2006 RV Trip Diaries - Canyon De Chelly and Mesa Verde

                                                                                                                                                                                      

September 28 - Thursday

We turned onto Highway 191 north into the Navajo Nation Reservation.  There was a sign there that said "people crossing next 5 miles" and sure enough there was an Indian and his two dogs walking in the roadway.  The road was bumpy for the next five miles but we saw no more people.  I think the sign was a deterrent  to go any further.  We did though and the countryside was beautiful with fields and trees, various shaped mountains in the distance  around all sides, and flowers along the roadside including yellow rabbit bushes, purple asters, and miniature sunflowers (brown-eyed susans).     

Our goal was Canyon DeChelly (pronounced De Shay) National Monument along the way we stopped to browse through the historic Hubble Trading Post.  The buildings and counters inside the trading post are all original from before the turn of the 20th century.  At Canyon DeChelly we browsed through the gift shop at the Thunderbird Inn and made arrangements for a guided tour of the canyon tomorrow.

We're staying in a nice, shaded, free campground and cooking dinner outside using the portable grill.

 

September 29 - Friday

The tour of the canyons was fascinating.  There are no roads in the canyon, only tracks in the sand of the river bottom that are followed by 4 wheel drive trucks carrying 12 passengers each.  The sun was bright accentuating the colors of the red rock walls and cliffs.  Stone dwellings built by the Anasazi people about 1,000 years ago dot the faces of the cliffs throughout the red rock canyon.  The canyon walls are sheer cliffs ranging from 30 to 1,000 feet.  Canyon del Muerto was the first canyon we visited.

In Canyon DeChelly as in the Painted Desert the people left many petroglyphs and pictographs on the rock walls.  Those that look like the negative of a hand print were made by putting a hand on the wall then blowing pigment from the mount around the hand.  The others were made by chipping the petroglyph into the rock with sharp stones.

Today the Navajo have summer homes in the canyon.  They plant gardens, raise sheep, have small herd of cattle, and horses roam free.

The "White House" Ruins

Closer view of the "White House" Ruins

September 30 -  Saturday   

We drove the north rim of the Canyon.  The picture to the right is of a high rock island in the canyon where the Indians escaped to when Kit Carson captured most of the Navajo and took them to a reservation in Fort Defiance and Fort Sumner in N.M.  Many died on the Long Walk and they did not survive well on the reservation.  In four years in 1868 they were released to go back to their homeland, now a reservation.

In the evening we had pie and ice cream at the Thunderbird Inn to celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary.

October 1 - Sunday

We continued to drive Hwy 191.  The country was as beautiful but the mountains changed to a lighter red, then to brown, then brownish yellow.  We reached the Four Corners Monument where the borders of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah all meet.  Naturally we had to have a picture taken of us with our feet touching all four states.  

Camped in an RV park next to a Ute Indian casino.  We had a nice anniversary dinner at the casino then went back to the trailer to enjoy having an electric connection again after a few days of having to read by candle light in the evening. 
Garrey's feet are in Arizona and Utah and Karen's are in Colorado and New Mexico

October 2 - Monday

The road to the top of Mesa Verde turned out to be more than a small chore to drive.  It's steep, twisty, long and has lots of areas with no guard-rails and lots of cliff edge drop offs.  We were glad we decided not to bring our trailer and camp in the park.

It was cold on top and we were dressed in shorts.  The air was thin at 8,500 feet and we were feeling the effects.  We also had not known the distance we would have to drive to get to viewing points for the pueblos and the truck was low on gas when we started.  As a result we drove up to the top, stopped at the visitor's center, browsed the gift shop and museum, ate a bagel, and headed back down to the town of Cortez.  

After filling the gas tank we drove to the pretty little town of Dolores and toured the Anasazi Heritage Center.  It's an excellent  museum with an adjacent hiking trail that goes a half mile up to the Escalante pueblo and a view of the Dolores River.  This was the first Anasazi dwelling discovered in this area.  It was found by two Spanish priests wandering around looking for potential converts in the area in the 1700's.

Karen viewing the Escalante pueblo living rooms

The Escalante pueblo kiva - a circular ceremonial room common to all of the Anasazi dwellings.

October 3 - Tuesday

We spent most of the day in the RV reading and working on this diary.  We saw the first rain today that we've seen since we left Juneau.  It rained for about 10 minutes then the sky cleared up and it's a beautiful evening.  We will walk over to the casino tonight to see if we can take some of their money from them. Ha.

At least we'll have some dinner there since it was good before and maybe spend a few coins in their slot machines.

Well, they got $22.00 from us but we had a nice dinner and enjoyed the entertainment.  That's not bad considering that their campsite only cost $19.00 per night.