You are in central Arizona and your dog needs a walk. There are not a lot of rest areas off Hwy. 17 and some of them have been closed for “renovations” for years. There is a solution. Not far off the highway south of Sedona are 2 completely dog friendly National Monuments, Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well and there is a third one, Tuzigoot, which is bit farther west near Cottonwood. None of them are very large so you won’t be loosing too much travel time by stopping. And they are a safer more pleasant walk than you will find at a highway exit.
All 3 provide a glimpse into the hunting, gathering and farming life of the Southern Sinagua during 1100-1400. By 1150, the Southern Sinagua started building hilltop pueblos and cliff alcoves in the style used by the Ancestral Puebloan people. For the next couple centuries the pueblos and populations grew till the 1400’s when the inhabitants migrated away leaving us with the remains to explore and wonder about today.
Your dog can become a Ranger
Montezuma Castle even has a Bark Ranger program which I believe is similar to the Junior Ranger program. Martok was too excited to be bothered with it.
As I mentioned in the beginning these are small parks. The longest trail is half a mile so you are not going to be spending all day at any of these parks, in fact you can visit all of them in 1 day.
The Montezuma and Tuzigoot trails are mostly paved and classified as easy.
Montezuma Well has a half mile loop trail with 2 spurs, one down to the sinkhole and another to the water outlet. There is also a Pit House excavation site just off the entrance road.
Montezuma Castle has a third of mile loop trail with self guided tour markers.
Tuzigoot has 2 trails. The Ruins loop trail is a third of a mile and takes you around the 110 room pueblo and the Tavasci trail is a half mile trail overlooking the Tavasci Marsh.
Here are the links to the pet regulations for each monument:
Montezuma Castle and Well National Monuments
Tuzigoot National Monument
