1238. Go to Tonto National Monument in Roosevelt

 Since Spring Training wasn't in the agenda, the one place I really wanted to check out was Tonto National Monument in Tonto which is near the Roosevelt Dam. We passed it when we came back from the Apache Trail a few years ago but due to time constraints, I opted not to stop. This year we had the park pass and plenty of time.

Tonto National Monument is focused on preserving cliff dwellings from the The Salado Phenomena that lived there 700 years ago. There is two sets of cliff dwellings accessible to visit -- the Upper and Lower. The Upper Dwellings is only by guided tour is about 3 miles round trip. The Lower dwellings is self guided and about a mile round trip.

I figured we could do a mile hike on a paved trail. They said it would take about an hour and was a 300 foot elevation gain. What they failed to mention was that this walk was at a 13 percent grade. So it was fairly steep. 300 feet does not seem like a lot but that's literally a football field. 

The hubby said he could handle it. He did for a while but about 3/4 of the way up he starting having issues and I led him back to a bench. I told him I'd be back in 20 minutes. I had continued to the top. I figured I made it that far.

The dwelling itself is 12 rooms but they are small rooms. You can walk around and get a feel to how they lived. It was cliffs and some wooden beams. It was nothing fancy but very ingenious. 

The views from up top were amazing as well.

After spending some time exploring the cliff dwelling I made my way back to the hubby and we continued our way back to the parking lot. We did see some more cactus and some flowers

Tonto National Monument did live up to my expectations. I am glad I was able to make it to the top. I wish the hubby could have as well but I get it. It is definitely worth checking out. It is about 2 hours from phoenix so a bit of drive but there is plenty of trails in the Tonto National Forest to hike and the Roosevelt Dam is always worth checking out. There are plenty of outdoor activities in the area so you can make a day of it.