March 2016
In March we realized we'd been in Arizona nearly 5 months and hadn't seen much of the State. Not that we hadn't seen a lot of it previously, but
this visit we'd barely gotten ourselves out of Tucson. To make up for lost time we commenced on a fast and furious tour to hit some of the highlights before they got too crowded and before it got too hot to leave the apartment.
First stop was Petrified Forest National Park. We'd driven through here about 20 years ago at sunset and two memories stuck in our minds: beautiful sunset, and rabbits
everywhere. So many, it was impossible not to hit them with the car even going at a very slow speed (and you know I am an animal lover so I was dodging the car left and right). I still remember the thuds. Ugh.
No rabbits this time, but a pretty nice sunset. Overall, Petrified Forest ain't that interesting unless you're a geology nut or maybe a kid. It's probably not the Park's fault. Tourists being what they are, "tons" (in the words of the Park Service) of petrified wood is stolen every year. I imagine it was pretty spectacular in the horse & buggy days, but not so much since the invention of cars when every knucklehead with a car can stash a souvenir in his trunk. It's worth driving through if you're in the area but it doesn't make my Arizona Top 10 list.
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| Petrified Forest National Park |
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| Chunks of petrified trees | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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| Fun with shadows |
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Santa Fe? No.
Painted Desert Inn (now a museum), 1924, Petrified Park |
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Next stop was Canyon de Chelly National Monument. CdC is owned by the Navajo Nation and managed cooperative with the National Park Service. Approximately 40 Navajo families still live in the park.
Access to the canyon floor is restricted and visitors are allowed to
travel in the canyon only when accompanied by a park ranger or an
authorized Navajo guide. The exception is the White House Ruin Trail, about 1.5 miles down to the canyon floor. Our day at CdC began with snow and wind. Nice. We waited awhile and then as it began to clear a little started the hike. About the time we started down the sun came out and it was sunny the rest of the day, but cold.
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White House Ruin Trail; and a little snow
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| White House Ruin Trail (right side of picture) to canyon floor |
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at the bottom
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This is as close as you can get to the ruins;
all ruins in the park are fenced off to prevent (further) vandalism |
There are two rim drives and about ten overlooks. The nice thing about this park is that nearly all of the overlooks are really interesting, with good views to the canyon floor and lots of cliff houses (but bring your binoculars). The park was really empty this day, a bonus.
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| Cliff ruins beyond |
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| Massacre Overlook |
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Spider Rock
(yes, the one in that car commercial; even the Navajos' gotta make a buck) |
Monument Valley was the next stop on our list but the winds were predicted to be so strong in the coming days that we decided to skip it and go directly to the Grand Canyon to get a hike in before the wind storm hit.
We hiked the Grandview Trail. At the rim there were gaggles of people but 100 feet and a few switchbacks lower it was silent. The trail is three miles down but I only made it two miles before turning around. It's a very rocky and steep trail and my leg muscles weren't in shape. Ironically, I found the uphill to be much easier than the downhill. Chris went to the end and we met up again about 3/4 of the way back to the top.
The next day, as promised, was a fierce windstorm. We headed back home, stopping in Flagstaff for an excellent lunch, and getting to Tucson in time for... what else... a sunset.
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| Tucson sunset from AJ's |
