October 26 - 31 2015 Natural Bridges National Monument, Sand Island, Valley of the Gods, Moki Dugway and Canyon De Chelly

 

October 26 -28th Comb Wash and Blanding Utah

The predicted rain started at about 4am and rained of and on until 7am and cleared also as reported. We were on the road by 9 and off to the Maverick fuel station on the south side of town. Ray fueled the coach and accessed their sani-dump and then moved over to fill with fresh water, so we are good to go for another 2 weeks.

We found a lovely spot as researched, Comb Wash on Highway 95 towards Natural Bridges National Monument. Beautiful views. Other than one other fifth across the road we were all by ourselves. Beautiful views and great sunsets!

During some research I located a "short hike" to an old Anasazi ruin, The House On Fire, so after lunch we headed out a few miles to the trailhead. This is rated as an easy hike. It is mostly flat on sand with a few short hills to go up and down. You mostly followed the wash with the trail going from side to side depending on the easiest way. It is a little longer trail than advertised, I made it half way and sat in the shade enjoying the canyon views while Ray kept going to get the picture with the mindset it must be just around the next corner! Turned out to be lots of corners before he found it! Well worth it though!

Sizzling

Freya ran back and forth like a nitwit trying to keep us together. Eventually she just came back to stay with me when Ray got too far ahead. The hike was worth it though, his pictures were fantastic. Ray was quite sore after the walk so tomorrow he will have to sit in the car as we visit Natural Bridges.

Tuesday morning we left Freya behind and I drove us up the highway to the Natural Bridges National Monument. We were able to see 3 of the natural bridges from the short trails to the view points. Pretty neat that water can make the rock bridges.  FYI, that makes the difference between a natural bridge and an arch, water creates the bridge.         

First up is the Sipapu Natural Bridge:

 Secondly the Kachina Natural Bridge

Hopi snake petroglyph

And the third is the Owachimo Natural Bridge

The parks drive is only 9 miles long, so we stopped on the way back to the campsite to see the Mule Canyon Ruins and then home for lunch and sit in the sunshine. It was 42F overnight and 46 degrees when we left and 63 degrees when we got back home.

Ray drove out the valley for some evening shots surrounding our campsite.

Wednesday morning was the coldest yet down to 34 degrees. Burrrrr. The small propane tank for the Big Buddy Heater ran out just after we got up. Perfect timing. That made the decision for me to stay home and have a baking day, need those cookies for Ray! Ray took the opportunity to go into Blanding to see the Edge of The Cedars Museum and get a propane refill. Lovely pictures. 

Ray here.  The museum is so well worth it.  They display so many aspects of the ancient peoples.  There is a well preserved kiva out the door, which allows entry. There pottery display is extensive and replica petroglyph panels taken from surrounding areas.  Also included are unique artifact pieces such as a Macaw Sash and a crooked staff, both displaying wealth or status. Quit a few pictures follow, but are only a sampling of the 58 taken.

October 29-30th - Bluff, Utah Goosenecks and Valley of the Gods

 With the weather getting colder we decided to push on to Bluff, Sand Island BLM to use that as our base and drive to Goosenecks and the Valley of the Gods tomorrow instead of camping there. Apparently the winds on the mesa at Goosenecks can be quite fierce, so we will just drive and head south a few days earlier than planned.

First here are some pictures of the petroglyphs that are on a large panel at our Sand Island Campsite. 

Also a picture of the "Locomotive" and the "Navajo Twins" in downtown Bluff.

On Friday the 30th we did make the drive to the Valley of the Gods, the Moki Dugway, Murely Point and Goosenecks State Park. When we first started out there was a MVA on the highway with lots of cops and a dead body on the road with all of the little yellow markers. The car was kinda banged up but we could not understand why the body is on the road??? Anyways we continued on our trip. When we drove back several hours later, the body is still on the road with an IDENT Team searching a mile down the road from the accident. This is like watching a CSI Program in action.

Anyways, it's a wonderful trip and we ate our lunch at Goosenecks. Good thing we did not stay there as the wind was quite fierce and cold as reported. We ate lunch in the car! Here are the pictures of Valley of the Gods. Spectacular! A fairly rough road, certainly not great for the coach.

Big Tug Butte (to me anyway)

Rooster Butte

Setting Hen Butte

Seven Sailors Butte

Castle Butte and one undulating road

Next off to the Moki Dugway which happens to be on the front of the Utah Benchmark Atlas.

This sign is actually on the way back down. Three miles winding down the mountain. Lovely view from the top.

Monument Valley way in the distance

Next off to Murley Point at the top of the Dugway.

After this we went back down the Moki Dugway to Goosenecks State Park which is only 15 minutes away. I am glad we did not camp there as it was quite cold and windy up on the Mesa.

October 31st, Halloween

 We left by 9am after filling with water at Sand Island BLM and headed for Canyon De Chelly. It's only a 2 hour run, so we would have time to see part of the Park Drive today and the other (North Rim) drive tomorrow before we head out. On Hwy 191 at the junction between Utah and Arizona there was a police road block. Maybe they are searching for someone in conjunction with the dead guy the day before that was close to this area??? Anyway the road 191 was very rough for about 1/2 of it sending us bumping up and down pretty good. The speed limit said 65 but Ray only able to do about 50 for a lot of it so we were not sent flying inside the coach. The weather is a balmy 61 degrees and very sunny. A perfect day for a drive. Had to dig out Freya's Ruffwear boots as the Navajo campsite we booked into contains major goathead stickers are everywhere! She's not too impressed, but hated getting pricked more. Once she realized her paws weren't getting pricked, she's off to the races.

We popped into the Visitor Center first and met a Navajo man who makes silver jewelry. Ray bought me my Christmas present early. Ted Henry held Ansel Adams photograph book with Canyon De Chelly pictures that were taken in the early 40's and one of them was a picture of Ted's mother and brother. The sterling silver pendant we bought represents his mother as it is a woman carrying a baby in a cradleboard on one side and a eagle feather on the other side with a turquoise stone and a red coral stone. He lived for most of his life in the canyon near the White House Ruins. Pretty Cool.

Below is a Hogan, pronounced Hoe Ahn, which the locals use throughout the valley.

There's a Hogan in the valley a 1000 feet below

Here are the pictures of the South Rim Drive. At Chinle the Canyon De Chelly and Canyon Del Muerto meet and are only 30 feet high. Much further down the canyons the cliffs reach over 1000 feet high, so once you were in the canyon you stayed in the canyon. The Navajo farmed and hunted down in the canyons. They still do and have summer homes fashioned as Hogans.

 On the left the town of Chinle in the distance.  

Tsegi Overlook

Next three are where the Canyon de Chelly and Del Muerto  join.

Down below in this canyon is where Ted Henry, the silversmith grew up.

White House Ruins. The most popular set of ruins and the only one you can hike down to without a Navajo Guide. Some of the ruins still have pottery inside untouched.

Slider Rock Overlook

There is a ancient village under the rock in the middle of the picture.

Although tomorrow is November 1st I will include it with this month's post as it is part 2 of Canyon De Chelly, the drive on the North Rim. We ended up buying from some Navajo 2 pieces of rock art depicting the two ruins we had been taking pictures of, The White House and the Mummy House.

Here is the North Rim pictures. The first is Antelope House. You can get a guided tour from the Canyon on a jeep tour. We took the pictures from the lookout. 

Lots of evidence of active farming on the canyon floor. On the other side of the lookout is Navajo Fortress. The native people used ladders to climb to the top of the rock island and pull up the ladders so no one could attack them. Why it's called Del Muerto is while the men were away the Spanish Conquistadors attacked the village. The villagers climbed up but the Spaniards just kept sending arrows up until everyone died. 

Spider Rock Overlook view.

Our last stop was to view the Mummy Cave Ruins. Unbelievable. There is still artifacts like pottery inside the caves.  Only Navajo people may actually get near these special places and they protect their history by not removing anything. And that concluded our drive through the park.

We hooked up the car and made our way to Holbrook Arizona so we are set to visit the Petrified Forest National Park the next day.