Tonto National Monument

Visiting Tonto National Monument | Roosevelt Dam | Strawberry Creek | December 2023

We woke up the morning after camping on Pinal Peak feeling grateful that it wasn’t freezing and glad we had stayed to enjoy the morning views, but also ready to drive back down to the warmth. Just another reason to love Arizona — if the temperature is uncomfortable, you can always drive up a mountain or up North to cool down, or down a mountain and South to warm up! We made the long drive back down the mountain and out of the forest, returned to Globe, then took AZ-188 North to AZ-288. We enjoyed taking in the new scenery, including overlooks from up high of Roosevelt Lake.

Once on 288, we started scouting out potential places to camp. The first spot led us to a dam on the Salt River where we got out to walk around a little. While it was a cool spot, it was pretty trashy and we felt we could do better, so we continued driving across the river and a little further North to Cherry Creek Road.

We found a dispersed campsite a little over a mile down the road, and decided it was just what we were looking for. We parked, transitioned the van to camp mode, then set out on a Charlotte-led walk further up the road.

It was at this point when we realized we had actually been here before — almost 10 years ago, while on a letterboxing day trip to Globe and surrounding areas with friends Mitch and Alex. I knew I had a picture of us with Black Mesa in the background and though we couldn’t find the exact spot where the picture was taken, we still made sure to take another one while camping here.

Curtis: After a slightly less stunning sunset and a slightly warmer night than the day before, we got up the next morning, did our chores, and set out to explore around Lake Roosevelt and the Tonto Basin. After driving back to AZ-188, we arrived bright and early at Tonto National Monument. This was another national park site that we had somehow overlooked while living in Arizona, and were glad to have this second chance to visit. After a brief chat with the ranger, we followed the paved trail up to the nearby cliff dwellings, and fortunately Charlotte was allowed to come along as well.

The ruins are very similar to what we’ve seen before at Montezuma’s Castle: high up in a grotto on a cliff side. However, the people groups who made the two cliff dwellings were likely different, though they existed at the same time and likely shared ideas. The Tonto cliff dwellings were created by the Salado people, a people focused along the Salt River and at the intersection of the three pre-Columbian people groups: Hohokam, Ancestral Puebloan, and Mogollon. They likely lived in the basin as well as in the cliffs, (though any record in the Basin is now deluged under Lake Roosevelt) and were especially known for their polychrome pottery wares. But, just like their neighbors, before Columbus even arrived in the Caribbean, the society in Arizona collapsed and the cliff dwellings were abandoned sometime in the 14th century.

Also unlike Montezuma’s castle (and many other Southwestern pre-historic sites), you can actually go inside the ruins! We followed the switchbacks to just below the ruins where we took turns going and looking around. I chatted at length with the ranger tasked with supervising the ruins, and then we went back down, and I talked some more with the ranger in the Visitor Center.

Satisfied with our visit, we went back out to the basin proper and drove further down to the Salt River bridge and then to a view point of the dam. While observing the bridge we discussed where we wanted to camp that night and came to the conclusion that where we had started was as good a place as any. So, after a lengthy work call and lunch we returned to our exact spot and had another splendid evening in the desert.