Return visit to the cave on 609

Great Jeeping day! Sunny and clear with a cool breeze. We headed back to the cave this morning with Jean & Larry. This time we were well armed with flashlights and boots so we could delve further into the cave interior. It's quite a bit larger than we first thought, there are several passages leading to fairly large cave rooms. Upon closer inspection, we could tell that Indians, probably ancients, once used the cave either as a dwelling or a cool place to store meats. We could see the remainders of stone walls which had been built using mud mortar to hold them together. There are smoke stains on the ceiling of the cave in an area off to one side, it looked like it would have been a good place to smoke or cook meats.

It's obvious that over the years, lots of people have explored the cave. We could imagine early Indians, settlers, ranchers and miners, all walking over the same rocks that we did today, probably all trying to speculate about events which might have taken place here.

There are so many places to see here in our little corner of Arizona, each with something different to offer, we haven't even begun to scratch the surface. We'll just have to keep on Jeepin'!