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Published: January 18th 2009
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Chaco canyon
Pueblo Bonito All this area is pretty spectacular, known as the 4 Corners…Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. I mean where else can you have your body in 4 different States at one time.
Throughout this area we pretty much camped the whole time which I thought was pretty good going considering the temperatures got down as low as 26F…we used all 4 sleeping bags and were glad that we decided to invest in an airbed. There were mornings when we woke to frozen bottles of water left on the table.
Chaco Canyon - was a major center of Puebloan culture between AD 850 and 1250. The Chacoan sites are part of the homeland of Pueblo Indian peoples of New Mexico, the Hopi Indians of Arizona, and the Navajo Indians of the Southwest.
Driving toward Monument Valley we decided that we would detour and take the scenic 3miles of the unpaved, graded switchback Moki Dugway …10% grade, narrow and winding it ascends 1100ft to a high plateau Cedar Mesa, then you continue 5 miles along another dirt road to Muley Point where the views are breath taking...thank goodness for hire cars!
Monument Valley… camped the night next to an Aussie
girl who has been living in Canada for the past 7 years…she just happens to be related to the Raptis family from the Gold Coast. (a big property development family)…small world! We took a 3hour tour of Monument Valley with one of the local Indian guides who takes you further into the valley where tourists aren’t allowed to drive.
We had heard from the tour guide that a lot of John Wayne movies had been made around Monument Valley so of course we had to go and watch an old John Wayne movie just to see if what he said was true…it is.
Sedona…arrived the day before Halloween…the camping ground was all decked out in Halloween paraphernalia in preparation for the great American event. It was here that we got to see up close and personal raccoons and skunks…we just made sure that we weren’t standing in line of the upturned tails.
Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion…rocks, rocks and more rocks…but all so different.
We camped for 2 nights at each place which was really nice as it meant you didn’t have to have your campsite packed up before you went walking.
In some ways the photographers
have spoilt Grand Canyon for me. I had certain expectations from photographs I had seen and of course it wasn’t the same but I am still glad that I saw it. We didn’t do any of the walks as Malcolm wasn’t feeling 100%.
I thought Bryce was quite spectacular with it’s hoodoos. We hiked from Sunset to Sunrise point…it was good getting down amongst the hoodoos, certainly gives you a different perspective on things as these hoodoos tower above you.
Zion and another completely set of rocks. All parking is out of the park and you are taken into the park via shuttle bus with one every 10 mins so there are no long waits.. It was here that we did one of the more strenuous walks (apart from Wayna picchu in Peru). I loved Zion. On the first day we took the shuttle right to the end, to the Temple of Sinawa where you can do the lovely ‘riverside walk’ along a paved path to the end from where the Narrows starts…this walk is through the creek and with the water being very, very cold and us with out waders etc we decided we would give it a miss.
From here we decided that we wouldn’t wait for the shuttle so started walking out of the park which is quite relaxing and peaceful because you don’t have any traffic to contend with and you have the time to listen to all the sounds of nature around you…the birds, the river.
The next day I swear was almost the end of me…we did the Angels Landing trail. The trail itself is 5 miles long, and climbs just over 1,500 vertical feet. Now it isn’t exactly like any old trail, in fact they warn you on the bus that portions of the trail near the top are only 3 feet wide, with a 1,200′ vertical drop on one side, and an 800′ vertical drop on the other, with a chain railing down the middle so if you have a fear of heights then this is definitely not for you!
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Sue Treadie
Susan Storr
Memories yet again!
I loved this little corner of the great USA as well when I was there in 1985! That seems like a lifetime ago! Where are you now? Suexx