Sedona

Red rocks of Sedona from Chapel of the Holy Cross overlook.

Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte

Bell Rock & Cathedral Butte

Montezuma's Castle, southeast of Sedona, is a 20-room, 5-story high-rise apartment built into the cliffs over Beaver Creek. It was built by the Sinagua Indian people, who farmed the land between the 12th and 14th centuries before abandoning the area.

Montezuma's Castle

V-Bar-V Ranch, once a large cattle operation founded in the 1920s, is home to a well-preserved and beautiful petroglyph site, created by the Sinagua sometime between 1150 and 1400 AD. Park at the Heritage Center lot and begin the 1/3-mile trail that follows.

The chimney from a former ranch building marks the beginning of the 1/3 mile trail to the red sandstone wall containing the petroglyphs.

V-Bar-V Heritage Site is the largest known petroglyph site in the Verde Valley, and one of the best preserved. The style of rock art here is classified as Beaver Creek style, created by the Southern Sinagua between A.D. 1150 and 1400.

V-Bar-V Ranch, home of the Sinagua petroglyphs.

Petroglyphs adorn the walls at V-Bar-V Ranch, just a few miles north on I-17 from Montezumah's Well.

Petroglyphs at V-Bar-V Ranch.

Shadow stone naturally wedged in a rock crevice plays light and shadow across the cliff face to create what is now believed to be a solar calendar- one of very few in the world. The precise times of the vernal equinox and summer solstice—important events for planting and harvesting—are tracked by light and the sun’s transition across the southwestern sky.

Deer, turtles, coyotes, humans, snakes and geometric shapes make up the over 1,000 images identified at this site. They were created by chipping away at the cliff with stone hammers and chisels. The story they tell is a mystery, like much of the history of the Sinagua people.

Sinagua petroglyphs.

Petroglyphs at V-Bar-V Ranch

Turtles are among the figures pictured on the red rock at V-Bar-V Ranch.

Deer and other animals roam through the forest of trees pictured on the wall at V-Bar-V Ranch.

Petroglyphs at V-Bar-V Ranch.

Cranes are among the figures telling a story of the Sinagua people.

More Sinagua petroglyphs at V-Bar-V Ranch.

More pictures tell the story of the Sinagua people.

View of Coffeepot Rock from Sedona's Airport Mesa

Cathedral Rock

Courthouse Butte

Cathedral Rock

Courthouse Butte at sunset

Bell Rock

Courthouse Butte

Courthouse Butte

Castle Rock

Bell Rock

Courthouse Butte

Cathedral Rock

Capital Butte(?)

Cathedral Rock(?)