DAY 3 SUNDAY MAY 20 LAS VEGAS TO CHINLE

BOULDER CITY

Boulder City, Nevada is a town built by the government to house the people who built Hoover Dam. It's elevation is listed all over the Internet as anywhere from 2200 ft. to 2501 ft. You get the idea. The older, main drag looks fun. The closer you get to Hoover Dam, however, the blander things get. Housing developments and really, really green lawns and too many golf courses. Not to mention this is where the money seems to be. Boulder City is also close to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area so, essentially, it can't be ALL bad but you won't catch me speding lots of time there.

We took Route 93 south to pick up Route 40, a state highway. The drive away from Hoover Dam was bleak. For that matter, the ride down 93 was bleak. It didn't get much better for a long time. There is very little change in landscape along 93. Little change in color or texture. It's dry, bland, and rocky. I wish I had taken pictures of the blandness but I think I was just overwhelmed.

Kingman, AZ and Flagstaff, AZ are not much to write home about. Granted, we only drove through but there was little to be seen from the highway to intice anyone to stay. And it's not like you can't see for miles on this kind of highway. This part of the trip also took us through part of The Painted Desert. We saw only a small part of this but it was pretty, especially compared to the rest of the landscape we'd seen that day. From Rte. 40 we caught 87 going north on our way to Chinle, Arizona. In a short while you are on Hopi Indian Reservation land. The Navajo Nation spreads and spreads for miles in many directions. Also, it's not just one big connected piece. The Navajo Nation lands spill into Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. And the poverty is obvious. But it appears the the Hopi land looks even worse. But allow me to disclaim that we saw a small part of it, just on 87 north from I-40, to Rte. 264 East, to catch Rte. 191 North into Chinle, Arizona. And I'm not sure where border lines are for Hopi land and Navajo land. I realize that I've painted a grim picture. I also realize that the many characteristics of poverty we saw are just one part of a very complex system of culture, tradition, goverment and hope. Hope in the form of a brilliant rainbow we saw after a storm.

Below are a couple of shots along 87. This is not the bleakness I was talking about earlier. Though sparse, there is plenty of texture and color and the sky was very dramatic. The light was eerie.



I had never seen cars stuck in the side of an embankment before but here you go.

The plan was to stay two nights at Spider Rock Campground in a traditional Native American hogan. This place has a great website. They have a crappy campground. The dude is real nice but the hogan is a dump. There was no way we were going to sleep on that "matress" pad in that cramped, dark, and cobwebby closet of a hogan. Plus, there was no running water. There was a Honey Bucket but it was rank. Neither of us could picture this place as home base for two days. Far more rustic than camping and Sally has been on some long, rustic backcountry camp trips. We told the dude that it was a bit too rough for us, to keep the money, thanks. Before this happened, we were told that a German woman, Gisella, was camped here and was renting a jeep for a canyon tour the next morning. We found Gisella and she agreed to let us share the jeep and the cost. We planned to be back at 9 am the next day. We then drove back to town and booked two nights at an overpriced Holiday Inn. This is where we met many of the stray dogs and cats of Chinle. Most were females, most had had plenty of litters. All knew that a hotel parking lots was a good place to score a snack but we refrained from contributing.

DAY 4 MONDAY MAY 21 CANYON DE CHELLY

WHITE HOUSE RUIN

We arrived back at Spiderock Campground on time only to learn that the canyon tour had been rescheduled for noon. This gave us time to head back to White House Ruin and actually do the hike. It's the only hike in Canyon de Chelly you can take without a park ranger or an authorized Navajo guide. It's 2.5 miles round trip with some quick elevation drop. Not a problem going down but one must always go back up. At this elevation, we could feel the difference in our lungs, which are used to moist, Pacific Northwest air closer to sea level. Add to this the impending heat. It was a very good idea to hike in the morning.

The Navajo still live in Canyon de Chelly and you can see sheep, a farm and a field on the way down to White House (so named because of the once white-washed walls of the structures). You can also see a hogan, a traditional dwelling that you spot all over Navaho land. Some are more modern looking than others but you can always tell which land is Navajo-owned.

You can't get close to the ruin (thanks to a chain link fence to ward of moronic purveyors of vandalism) but you can easily get shots through the fence. At first I was excited to discover a vault toilet but it was NAS-TEE. I once used a vault toilet so nasty I had to hold my breath and leave the door open while Sally stood guard. Still, I ran out with eyes watering and the smell on my clothes for several minutes. At least while hiking you have the chance to duck somewhere to pop a squat. Not so at White House Ruin so you'd better hold it. Also at the bottom are Navajo craftspeople selling their wares. Bring cash. You also see the jeep tours arriving that bring folks down to the ruins and beyond.

On our way back up we crossed paths with a very old, very tiny Navajo sheperdess, decked out in a long skirt, velour long-sleeved shirt, backpack, lots and lots of jewelry, a huge walking stick and a head covering. Straight out of a book. I thought I was hallucinating. She stopped and began talking to me. Though she spoke only a handful of English words, it was easy to understand that she was a sheperdess and every single day she walked her sheep from one part of the canyon to another. I'm not at all sure how long of a walk this was but at her age it was impressive. My first instinct was ask her for a photo of the two of us, but I felt silly and touristy. Speaking of photography, no photos are permitted of Navajo people or their animals without permission. But you are allowed to photograph all the ruins you like.

Sally descends into the valley.
View from the top. It's about 600 ft. to the bottom.


I love lizards. I know a dude in Denver with one named Lizardo.

At the bottom we admire a Navajo farm.
You can see a traditional hogan in the foreground to the right of the tree.

White House Ruin. There are two levels. One on the ground and one in the cliff. The streaks in the rock are caused by iron.

Close-up of petroglyphs.

CANYON DE CHELLY

We met up with Gisella back at the hotel parking lot at noon and met our guide, Ben, with Canyon Jeep Tours. For $50 each we got a personalized, four-hour driving tour. A much better deal and situation than being one of about 15-20 on a giant "jeep" with the top cut off. Ben couldn't have been nicer. He had stories of growing up in the canyon, his family, his culture. He knew every nook and cranny, pointed out petroglyps and interesting natural rock formations.

Canyon De Chelly National Monument is actually several canyons that branch out from the visitor center: Canyon Del Muerto, Black Rock Canyon, Canyon De Chelly, Monument Canyon, and Bat Canyon. Our jeep tour took us into Canyon De Chelly' via the south rim.

Ben would stop to let us get pictures, water breaks, leg stretch breaks. He was a great driver too. It's a challenging ride. Lots of washes to cross, all dirt or sand. Down one side then up the other. It's not a ride for someone who can't take being bounced around. You might get wet. You definitely will get sandy in places. Ben also took us to his property to see the cliff dwellings that reside right in his backyard. Keep in mind that the entire canyon is a sacred place to the Navajo. No photos are allowed of people or animals without permission. Photos of the ruins and general scenery are permitted. Think of a group pf people touring your house. You'd probably say forget it. So travelling through Canyon de Chelly is a special arrangement. Be respectful.

Visiting the canyon was really important to Sally who spent two weeks helping a Navajo family herd sheep when she was 17. She recounts that it was the first time in her life she realized what it meant to live a life outside of a city (She grew up in Denver). Her time with the Navajo family introduced her to a life without car traffic, industrial noise, airplanes flying over, and lots pf people. In the remoteness of the Canyon there was quiet and land for miles and solitude and stars. It made a lasting impression.

The first ruin we came to is called, of course, First Ruin.
From a distance

Close up.

Driving along the canyon floor.
Far away.
Close up.

Plenty of petroglyphs in this canyon. We drove through only a fraction of it and saw only a fraction of the existing petroglyphs within that.
Way up in that crevise in the rock...
are ancient apartments surrounded by petroglyphs.
A sneak peak at a natural arch, days before we get to Arches National Park.

More cliff dwellings.

Spider Rock. The destination of the day. 800 feet high, this sacred rock, according to Native culture, is where Spider Woman lived. She taught the Navajo (Dineh) people how to weave on a loom. Spider Woman was also used to warn Navajo children against bad behavior, lest she lower her web to capture them and bring them back up to the top of the rock to devour them!




Gisella, Sally, and Ben, our guide.

I know it doesn't look like it, but we are having a great time. I can't really explain these sour faces.

Hopefully, you can see the different colors in this group of carvings. There is yellow on the left and far right. Even a purple color at the far right. There was alot going on in this collection. You get the shots you can, sometimes while sitting in the jeep while it's running. Better than nothing. If you click on the photo it will enlarge and you can then pick out some shapes and colors.

You might have to click on this photo to enlarge it to see the four figures standing in about the center of this shot.

This is Ben's property. In his back yard, beyond his fruit trees, are centuries old cliff dewllings.


Ben explained that these panels on the rock were painted white to maximize reflected light into the apartments. So imagine an intact structre standing here. If you entered it, the back wall (the side of the cliff) would be painted white to reflect sunlight that might enter.

Back on top on our ride out of the Canyon. Here are shots of what we drove through earlier.


Two shots of the same distant cliff dwelling. In the above shot we can see the ruin in the bottom right corner and notice how far from the top of the cliff it sits. Below, in the upper left corner, we see how high off the ground it sits.

After hiking and touring we had a hearty dinner, including Navajo fry bread, at the Junction Resteraunt. Choices are extremely limited for Chinle dining. Leftovers made mid-morning breakfast the next day when we were rained out of Mesa Verde.

DAY 5 TUESDAY MAY 22 CHINLE TO FARMINGTON

With the weather getting worse, we decided to skip Mesa Verde, at least for this day. Decisions were made over the road map and breakfast in the car in a gas station parking lot in Mexican Water, AZ.

As it turned out, the day included alot of driving. But we did stop at Four Corners National Monument where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado all come together. We passed on the opportunity to stand on the platform that allows you to stick various body parts in all four states at one time. We headed for the Navajo arts and crafts booths for a quick run through. I was on the hunt for small pieces of pottery to be purchased directly from the artist. I didn't want to buy anything from a gift shop or "trading post" and pay the mark-up. I wanted to meet the folks who actually made the piece I would take home. One of the beautiful pieces I bought was created by Kimberly Nasha Benally, Diné artist. Diné (deh-NAY), sometimes seen written as Dineh, is what the Navajo traditionally call themselves.

At the very least, walking the booths provided shelter from the rain but not from the temperature or the wind. It was too wet and cold to be fooling around in four states at one time. Besdies, after we hit all the booths and used the porta-potty and went back to the car, we'd been in all four states - so there.

Also stretched our legs in Cortez, Colorado to find an ATM and coffee. Surprisingly, the latte stand inside the City Market (we have them in WA - part of the Kroger chain) makes a very tasty drink. On our way out of town we realized there was a locally owned coffee house. There might even be more but we had no time for exploration.

You know, I'm sure this giant formation has a name but we could never figure it out. Any ideas?



On our criss-cross adventure we saw Shiprock in the distance, standing 1,700 ft. It’s an eroded volcanic plume sacred to the Navajos as Tse Bi dahi, or “the Rock with Wings.” This name comes from a Navajo folk myth that tells that the rock was once a great bird that transported the Navajo ancestral people to their lands in what is now northwestern New Mexico. The great bird rose from the ground to carry the people to safety from a war-like tribe. Geology tells us the rock was formed 12 million years ago during the Pliocene epoch. Shiprock has been a pilgrimage site for people for a long time. Since 1970, the rock has been off limits to climbers out of respect for this Navajo sacred place. There is also a city called Shiprock. We were unable to gets closer to either but I managed to snap one less than mediocre shot form the moving car.

FARMINGTON, NEW MEXICO

The more we considered the map, the more we realized that with just a bit of extra driving we could get back to see Mesa Verde in a couple days. In the meantime, we headed to Farmington, NM, our home base for our trek to Chaco Canyon. Farmington is sizeable, sporting all the modern shopping and services and even a small airport.

The first night we walked the old downtown window shopping and picking up souveniers. Postcards, smudge sticks, candy, carved stone ornaments and jewelry to name a few. Looking for grub, we were pointed in the direction of Los Hermanitos. Sally had the green chile stew. Chile is practically a religion in the Southwest. Each area has their preference for either green or red chile and then their preferences for how they eat either of those. The green chile stew at Los Hermanitos passed Sally’s muster. It was pretty damn tasty. And Los Hermanitos tortillas were very good.

Permit a digression on the culinary customs of the Southwest:

The big comfort food of the Southwest is posole (po- SO - lay). Every region has its recipe. Some people serve it as the Christmas Eve meal. Posole is also the name of the corn used in the dish. Soaked in powdered lime and water, the kernels expand. Then you remove the outer husk from each kernel. Sounds time consuming. It could be hard to find posole so hominy works very well too. Sally made this dish for me months ago and I immediately started scheming variations I’d like to try. Pososle has lots of flavors - garlic, cayenne, green chile, oregano, cloves, peppercorn and is traditionally made with pork. Like any regional comfort food, you can customize your posole. Use chicken or sausage or a meat substitute. Folks in southern New Mexico use red chile while those in northern New Mexico use green.

Here is a very good start to your posole future. I’ve also recently discovered a version with shrimp and scallops. I will try that recipe and then post it on cucina bodanza.

DAY 6 WEDNESDAY MAY 23 CHACO CANYON

CHACO CANYON

We began the day by going to the Four Corners Regional Airport in Farmington to pick up the truck we rented for the drive to Chaco Canyon. The drive to Chaco is rough and at some point the pavement ends and you drive for quite some time on a “dirt” road. It’s more like sand. Four-wheel drive is a great idea. We were driving my mom's Audi which has four-wheel drive but lacked the clearance of a truck. We got a big truck. Not on purpose, that’s just what they gave us. It was huge with a full-sized extended cab. We felt safe. The ride to Chaco was uneventful. The ride back, however, included a little bit of fishtailing during a storm. Even in a rugged vehicle, that damn sand they call dirt gave us trouble.

Chaco culture began in the mid 800's and lasted over 300 years. Over 400 miles of planned and engineered roads have been identified. Construction of the great buildings, such as Un Vida, Pueblo Bonito, and Penasco Blanco, began in the late 800's and continued in stages over the next 300 years or so.

From the visitor center it's a short walk to the Una Vida ruin which is in an almost near-natural state of preservation. Little excavation has been done on this site. In fact, there are no plans to excavate further. Allowing the site to remain in its natural state helps preserve it. If you remove the sand and clear the place, it becomes vulnerable to erosion, rain, wind, etc. Besides, the Navajo, the Hopi and the Pueblos believe the place should naturally return to the earth. Una Vida looks much like it did 1,000 years ago with the exception of the parts that nature has collapsed over time.

Again, all of Chaco is sacred to the Navajo, the Hopi and the Pueblos. People still make pilgrimages to these sites so visit with respect. If you pick up the brochure, you can do the Una Vida walk as a self-guided interpretive trail. There is a short but steep hike up to some petroglyphs. A petroglyph is an image created by removing the surface of a rock by carving or pecking or abrading. Not to be confused with pictograph which identifies an image painted or drawn onto the rock surface. Look but do not touch. Chaco is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as of 1982.

It's a short drive to Pueblo Bonito, the center of Chaco. Pueblo Bonito is the ruin most often used in postcards and photos and is the focus of the movie The Mystery of Chaco Canyon featuring the narration of Robert Redford. Pueblo Bonito is just huge. We only explored a small part. This whole complex is said to have been constructed and oriented in relationship to the sun and moon. The whole place is like a huge celestial clock or calendar.

Walking through the ruins I was reminded of walking through the ruins in Ostia Antica about an hour’s drive outside of Rome at the mouth of the River Tiber. Like at Ostia, you get to (in many cases) literally walk where the ancient inhabitants walked. You can see the detail in the fitting of the stones. You can see the timbers still in the construction in some places. Keep in mind that these people had no pack animals, no wheel, and the closest forest was about 40 miles away.

There are more petroglyphs to see by taking a short walk along a well-marked trail. Once we began our hike to the petroglyphs at Una Vida the weather began its split personality antics. Our coats came off and on, the wind gusted at times, the sun would either bake us or leave us completely. We had originally planned from the beginning to do a real hike, to really explore all the way out to Pueblo Bonito. But we were soon cold and damp and realized that our plans were dashed. We’ll be back. In the meantime, we can all enjoy this really cool interactive site about Chaco.

Evening primroses grow along the long road to Chaco. Above they bloom. Below they wait to bloom.

Ruins hidden in the cliffs. Look in the lower center of the above shot.


A view from Una Vida.
We hike up to see some petroglyphs at Una Vida.



Looking out over the Chacoan valley.

All of these shots are from Pueblo Bonito.

I really was intrigued by these groups of slash marks.

Love these petroglyphs. You can try clicking on the photo to enlarge it. Some web browsers will support this function. Sally walks along the trail.
Ancient creature carving.


I think I love petroglyphs. Notice the lumpy snake-like figure going across from left to right. And the big, bird-like foot in the upper right. I really like the long vertical one that looks like a shesh kebab.


Here I am cold but having a good time.

Look at the intricate work to get these larger stones to fit together.

Check out this spongy rock. The elements are in charge out here.

BACK IN FARMINGTON

Totah Theatre Productions. Not sure what goes on here but I dug the sign.



It really is a never-ending search for a good latte when one is on the road. Preferring locally owned places to anything resembling S*ar*u*ks, it's sometimes a challenge to get a good latte. But Farmington is pretty big and the night we arrived we spotted Andrea Kristina's Bokstore & Kafe and made a point go back after a long day of exploring Chaco. Coffee was great, items for sale really cool, and I scored a great t-shirt (one of ten I picked up on this trip).