Thursday – October 14 Grand Canyon

 

We spent the entire day at the Grand Canyon, enjoying the sights from sunrise to sunset.

We also attended three Ranger lectures during the day.  Mike told us all about fossils in the canyon and gave a brief geology 101 description of the rock formations.  Limestone, sandstone, schist, and shale.  He led the group to a fossil bed and we all found and identified the fossils that he had described.  Since the area was once part of the Pacific ocean we found shells, corals, and oysters.  He also told us about seldom seen petroglyphs just below the rim on the Bright Angel trail.  Most people are either looking out over the canyon or trudging up the trail, watching their feet and miss the petroglyphs on the wall above.   We walked down the trail, met a mule pack train hauling loads up from Phantom Ranch, and took some pictures.

The second presentation was on condors.  While walking to meet the ranger we looked over the ledge, and there a couple of hundred feet away from the ranger, but out of his line of sight sat this condor.  Ranger Ron was quite entertaining telling us about how the California condor, once just about extinct in the wild is making a comeback.  Unfortunately we did not see one of the birds with its 9 foot wingspan in flight.

We took the free shuttle out to Hermit’s Rest for some late afternoon and sunset views.  What a surprise when Santa hopped on at one of the stops!!  We got off and caught up with him again at the end of the line.  He is a teacher with the right physique and beard for his character, who is traveling and enjoying himself and the surprised looks that he causes.  As we finished our shuttle bus ride we met him again as he rode out of sight on his ancient motorcycle with sidecar!!!  What fun.

We ended the night with a fascinating lecture about bats, checked E-mail and headed off to our little room at the El Tovar.

Tomorrow we hit the road to return to Las Vegas.

Wednesday - October 13 Antelope Canyon

At 10:30am we started our next tour, into the Antelope Canyon, which is a slot canyon.   We started off in another shake and bake truck, and I bet Nancy it would not be a shake and bake ride, I lost.   But we quickly got to the canyon.  There are about two hundred slot canyons in this area, Antelope is the one most visited.  They form when water cuts down through sandstone from the desert floor making a narrow slot.   When the water flows it carries a lot of sand and debris and the turbulence causes the water to swirl through the canyon, making fantastic swirling shapes.

Words and these pictures can not do it justice.  It is magnificent, and a must do if you are coming to this area.  The canyon started off wide, and got narrower and narrower as you went deeper, upstream, in the canyon.  Near the end it was about three feet wide.  Two of the last three pictures show light rays coming into the canyon.  We could not figure out how that one came in from the side!!!  The colors were much more vivid then you see in these picture, much more red…

   

Our tour was specially tailored for photography and there were some pretty fancy cameras as well as the more simple point and shoots.  Eleven people made up our group from Holland, Italy, British Columbia, and us from the States.  Blaine was our guide and he really knew how to get show people how to get the best photographs in the canyon, which is like a cave in many areas, with fantastic glowing golden colors.  Everyone had a great time. After we returned we enjoyed a tasty Mexican lunch and then continued on our journey to the Grand Canyon.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon in time to see sunset.  

There were elk beside the road as we neared the lodge, including these two who had locked horns.   Our friendly raven told us it was time to go to sleep.

Sunday – October 12 Shake and Bake

 

On Sunday morning we watched the sun rise over Monument Valley from our room.

 

Our room was the last one on the right.  At 9:30am we went on a 3 1/2 hour tour of the Valley we affectionately called shake and bake.   Two rows of five seats are mounted on the backs of four wheel drive trucks and off they jounce over very rough sand and rock roads.  We were not the only tourists either.  Loads of these trucks carry loads of tourists on bone jarring, dusty tours through the Valley every day.

It was as if we had gone back through time……

The huge rock formations are amazing.  The photo with the horse was taken at known as John Ford Point after all the movies he made in the valley, including at this spot.  That guy waits for a Goulding tour truck to arrive and then rides out for a photo op.  For $2 you can sit on the horse for a photo too!

   

We also saw more petroglyphs…. 

After lunch we drove to the Navajo National Monument and walked down to the Betakin overlook to see the Anasazi cliff dwellings in the distant niche.

Finally we drove to Page, Arizona for a nice dinner at the Dam Bar and Grille and some sleep.  The steaks were yummy.

Monday – October 11 Canyon de Chelly

 

This morning, another bright and sunny day with cool breezes, we went on a jeep tour of the Canyon de Chelly, joined by another couple, Jackie and Earl from Portland, Ore.  Our guide was 72 year old Ben Teller, a Navajo Indian who has lived all his life in the Canyon.   While the Canyon is a National Park, you can only go into it with a Navajo guide, and the Navajo still live in and along the rim of the Canyon.  The second picture shows some natural staining that occurs on the sandstone canyon walls.   Ben’s father joked with him once, go get a comb and comb that woman’s hair that has fallen over the edge.

 

Ben and his whole family make their living from tourism.   He and his son lead jeep and hiking tours.  His two daughters and grand kids make jewery and run a small concession stand beside Antelope House ruin.   Ben’s family owns this is part of the land in the Canyon, and they have a couple of small cabins here.

When you start into the Canyon the walls are less then a hundred feet deep, but as you go deeper into the canyon, the walls reach up to 1000 feet.

The “road” into the Canyon is a dry, sandy river bed with wheel ruts almost a foot deep.  Farther in the riverbed gets a little firmer but the entire trip is like driving in deep snow and very rock and roll. 

 

Virtually every section of the canyon has petrogyphs and cave dwelling remains.  Some of them are more modern Hopi and Navajo features, and others are Anasazi and Peubloan features, depending on which group occupied the canyon at the time.

We took a break at Antelope house where we tasted Navajo fry bread sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, like fried dough, and Nancy bought some jewelry from Ben’s granddaughter.

 

    

After the Canyon De Chelly tour we drove to Monument Valley and watched the sunset over the valley from the terrace outside our motel room.  The sky was inky dark and the stars filled our view.  The Big Dipper was low on the horizon all night, it seemed like you could just reach out and touch it.

Tomorrow we go on a three and a half hour tour of the valley.

Sunday – October 10 Petrified Forest

We were able to sleep in a little longer today, had breakfast at the hotel and then hit the road.  Our first stop was the Petrified Forest.  The park is covered with portions of trees that died 225,000,000 years ago, were buried, and then had silica and quartz replace the wood cell by cell.  As we followed the road to various scenic stops we saw ancient petroglyphs carved into rock faces which were neat.

As we left the Petrified Forest the Painted Desert popped into view with its dramatic reds and lavenders.

We stopped at the Hubbell Trading Post, and old Indian Trading Post that is still in operation.  They had wonderful rugs and other hand made items for sale as they did back in the 1800s.  From there we went on to Canyon de Chelly, pronounced D’Shay.  The Canyon is really a series of deep canyons.  We took the rim drives and stopped at designated lookout points to look into the canyon.  We were just able to make out cliff dwellings like Mesa Verde  It starts off 300 feet deep and goes to 1000 feet deep.   There are Navajo farms in the bottom and along the top.  In the canyon walls there are gaps where ancient puebloan cultures built their homes.

If you look at the next two pictures, in the first you can see they built in the lower ledge, but notice it is probably 200 feet up from the valley floor.   The second picture is a closeup of the building remains.

In the next two pictures you can see similar costruction , again probably 200 feet above the valley floor.

Tomorrow we go into the valley with a Navajo guide!!!