Visit to Canyon De Chelly - Part 2

As we started along the North Rim, we quickly realized we were going to get dirty.  Had to hide our cameras as much as possible.  In hindsight - I would have tried to find a tour in a closed Jeep, knowing the cost would have been much more expensive.  Oh well.  We came, we saw, we conquered.

Entering the Canyon - Guides needed from here on

Along the riverbed

First Ruins

Lots of petroglyphs

A different tour

At Junction where we headed north

Ruins everywhere we looked 

Saw First Ruins, Ledge Ruins, and then got to Antelope House.  Continued on to Standing Cow Ruins, stopped at the Navajo Fortress where the US Army under Kit Carson, chased and captured/killed many Navajo while they were rounding them up to take to Fort Defiance in 1863.  So very sad.  Many children and women climbed to the top of a large rock, keeping the Army from capturing them and eventually had to give up, running out of water and food after a long period.

Got to Mummy Cave Ruins which is so named because 2 mummies were discovered in the early 1900s but because they were over 6 feet tall, the archeologists knew they were not Native People - Natives are much shorter, most only about 5 foot tall before the 1900.  DJ pointed out that the ruins were from the Anasazi (Ancient Ones) on either side of the center structure, where as the center structure ruins were from the early Navajo times.

Met up with the morning tour - they turn around at this point, we go on

Tucked under walls are summer homes of Navajo

A big kitty cat! 

See the antelope on the walls?

Tucked wayyyy under

First glimpse of Antelope House

That is an ancient symbol representing earth, wind, fire, and water.

Antelope House Ruins

Rest period - at Antelope House Ruins 

Residents are at home

Had lunch, turned around and booked it back to Junction Ruins where Canyon Del Chelly takes off to the south.  We wondered why we went north first - the sun would be on the northern ruins and not on the southern ruins in the morning.  And vice versa for the afternoon.  Sun on the ruins in the southern rim.

Sun just peeking around

Looks like a howling coyote!

Navajo Fortress - about 500 feet tall

Petroglyphs depict Spaniards coming into canyon

All summer homes have the ceremonial Hogan

Standing Cow Ruins

Interesting shapes - all sandstone!

Horses, cows and sheep roam freely

Mummy Cave Ruins

Our lunch stop

Back to Junction to head South (about 1:30pm)

Visit to Canyon De Chelly National Monument - Part 1

Instead of the 'regular' turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, we opted to head up to Canyon De Chelly NM in north east Arizona to visit the monument that has been on our radar for a number of years.  There is camping inside the park however, there is no water, electric, or sewer hookups, basically the camping is considered 'dry camping' of which I do not like to do.  I do like electricity - knowing the nights would get down to 30 and I did not want to freeze.  There were about a half dozen campers in the one campground - Cottonwood - which was about 1/4 mile from where we stayed.

Prisons in Coolidge, Florence and Superior!

One of the 5 C's AZ founded on - cotton, not harvested yet

Passed Casa Grande National Monument (ruins)

Cotton ready to go to the Gin

Lots of dirt bikes and ATVing going on Thanksgiving Day 

The climb up into Tonto National Forest

Another C - copper, this is a smelter in Globe

And down into Salt River Canyon south of ShowLow

I booked our room at the Thunderbird Lodge, owned and staffed by the Navajo people and located 1 mile inside the Monument's boundary.  This lodge is run in conjunction with the National Park Service but is Navajo in all respect.  Very very lovely!  The restaurant (cafeteria) which is located right next door to the gift shop serves excellent meals, prepared and presented in the Navajo tradition.  Wow, fabulous food!!!  The cafeteria is located within the original trading post built in 1896.  Many pictures and artifacts are on display inside.

Heading north towards Holbrook

Everyone home eating turkey - no one on the road

Holbrook and Route 66

Have now entered Navajo Nation's lands

Dropping down into Chinle - about 7 miles from the Lodge

Thursday was spent driving to Thunderbird Lodge, about 375 miles north and east of Picacho.  We drove through Florence to Superior, on to Globe and then Holbrook.  From Holbrook we entered the Navajo land and proceeded to Chinle, the town where the National Monument is located.  And it was chilly!  We left Picacho with 76 degrees at 9am and when we got to our room at 4:10pm, it was 48, and dropping.  Glad we brought extra outer-wear.

Friday morning we had checked in at the gift shop for our all-day tour into the canyon.  You cannot visit Canyon De Chelly (pronounced day-shell) without a permit and a Navajo guide.  We opted to book the tour directly from the lodge, glad we did.  NOTE:  we had not been exposed to over 9 hours of outdoor weather (and chilly) and therefore were totally exhausted when we got back - so good thing we were right at the lodge where our room was and hot food in the restaurant.)

Our tour was the RED line - morning to the north, afternoon to the south

Was introduced to DJ, our Navajo guide, and the 6 of us boarded the vehicle, checked into the park to give our permit to the ranger, and off we went.

Nothing better than Navajo Fry Bread!

Navajo Mutton Stew - delicious!

About the Cafeteria

The vault that houses the very expensive art work

The tour first starts along the Chinle wash, riding along the riverbed but no water - they had not had rain since July.  Dusty at times, but amazing views.  We stopped along the way to view Ancient People ruins, DJ would explain what we were looking at, how the people lived, who came when, and who lives in the canyon now.  Originally there was the Anasazi People who were in the canyon as far back as 5000 years ago.  Some time in the early 700's AD, they left and the Hopi People moved in.  Then about 1200 AD the Hopi were gone and the Navajo moved in.  At one time over 2000 people lived in the canyon, today no one lives full-time but about 30 families come back down in the springtime to farm and live.  Then come late summer, the families move up out of the canyon to live in their winter homes.  That is also when the children will attend schools.  All water and power such as propane or kerosene are trekked in in their vehicles, the food is first brought in but their farming supports all the rest of the summer.  Beets, squash, beans, corn, many kinds of fruit trees, and meat is also self-provided.  Cattle, sheep and horses are left in the canyon year round to survive.

DJ was amazing in his information.  He was born in the Canyon, his parents took the family out of the Canyon when he was 6 to attend school and they lived in Chinle the remainder of the time.  However, DJ has been a guide into the Canyon for over 21 years.

Our vehicle looked just like this one 

DJ - our Navajo guide

Have to say - when we were riding along the floor of the Canyon, I really felt the 'Ancients' spirits where surrounding us.  Very humbling experience.

We saw petroglyphs, ancient ruins - many of them you cannot see from the top of the rim, many ranches with structures for living (the summer families live in them) are, wild animals such as mule deer, cad-zillion wild turnkeys, hawks flying overhead, prints of mountain lion (DJ confirmed), and of course cows, horses, sheep.

Our toor first took us along the North Rim, into Canyon Del Muerto (canyon of death), where we saw many ruins and eventually got to Mummy Cave where we had lunch.  Turned around back through the North Rim to the Junction then turned south into the South Rim and entered Canyon De Chelly and continued on until we got to Spider Rock.  Turned back around and headed for 'home', getting back to the Lodge at 5:30pm. We were dirty, cold, but so glad we took the tour.

Part 2 will be of the North Rim of the tour.  Part 3 will be of the South Rim and also Saturday's travel by car along the top of the Canyon to view the overlooks, down into the Canyon we were in the previous day.

Settled in at Picacho

Since the last post, I spent 13 days in Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix, living at Jill and Erez's home, helping with the grand girls and the day-to-day activities of them.  Jill was in Asia on a business trip through her work (Intel) and as such left a big hole in logistics with getting the girls to school in the morning, picking them up after school, making sure they have something to eat before their next activity of the day, either soccer or dance.  Some days the after school routine started at 3:10 with picking up the youngest right from school and she eating her 'snack' while I drive her on to dance rehearsal.  Picking her back up anywhere from 8:00 to 9:15pm.  Wow.   Doesn't leave much time to be just a kid.

During the day I did some cleaning, laundry, run errands, grocery shop, etc. - just glad I was able to help out.  I also worked on a couple of quilts - projects I took on the road but never did, so I did some quality sewing.  Dave remained in Benson at the RV, he had lots to keep him busy like washing and waxing the RV before it goes into storage for the winter, some repairs and a few modifications.  He drove to Chandler one day to install a new security light system on Jill's house to enable to the walkway to light when taking out the garbage.  But, it was a long drive for him - almost 3 hours - and he did not want to be on the road after dark.

Pache did not care that I was gone for 2 weeks

Buddy stayed in the chair, by the door, waiting
for me to come home - the entire 2 weeks

1st day home - they were all over me, content

Our plans were to continue on our 'summer' trip once I got back from Jill's, which was October 29th, but after a few days we decided to pack up and get to Picacho.  Made a couple of trips there (90 miles one way) to move some clothes and food, etc., and then yesterday did the last clean out of the tanks and headed out.  Since it was a short trip we opted not to hook up the car to the RV, I followed him.  Got the cats into the park model, we still have not seen much of Buddy - he is so scared - and we hope in another day or so he'll start to make more of living.  Right now his world consists of the underneath of the bed, he spends all the daylight hours there but at night, he's right beside me on the bed.

To recap the summer trip - we traveled 5,916 miles with the RV, which is the most we have ever done in one season of camping.  We camped (spent at least 24 hours in one town) in the following states:  Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin again, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and New Mexico and back into Arizona.  With that said, we also traveled through these states but did not spend the night (our criteria):  Utah (2 times), Colorado (passed through Utah back into Colorado then into Wyoming on one drive), Illinois, Oklahoma, Wisconsin (we passed through from Minnesota into Wisconsin and back into Minnesota then we spent the next 6 weeks in one spot in Minnesota).

Some of our favorite memories of the trip were the time we spent in Dolores, Colorado; the beautiful pristine wilderness area while in Grand Marais, Minnesota and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area; and the time spent in Alamogordo, New Mexico in the mountains above.  And of course, seeing our family and many friends while we were in Ohio which was the longest staying put in one space - 7 weeks.  Now on to planning next summer's adventure!