It only takes a couple hours to drive from Williams to Flagstaff, and I’ve shown pictures of that trip before so I won’t do that again here. I headed back to Flagstaff to have a little more work done on my RV at my favorite repair shop, Northern Arizona Diesel. And to visit an ancient Indian settlement that just happens to be a quarter mile from the RV park I usually stay at, Greer’s Pine Shadows. I never make reservations, usually, and this park has made me shorten my stay occasionally. This time I stayed for a couple weeks. The first week was spent goofing off, bike riding to town, and having that work done on my RV. Fairly minor stuff on the RV so I won’t even mention what it was.
The office.
I was in short term parking and the spaces are a little narrow, but I don’t have slides so that doesn’t matter to me, and I like to park in this space backwards so my nose is pointed towards the office (better TV reception). This site is right under the new WiFi antenna too. I like it here. It’s comfy.
All snuggled in.
You can see my hose and electrical cable snaking under the RV from the drivers side over to the park services, and since I’m parked in the space backwards, I have to do this. Not a problem though.
The mountain…
Off to the north is a treed hill with the TV towers on them. Then 90 miles further on is the Grand Canyon. This hill gets lots of snow in winter and the drainage 1/4 mile away is where the natives built their adobe village. The 2nd week after I arrived, since the weather was warm and mild, I biked down the road to the archeological site since it’s so close and all. I’ve been staying at Greer’s for years and this is the first time I got around to doing the tour.
The tribe that lived here all those hundreds of years ago put a lot of effort into construction of a small village that from appearances today, would have been an idyllic place. At least as seen through the fog of time. Back then it would have been a spring and fall village mostly, as the creek probably dried up during the summer and froze up during winter. They were smart enough to build damns to extend their stay when they could. Doubtlessly, many would have spent year round here, but other families would have high tailed it out of the village when things got to crowded and the nearby area over fished or hunted. Usually in summer when they would head up into the mountains to stay cool and hunt the local deer.
After parking my bike in the parking lot, I hiked up this trail. Brochure is available right at the trail head. Plaques with numbers on them refer to descriptions in the brochure. This is the Elden Pueblo, AD 1070-1275, built by the Sinagua. Two hundred years of occupation attests to the productivity of the land in and around the area. The lack of evidence of extensive warfare tells of a relatively peaceful time here. It was rediscovered by Europeans in 1912 and took many decades to become designated as a site worth protecting.
Trail to the village.
Main village.
Below is one of the last pueblos built in this village. Built about 1260, it was abandoned by 1275. 
You’ll just have to imagine what these looked like in the 1200’s with their roofs and such. And 200 or so natives wandering around and working on stuff.
Below is the Big ol’ meeting house. Called a pit house. It’s where everyone met to decide what action was necessary for a successful life here. Has a central fire pit and evidence of large pole pits to support a roof. This one has been partially restored by archeologists and crews.
Here’s typical home. It would have had a roof, but like all early dwellings, it was really a place to sleep and not much more. Outside was where it was going on.
This section was several individual homes built together with a central play area for kids. The central area would have been impossible to see from the outside of the structure. The roofs would have had access holes in them for smoke to escape and people to climb the ladders down inside.
Central courtyard and work area.
A shot of the surrounding area.
This stone was kind of interesting. Most grinding stones found are for grinding food. During the first archeological dig, in a room adjoining this space, were many axe heads. They fit the depressions in this stone perfectly. This led the archeologist to conclude that this was a manufacturing site. The axes probably served as trade items.
That stone wall seemingly in a bad place in a room was the remnants of even older construction. Often these were left in place while new construction widened or lengthened a room. 
This building (below) is from the late epoc. Around 1260. Sported two stories. Or did at the time of construction. It hasn’t been excavated by archeologists yet. What’s not understood is why is it separate from the main village? And why two stories? Lookout holes in the upper story?
That’s the tour of the Elden Pueblo. Interesting couple hour trip. You could do the whole site in probably 30 minutes though. I stopped to talk to a couple archeologists and spent some time just looking at the area around the site trying to imagine what it would have been like to live here in 1150. No TV! No WiFi! Yikes!
The next day I headed north east on a trip to Aztec, NM. Who would want to go there, you ask? Well, I’ll show you a reason next time. Thanks for joining me.