09/26/16, Monday: Sedona, AZ to Sunset Crater National Monument, AZ

It's time now to leave Sedona and head toward the Sunset Crater National Monument, with two planned stops on route. Our first stop was V-Bar-V Heritage Site. It was a short, easy walk to the highlight of this spot for us--very cool petroglyphs. We were happy to find out that a Ranger was on duty who could tell us all about these glyphs. We thought petroglyphs were sometimes decorative, and sometimes told stories. So we were amazed to learn that one particular panel of glyphs was a solar calendar telling the people when to prepare the land for planting, when to plant the crops, and when to harvest the different crops. Various symbols 'pecked' into the rocks were highlighted by shadows when sunlight hit some rocks sticking out of the larger boulders. The ranger had a contraption of wood and wires that he used to demonstrate how the light and shadows would look at different times of year. It was definitely an interesting and educational visit!