Boondocking near Sedona - Montezuma National Monument

 We drove about an hour and a half from near Williams, AZ to dispersed camping in the Coconino National Forest about 15 miles from Sedona, AZ.

We had originally explored the area near the junction of I-17 and AZ Hwy 179 but after leaving the URRV at a candidate spot, we found a better spot closer to the Sedona outskirts.

Mid-afternoon, we drove down south via I-17 to the Montezuma National Monument to check things out.

The castle was pretty impressive:

Up to the early 1950s, you could actually drive up to the base of the castle as tourists:

You could also climb ladders (see above pic) and tour the castle but of course, the site proved fragile and I'm sure people stupidly damaged it as well.  So, now you can only view it from near its base.

To "make up" for the cessation of the tours, the US Park Service created this diorama near the base along the footpath to show life at the castle:

I liked the depiction of a mother chasing after her kid who is too close to the edge...(center top), some things never change.

We drove the long way to Sedona from the Montezuma National Monument, via the small towns of Cornville and Page Springs hoping for photogenic scenery.  None seen.

The scenery picked up as we approached Sedona:

Martha wanted to check out the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in town, here's some views of it.  The church was closed for the day.

On the way out of town, two notable rock formations:

Courthouse Rock

Bell Rock

We got back to camp with no issue.  This post was uploaded via Starlink by the way.  There's some cell signal but it's only 1 bar and flaky.