TRAVEL
Facts
Irresistibly Sedona
Seven reasons to get to know Verde Valley BY ILCHIBUKO TODD
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Sedona’s Verde Valley is a destination famous for its cultural evolution and opportunities for spiritual awakening. As the president of the Sedona Mago Center for Well-being and Retreat, I fell in love with the location and experienced a deep connection to the Valley, with its multiple vortexes, cultural history, and healing powers. Nestled between the Secret Mountains and the Verde River, Sedona Mago, like the Verde Valley, is a fusion of cultures and history. It is located roughly at the center of an acute triangle in the western Verde Valley known as Tuzigoot, Palatki, and Honanki. Here are seven fun facts about this irresistible spot in Sedona.
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THE RED ROCKS TELL THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE REGION Sedona’s red rocks formed about 210-370 million years ago. They are made up of basalt lava, Kaibab limestone, Toroweap sandstone, Coconino sandstone, hermit shale, Supai sandstone, and Redwall limestone. The rocks have multicolored layers and strange shapes including spirals, hoodoos, and more. The famous red colors come from hematite (a type of iron oxide) that stained the sandstone. Limestones were built out of fossils from aquatic plants and animals from when tropical sea life was present in the Valley.
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A VOLCANIC ERUPTION FORCED SETTLERS OUT LONG AGO An eruption of the Sunset Crater volcano in 1064 A.D., forced the people living there to migrate abruptly. Over time the volcanic ash, along with the increase in warm temperatures, caused the land
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GREEN LIVING
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to become fertile and rich with minerals that crops needed to flourish. This attracted ancestors of the tribes who left and others who lived outside of the Verde Valley to build towns that could support a lifestyle for their families.
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MANY DIFFERENT CULTURES HAVE MIGRATED THROUGH THE AREA During the 1400s, climate change and warfare between native clans eventually caused the population to dwindle. By the mid to late 1800s, when American settlers invaded the land, only seminomadic tribes remained. Today, signs of previous peoples who populated the land can be experienced by seeing local site ruins, rock cliff dwellings, pueblos, and ancient pictographs.
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JEROME EVENTUALLY BECAME A GHOST TOWN For about two hundred years (from 1100-1300 A.D.), the Verde Valley was an active and prosperous territory. During that time, an estimated 5,000 people lived along a major trade route called the Palatkwapi trail, where farming and agriculture bloomed. The second golden era came after the Spanish discovered copper in 1583 and mining took hold. Between 1883 and 1975, the Verde Valley produced 3 billion pounds of copper; 52 million pounds of zinc; 1.3 million troy
