Power “Parking”

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Dedication We would like to dedicate this Blog entry to the memory of Carl’s brother Kevin. Kevin was riding his motorcycle late Sunday night November 5th, when he encountered a Deer; unfortunately he did not survive the encounter. Kevin was 40 this past May.

Blog Entry
Brrr… It was chilly this morning, so chilly that there was frost on the windscreen of the truck. Thankfully the sky was blue and the sun was shining, but not enough for us to keep out the shorts and t-shirts - this was definitely long pants weather! Especially as we also had an ambitious agenda for the day - four sites, four corners, four states and 4,000 feet!

Starting Destination: Chambers, Arizona
Ending Destination: Durango, Colorado
Ending Destination GPS: N: 37° 17.784’ W: 107° 52.309’ Elev: 6643
Miles Driven: 329.2
Distance Walked: Tourist walking, approximately 1 mile.

Trading, in the Traditional Style

We spent the night in a hotel on the edge of the Navajo Indian Reservation because today we are leaving the relative speed of the Interstate and heading North on Highway 191. This direction would lead us right into the four corners area… but first we stopped at the Hubbell Trading Post, this facility is classified as a National Historic Site, but is actually run as an active trading post, just like it was first run more than 100 years ago. Most of the merchandise is different, but you can still purchase food and other items - in fact Maria purchased a silver bracelet with lapis stone inlay to replace the bracelet she lost during the packing process! There were lots of other items - interesting preserves, junk food, other jewelry, paintings and Navajo Rugs; the price of which combined with the number or items in stock spawned an interesting debate regarding the pricing and marketing strategy. The facility didn’t just contain the “store,” there were barns, fields, animal pens and the original house - which we would have liked to have seen, but we didn’t find out about it until we read the brochure in detail a few days later! However, in the visitors’ center we did read about an interesting new project - trialing a new irrigation system; all you needed were a 44 gallon drum, some concrete block, a hand pump and some tubing…

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Canyons Big and Small

Our next stop was Canyon De Chelly National Monument. Along the way we had driven through and seen evidence of river canyons that had been created and then eroded leaving behind interesting rock formations - but we hadn’t seen what we considered a “true” canyon. Canyon De Chelly was a “true” canyon, the land was also owned by the Navajo - thus there were people living in the canyon, visitors could not venture far from the roads/scenic viewpoints without the services of a local guide and there were many opportunities for commerce… all of which were not characteristics of most of the Parks we had visited so far on this trip. We stopped at the visitors’ center and developed a plan of action - we would take the South rim loop, stop at some of the scenic viewpoints and then take the trail down into the canyon leading to ruins of the “White House,” then wind our way back to the main highway via the North Rim road. However, it was not long before we realized that if we followed this course of action we could potentially miss out on some of the other sites on our agenda. So we contented ourselves with taking some photos from the rim and then retracing our steps to the main highway.

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The Power of Four

Our next stop was the Four Corners area - the only place in the Nation where the corners of 4 different states come together in one location. Maria had read several books by Tony Hillerman that were set in this area, so it was interesting to see some of the locations mentioned in the book - especially Ship Rock, it does kind of look like a ship! We were also quite surprised to find that there was an entrance fee for the four corners monument - for three dollars you could actually get close enough to stand in all 4 states at once, you also had the opportunity to frequent the food and souvenir stands!
We were too busy availing ourselves of the facilities and searching for the best camera location… unfortunately we searched too long, as a tour bus stopped and suddenly there was no good camera location. We didn’t have time to wait - we needed to be off, if we were going to make our next destination!

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Pueblos on the Plateaus

Our final site for the day was Mesa Verde National Park, we arrived at the entrance station just before 4pm - only to be informed by the Park Ranger that we had left it a little late and that we would have to make a choice… we could either stop at the visitors’ center or do one of the scenic loops. This, of course was like a red rag… by this stage we considered ourselves quite the experts at seeing the maximum in the minimum, so the challenge was on. The first obstacle was the fact that all the “sites” were a 20 mile drive into the park along roads that were challenging, but had the added complication of having been covered in snow sometime in the last day or so… We slowed briefly to look at the Far View Visitors’ Center, the building was closed but we agreed that the view would have been fabulous. We stopped first at the Chapin Mesa Museum where we found that we were too late for an actual tour inside one of the houses, but we could walk down towards the Spruce Tree House and take a more “up close & personal” view…
It was fascinating to see the workmanship, design and functionality (see the storage “hole” left) and to wonder about how the residents must have spent quite a bit of time climbing up-to or down-to their houses! We both agreed that we probably wouldn’t have made very good cliff dwellers… The whole trip was about a half mile round trip and was about 100 feet descent; we probably would have set a land speed record for the round trip if we hadn’t encountered a very “chatty” Park Ranger!! By this stage it was about 5:15, getting dark enough for the Tree House to be closed, but not yet sunset… So we decided to take in the Mesa Top Loop Drive, where we stopped at… the Pithouse where we saw the archeological remains of the houses used prior to the cliff dwellings; the Square Tower House, which was similar to the cliff dwellings, but was perched a little more precariously on a ledge and had a roof open to the sky; some other Hilltop dwellings and then the Sun Temple - where we could see the Cliff Palace and get some pictures using the last of the light, we did this first and then looked at the Sun Temple… archeologists are not sure exactly what this structure was used for, however, they do know that it was not completed. At this point we were feeling a tad pleased with ourselves as we had managed to view both the Tree House and do the Mesa Top Drive, and we didn’t need the services of the emergency services personnel like the woman we saw at the museum!! On our way out of the park we stopped briefly to avoid some Mule Deer and then at the Park Top View where we could see the whole park - it was kind of misleading as most of the “sights” are in the canyons, so you can’t really see. Then we stopped at a scenic view point to see if we could catch the sunset, but we were a little early and thought we would be better to negotiate the road in “some” light instead of none at all! Thankfully we didn’t have to negotiate the old road - there was a picture of this early early model Ford that had slipped off the road and was perched precariously with 2 wheels on the road. After a day of “Power Parking” we were pleased that we had managed to see as much as we had… all that was left was the drive to Durango and to find a hotel for the night!

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Carl’s Travel Trivia

Yesterday’s Answer: The different minerals that are contained within the water that seeps into the wood, these minerals are deposited in the wood. Over time the minerals remain, but the wood disappears.
Today’s Question: What four States intersect at Four Corners?

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Comments

[Marv Bush]

Trivia question about the 4 corners.
Finally a easy one. That is Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona. Carl, you have our sympathy about your brother. I heard that Monday morning over the radio but didn't get it all and was wondering if that was any relation to you. So sorry to hear that. God Bless your family and we will keep you in our prayers. MB

[Matt Hunsberger]

My respect and condolences
I just wanted to offer you both my condolences on the the loss of your brother. Please let me know if there is anything I can do.