When I first arrived at the well to start a day of interpretation I saw two people sitting in a boat in the middle of the greenish body of water. It turned out that it was Richard and Fraser from the natural resource department. After talking to them I found out they were taking samples of the pond weed to see if it's an endemic species or if it's invasive. They said they were going to send the weed samples to a scientist at NAU who specializes in pond weeds. It would be really cool if the weed was endemic to Montezuma Well!
It started off as a hot day at Montezuma Well; many people just walked up to the overlook and turned around without completing the loop because it was so hot. Even a Western Patch Nose snake seemed to think it was too hot as it was digging a hole into the ground. The heat didn't last long though because a monsoon storm began rolling in. When I looked out into the direction of the storm I could see curtains of rain pounding onto the Verde Valley. The rain was so thick that it masked everything in it's vicinity; I couldn't even see the mountains, which I knew were out there somewhere. A small part of the storm eventually rolled over to Montezuma Well, which brought about strong winds and some light rain. The lightning show was intense and the thunder that came with it was truly incredible.
I'm still loving interpretation at Montezuma Well. The visitors are always enthusiastic about the view and are always anxious to learn more information about the monument. Today there were a few visitors from Germany and even some from Denmark. I advised most people to go behind the well to enjoy the serenity of the trees, creek, and drainage ditch. There were multiple people who told me that Montezuma Well was their favorite spot on their vacation so far, mainly due to the fact that it's so quiet and peaceful. I look forward to being back out on the Montezuma Well path and meeting more vacationers!
