TONTO NATIONAL MONUMENT

AS AN ARCHAEOLOGIST, Duane Hubbard worked on many of the nearly 100 archaeological sites at Tonto, one of the oldest monuments in the Park Service and the only one devoted to the Salado people. So he feels connected to the sites, particularly when he sees the fingerprints of the builders, including children’s prints, in the plaster. “I have two kids of my own, and I think that’s a personal connection,” he says. Most of the sites are closed to protect them, but two well-preserved dwellings remain open. And unlike at many parks, visitors can still walk into these 700-year-old ruins. “You can have that experience, that feeling, because of how well preserved they are,” Hubbard says. “The rooms are intact to actually see how people built these sites.” Now, as the monument’s superintendent, Hubbard stays connected by regularly hiking to the cliff dwellings that overlook the monument. It reminds him, he says, why he comes to work every day.