The weather was blustery with sprinkles of rain as we left Canyon de Chelly National Monument. We don't like traveling on stormy days, but we are looking forward to our next stop with full-hook-ups. For non-RVers, that means access to all the water and electricity we want. It might not sound like much, but we have been without water and electric hook-ups for eight days now. That also means we have eight days of dirty clothes to wash.
On our last day of driving through the Navajo reservation, we passed within a mile of a national historic site and we hated to drive by without stopping. It's always a concern if there will be an adequate place to park and turn around our motor home with the tow car attached. It was still questionable even after Denisa checked out the parking lot in Google maps satellite mode. We are happy to report that Mark masterfully got us in (and out) of that parking lot, and we made a short stop at Hubbell Trading Post.
This is a national historic site because this trading post has been in business continually since 1878. That's when Mr. Hubbell started trading with the Navajos that were recently allowed back into their territory after their exile and "The Long Walk." That's a whole other story, but Hubbell Trading Post became the social center for trading supplies and gathering news of the outside world.
Today it has the same creaky wooden floor and ambiance from the 1800's. Horse halters are still hanging from the ceiling. But some of the merchandise has been updated to catch the eye of the present-day traveler. Navajo rugs and jewelry get most of the floor space, but you can also buy a few groceries and candy here as well.
It was a long travel day for us--150 miles. That's way over our average. We even crossed another state line as we are now in New Mexico. The Arizona/New Mexico state line is complicated when it comes to setting clocks. They are both in mountain time zone, but Arizona doesn't observe day light savings time. But the Navajo reservation within the state of Arizona does observe daylight savings time. You have to know all this information (as well as what time of the year it is) to know if you need to adjust your clocks an hour when you cross the state line. Whew!
We crossed this very complicated state line, and eventually landed at Bar S RV Park near Grants, New Mexico. We are a couple blocks off historic Route 66, so we had to take a picture at the photo stop in downtown Grants.
We have a good weekly rate at Bar S RV Park, and have we mentioned that we are excited about full hook-ups? Besides catching up on laundry and visiting a couple national monuments, we also discovered a good museum. The New Mexico Mining Museum is in Grants, and it gets great reviews on Tripadvisor. We found that we are in Uranium mining country, and learned much about the process of getting this special yellow powder out of the earth.
We rode an elevator down to the hands-on part of the museum. Because of the high price of mining Uranium, all the mines in this area have been closed for more than twenty years. The basement part of the museum uses real machinery straight out of the abandoned mines to explain the process. The museum has all the air vent systems, electrical wiring, narrow gauge track systems, safety posters, even the chain link fencing that was used to stabilize the walls in the underground mines.
Each station has a recording from a retired miner explaining what we were seeing, and what he did for the thirty years he worked in the mine.
We met one of those retired miners as we were leaving the museum. Jack gave us more information and opinions about New Mexico mining to supplement our educational experience. Even though we don't go to many museums, just like Tripadvisor, we would recommend a stop here in Grants. We will be here for a week, catching up on laundry and cooking and cleaning and all the things that need more water and electricity than we have had lately. We even have television! Did we mention that we are excited to have full hook-ups again?
We have been enjoying the views at Canyon de Chelly National Monument, and we made it a two-day stay. The views from the rim are nice, but we never have been content with just seeing things from the top. The only way for visitors to get to the canyon floor is to go on an expensive Navajo-led tour OR to hike to the bottom on the White House Ruins Trail. Of course we are going to do the hiking, and Mark is surveying the trail from the top before we went down under.
He went ahead and found a nice comfy rock to sit on while Denisa took this picture from the start of the trail. You'll have to look closely to see his blue shirt as he sits on a red rock on the left hand edge of the picture. We're obviously still a long ways from the canyon floor.
It's a long walk down the many switch backs. But the weather is beautiful and the company is great.
We realize that we've been hanging out in canyons a lot lately--Grand Canyon, Navajo Canyon, and now Canyon de Chelly. It's hard to enjoy the easy hike down, when you have the gnawing realization that you're going to have to hike back out of this thing later.
We are finally down on the canyon floor, where we get glimpses of the farms and hogans down here at the bottom. Signs request that no pictures be taken of these private properties, or of the people that live in the canyon, so we'll abide by the rules. Signs also tell us to lock our cars and put valuables out of sight. We're abiding by those rules as well.
A couple tunnels make the walk shorter, and give some shade on this sunny day in the canyon.
After winding our way across the canyon floor, we finally reach the opposite wall and our destination--White House Ruins. We tried to capture the height of that tall canyon wall. Most of the ruins are tucked into an alcove, while others are at the foot of the wall.
There's a six-foot chain-link fence that keeps us from getting any closer. But we can zoom in to see the two-part village where the pueblo Indians lived around the 1300's.
After gawking at the ruins, and shopping at the Navajo vendors that seem to be everywhere, it was time to head back to the top. Denisa is amazed to see flowers blooming this time of year, especially in the desert where water is at a premium.
This plant is pretty amazing. Most plants bloom until they produce seeds. Once they fulfill that goal, they quit producing flowers. But on this single plant we see bright yellow blooms, dried up blooms, and the fluffy seed heads. This is one plant intent on reproducing in this desert habitat.
We are back on the sloped trail to the top, stopping for breathers and more views into the canyon. We hiked by a perfect little cave carved into the canyon wall. It had a natural bench, and the cave provided its own shade. It was a perfect place to look down into the canyon, and savor another of God's wonders as we are wandering through Canyon de Chelly.
One more tunnel and we're to the top once again. We have made it back out of yet another canyon in this trek across Arizona.
We had a great time at Canyon de Chelly National Monument in this remote part of Arizona. But we're ready to head down the road in search of more of God's wonders.
We are still driving through Arizona's Navajo reservation, and still enjoying the immense rock formations that just show up randomly out of the prairie floor. This one is called Church Rock, and it reminds us that we are still wandering His wonders through this northeast section of Arizona.
When the landscape is less interesting, we can be amused by the signs along the road. We have seen a lot of wildlife signs, but this is the first time we have been warned about wild horses crossing the road for the next 15 miles. We must say that we have seen more horses than cattle since we have been driving through the Navajo reservation.
Denisa is beginning to think that someone is getting paid for putting up signs along this road. She thought it was excessive when we drove into Utah, where they plant a "No Passing Zone" sign on the left every time the solid line at the center of the road indicates that one can't pass. But now we see that they have added a "Do Not Pass" sign on the right as well. Why do we need three reminders not to pass right now?
Whew! Sorry about that sign rant, but Denisa needed to get that off her chest. This is a pretty remote part of the country, with only an occasional home on this large reservation. Usually a manufactured home or a plain little rectangle house, most of them seem to be in need of a new roof. But almost always, there is an octagonal building in the yard. Our Navajo ranger guide explained those are called hogans, an important part of their culture.
After 98 miles in the motor home, we pulled into the campground of yet another national monument. Another no hook-up site, but we had to pay $14 for the privilege of camping among these big cottonwoods. This is our eighth night and fourth camp site with no hook-ups, and we're getting quite good at roughing it across Arizona. But visions of a long shower and having a television signal again are sounding pretty good to us.
We are parked at Canyon de Chelly National Monument. The first order of business is learning how to pronounce this new-to-us park. We learned that the name came from the Spanish borrowing from the Navajo word for canyon, adapted into English from a French modeling of the word. With such confusing linguistics, don't be surprised that it isn't pronounced anything like it looks. We must forget what the word looks like when we say Canyon de SHAY.
Because we are still in the middle of the Navajo reservation, this is a national monument not owned by the federal government. In fact, about 40 Navajo families live inside the canyon. We saw evidence of their homes and farms as we looked down from one of the many viewpoints. Just when we learned how to pronounce the name of the national monument, we find that the people that live here call it Tsgei--good luck with pronouncing that correctly.
We spent most of two days driving the two roads with viewpoints into the canyons. This park actually has three different canyons that snake through the sandstone cliffs Denisa is standing on.
Most of the time we had to be content with standing on the cliffs, looking down into the canyon.
We had to chuckle at the signs at the top. One said, "Warning - People Farming Below." This is obviously because they don't want visitors throwing objects into the canyon, but the first line made us laugh. The sign pictured below mentions controlling children and pets, but it doesn't mention husbands.
Husbands are obviously the hardest to control around these sheer cliffs.
For example, Mark wanted to get closer to this alcove, which was once inhabited by ancestoral puebloans. Denisa zoomed in so she could see Mark at the top center of the photo, and the rubble of the pueblo brick walls in the cave directly below him.
When she zoomed out, we get the full picture of the sheer cliffs and how small we are in our big surroundings. That sizable cave is in the right hand corner of the picture below, and Mark is now too small to see.
We couldn't run down to the bottom of the canyon here, and you wouldn't be able to see us any way. In fact, we can barely see the pick-up in the center of the picture below.
The most notable view into the canyons is this 750-foot double rock spire. This is Spider Rock, and we'd hate to see the size of the spider making webs between the two spires according to Navajo legend.
We keep learning about Navajo legends and traditions. It's another part of the education we get from traveling. Even though we are entertained by those Navajo legends, we still have to say that those grand spires are another of God's wonders. We are enjoying wandering His wonders here at Canyon de Chelly.
While we are in this part of Arizona, we wanted to visit Monument Valley. We originally thought that we would move the motor home down the road closer to the valley. But we like our camping spot at Navajo National Monument so much that we decided to make Monument Valley into a road trip. We knew we were getting closer to this famous valley when we drove by this mammoth monolith on the side of the highway. No sign, no name--just grand and beautiful scenery.
Monument Valley Tribal Park is owned by the Navajo tribe, so our national park pass didn't get us in free today. After a long series of national parks and monuments, we realized this was the first place that we had to pay to visit in a very long time. We paid our $20 entrance fee, then took this picture at the visitor center. We can see the road below that winds by some of the most famous rock formations in the park. Those tiny cars on the road help us to get an idea of the size of this special place.
But before we drive, we're going to hike while it's still cool this morning. This is the most photographed rock formation in the park, can you guess its name?
Here is a hint. Think cold weather hand covering.
Correct! This is the West Mitten, and we're going to be able to get closer on our hike than those people in their cars.
In fact, Mark scrambled as close as he could, just to give a sense of scale to how big this mitten is. If you haven't spotted Mark yet, look at the very bottom center of the picture below. He's standing beside a 15-foot boulder. Now it's easier to get an idea of the grandeur we are experiencing.
It's hard to imagine that this is a picture of the same rock formation. As we made the 4-mile hike that loops around the mitten, we got this side shot.
Literally, on the other hand, the loop hike brought us closer to the other mitten. Denisa's up the gnarly old tree that nicely frames the East Mitten.
This park is on the Navajo reservation, and it is interesting to see houses here in the shadow of the mitten. What a place to live!
As we continue hiking our loop, we get behind the mittens to see some of the rock formations in the distance. If some of these silhouettes look familiar, you might be a fan of old western movies. Monument Valley is best known as the place where many western movies were filmed in the 1930's and 1940's.
We certainly didn't need our jackets by the time we got finished with our hike. Now it was time to get in the car for the other activity included with our price of admission--driving the 17-mile loop in the park among more of these giant rocks.
This road starts out sandy, and then gets rough and pot-holed. We're pretty sure the Navajos choose not to fix the road. They are hoping a lousy road will convince most people to purchase one of their tours in the back of a four-wheel-drive truck. But our trusty little car took us around the loop, even though it wasn't easy.
One of the first formations we drove by was named "The Three Sisters." Denisa was thinking it might look like her and her two older sisters. But instead, our description said it was a "Catholic nun facing her two pupils."
These giant rock formations just suddenly arise from the desert floor. It reminds us of the landscape we saw when we visited Wadi Rum desert in Jordan. It's hard to tell just how big they are in a picture. Let's just say that full-size white SUV in the picture below certainly doesn't look very full-sized.
We pulled into one of the parking areas to see the "totem poles" and the "dancers emerging from a hogan" in the distance.
But it turns out the vendors were hoping we turned in to see their wares. We've looked at a lot of Navajo jewelry in the last week.
We saw some of the juniper berry bracelets and necklaces--or as our Navajo guide taught us, ghost bead jewelry.
After we lurched and bumped our way around the driving loop, we stopped for one last look at some of the best of Monument Valley. We have been wandering through the same wonders that John Wayne has wandered.
For those that don't want to spend the $20 to enter into the park, there are some great formations for all to see along the highway. They are even named, but we found you had to be at just the correct angle to identify them. For example, at this angle we can see "the sitting hen" in the center of the picture; but "the sleeping bear" to the right just looks like an oversized bump to us.
Monument Valley sits right at the state line. In the course of the day we drove from Arizona into Utah into Arizona into Utah and then back into Arizona. Denisa wanted to take pictures each time we crossed the state line, but even she thought that was a little excessive. We made the hour-long drive back to our camp site. In our three-night stay we have learned the best place to watch the sunset. It's a gathering place to meet our camping neighbors, and we've had some splendid night-time skies.
But after three more nights with no hook-ups, we are heading on down the road. For the last week we have been using the water in our tanks and the electricity from our generator. This has been a beautiful trek through the Navajo reservation, and we are getting used to living like pioneers.
