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Published: April 5th 2011
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We regretfully shook the dust of the Grand Canyon of our boots and headed for the little town of Page, where the main attractions seem to be Lake Powell (a hydro dam) and the slot canyon at Antelope Canyon, which was where we were headed the next day. The canyon ran for about 800 metres, but is visible from above through just a very narrow opening, probably only about a metre wide for most of the length. When the sun is directly overhead the most amazing light shines into the canyon, making it a photographer’s paradise. Craig took his quota (probably only a few hundred) of photos, but there were a couple of other contenders in our group who put him to shame – one in particular who (possibly because of a language barrier) was only able to keep saying (very loudly and aggressively) “you’re in my shot – you’re in my shot!” – which was annoying at first but when he seemed to think that the tour was for his personal benefit, Craig decided to have some fun with him by walking in front of him deliberately, which gave everyone else a bit of a laugh.
We camped at
Flagstaff on Friday night (back to the tent - yay!), before heading for Canyon de Chelly (apparently pronounced Canyon de Shay). Our soundtrack for the day was “Best of The Eagles”, and our first stop was a corner in Winslow, Arizona where we stood takin’ it easy for a while – actually we sat and had a cup of coffee and pondered how anybody could be inspired to write a song there – definitely the corner and the adjacent shop selling Eagles memorabilia seemed to the about the only game in town.
Rejoined Route 66 and headed for the Petrified Forest, where Craig was intrigued by the prehistoric logs which had been turned to stone by the forces of nature over 225 million of years. I remembered visiting the park when I was a kid and, amazingly enough, nothing much had changed. The petrified wood is bizarre as it looks exactly like a log, except that it’s stone. We did a bit of a walk and Craig managed to spot a pronghorn deer, which seemed a lucky find, as a park ranger stopped and seemed quite excited about seeing it as well. Drove on through the Painted Desert -a landscape
full of different colours – blues, greys and pinks.
Home for the night was Spider Rock Campground at Canyon de Chelly, which is in the Navajo Nation. It certainly felt like we were in wild west, with plenty of wind-blown dust and dirt, tumbleweed and horses wandering freely everywhere. The next morning we headed off to ride the trail along the bottom of Canyon de Chelly – about 32 kilometres. It was an amazing day, with just the two of us and our Navajo guide. We started off by riding down a steep (translation: terrifying) path to reach the canyon floor, which we followed for eight hours, stopping to look at the ruins of dwellings built into caves in the canyon walls, which had been inhabited by different groups of Indian people from the 13th to the 19th century, as well as taking in the spectacular scenery provided by the canyon walls rising 350 metres all around us. In the afternoon the wind blew up huge dust-storms and it made me realise why cowboys in the old movies always wore bandanas around their necks – luckily I came prepared, but I could hear Craig cursing the dust and wind as
he rode along behind me. A long, hard day which gave us a real appreciation of the determination of the pioneers – two very tired riders by the end of the day, a little saddle-sore but both feeling very pleased to be able to walk normally after the experience!
This morning we shook as much of the fine red dust off our tent, sleeping bags and ourselves, and got on the road for Monument Valley, a couple of hours up the road. Surprise, surprise – when we arrived at the campground which Craig had scouted out on the internet, it too had copious quantities of the same red dust – which I was none too happy about. Craig obviously got the right message, as he returned from checking us in to announce that he’d got us a cabin instead of a tent-site – luxury! We spent the afternoon taking in the stunning scenery of Monument Valley, and can see why the landscape featured in so many movies.
Heading north tomorrow towards Colorado, and looking forward to seeing some more fantastic places.
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Rod
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Credit where it's due...
You really should credit Jackson Browne for the song, he co- wrote it with Glen Frey and I believe performed it in public first. He can also be spotted as one of the 'desperados' on the ground in the album cover art....just thought you should know... Great blog by the way....;)