are going to be leaving pretty early for the Grand Canyon because we have quite a few things we want to stop at along the way!

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Photos

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Montezuma Castle

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Route 66 - where our hostel is here

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the lava river cave