U.S. Southwest, June 2007
We started our trip with a quick stop in Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah to visit with friends and family. From there we made our way down through southeast Utah and over into Colorado.
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| The boys at Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah |
Our main stop in Colorado was Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Montrose, Colorado. This park consists of a very narrow and deep canyon with a river at the bottom that is all but inaccessible except to those that either A) hike/slide down non-maintained trails or B) get too close to the edge and fall. The first time we came here was back in April of 2004. That time we arrived too late at night to see anything. Then a snow storm rolled through early in the morning and blocked any views of the canyon (and collapsed our tent), so we left early. Fortunately, this time we had clear skies and beautiful weather. There weren't a lot of people visiting the park, so it felt like we had most of it to ourselves.
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| Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Colorado |
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| It's further down than it looks... |
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| Marcus decided to eat leftover charcoal out of the fire pit for dinner. |
After we left the Black Canyon we headed south on Highway 550 toward Durango. This route almost reaches the sky and crosses over two 10,000 foot passes and tops out at 11,008 feet at Red Mountain Pass. When we first drove this way back in April 2004 we were lucky that we made it. We hit snow before we even started climbing the passes and couldn't see anything (including most of the road). There was still some snow, but it was clear skies this time. Along the way we passed several old abandoned mines. I couldn't imagine being some of those early prospectors who tried to strike it rich up on these passes.
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| The passes are somewhere up in those mountains. |
Our next stop was Chaco Canyon National Historic Park. Chaco Canyon contains the ruins of an ancient puebloan society. Even today, Chaco is still in the middle of nowhere New Mexico. But what an amazing place to visit! Most of the ruins are well preserved and are accessible to climb through. The only issue here is that there is very little shade anywhere. And since we were visiting in the middle of June in the middle of the afternoon, to say it was hot would be an understatement. But, as luck would have it, we just so happened to be visiting Chaco on the summer solstice. One of the characteristics that make this place so unique is that the ancient puebloans built parts of Chaco as an observatory. In fact, many of the buildings there are in line with the sun as it passes over the sky on the summer solstice. So, we were in the right place at the right time. To celebrate this event, members of the Zuni Pueblo came to Chaco and put on a traditional dance.
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| Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, New Mexico |
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| Zuni Dancers |
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| The color and look on Jacob's face say it all about the heat... |
We then cut across northern New Mexico to Taos Pueblo. Taos is one of the oldest settlements in North America. The main building is believed to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited buildings. Taos is a beautiful place that just felt peaceful. Most of the residents don't live in the older buildings anymore, but live in more modern houses just outside the pueblo. Walking around the old buildings gave you a sense of what life might have been like. There were shops inside some of the houses selling little trinkets and freshly made Navajo bread. After a day of site seeing, we decided to camp at a spot along the Rio Grande, north of Santa Fe. At dusk the mosquitos came out in full force and ate us alive, including Marcus, who as we later found out, is allergic to mosquito bites. We made a stop the next day in Santa Fe. I was not feeling well at all for some reason, so we didn't see much and spent some time relaxing at a cheap motel.
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| Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico |
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| Taos Pueblo |
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| Looking at trinkets in Santa Fe |
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Jacob saw this mailbox from about a hundred feet away!
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We then started to head west on I 40 and stopped for awhile at Petrified Forest National Park. Toward the end of the day we made it to Slide Rock State Park outside of Sedona. Slide Rock is a natural waterslide that cuts through the red rock. After having sweated it out all day, the water felt nice and refreshing. By this time Marcus' mosquito bites had started to swell. The worst one was right above his left eye. It had swollen almost all of the way shut so that it looked like someone had punched him square in the eye. He didn't seemed to be in any pain and was in fact pretty happy. But every time someone would see him from the right they would say, "Oh what a pretty baby", then he would turn his head and they would have this terrified look. One of us would then chime in that he is allergic to mosquitos and that we didn't hit him!
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| Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona |
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| Slide Rock State Park, Arizona |
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| Becky getting ready to jump... |
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| Marcus with his mosquito bite above his left eye. |
The next morning we headed up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. On the drive there Marcus puked all over his car seat. Nothing like a pile of puked on clothes sitting in a roasting car. Luckily we got an early start and hiked a few miles down the Bright Angel Trail. The temperature really started to rise as we were climbing back out of the canyon. We did a little site seeing and then went and camped just outside the park boundaries in the Kaibab National Forest (free primitive camping). Well, that night Jacob ate a bunch of raspberry yogurt and puked all over his sleeping bag and the side of the tent. Since we were camped in the middle of nowhere, we cleaned up the best we could and put up with a puke stench for the rest of the night. The next morning we decided it would probably be best to find a laundry mat in Flagstaff...
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| Bright Angel Trail, Grand Canyon National Park |
After cleaning up in Flagstaff, we made the drive out to the top of the rim to start our hike down into Havasupai. The drive is 60 miles out to the middle of nowhere. Once at the parking lot there isn't much there except a bunch of cars, outhouses, metal storage containers, and the helipad. We got there several hours before Becky's family, so we propped up the tailgate for shade and sat and waited in the 105 degree heat. Once everyone arrived we had dinner and camped under the stars with tarps. We got up around 3am to start our 10 mile hike down into the canyon. If you time it right, you make it down to the village by about 10am before the full sun and heat of the day. So, needless to say, we started our hike down in the dark with head lamps. I had Jacob on my back and Becky had Marcus on hers. We sent our gear down on a mule. I wore my boots on the way down, but got some bad blisters. We made it down to the village of Supai a little late, but stopped in the store for a breakfast and a little break.
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| The hike down to Havasu |
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| Passing a mule train carrying gear and passengers |
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The easy (and expensive way) down to the village
After our rest we hiked the last mile and a half or so down to the falls. By now the heat was kicking in and the water looked tempting. It was amazing how many backpackers/campers the tribe squeezes in down in the campsites. We found a somewhat shady spot and set up our camp for the next couple of nights. We then spent time each day playing in the water, though it is a lot colder than it looks. One of the best memories was the outhouses. The tribe has built two composting toilets, but they are closed most of the day. Otherwise there are a few outhouse scattered around for the tourists. Since these are stuck down in the canyon, the only way to clean them is to have the helicopters come and air lift them up to the rim to get pumped. Well, this seemed to be a rare occurrence. All of the outhouses were complete full, to the point that the pile of poop was almost up to the toilet seat! And since they were sitting out in 100 degree plus heat, I won't describe the smell.
The hike down to Mooney Falls
Mooney Falls
We started our hike out again early in the morning, somewhere around 3 or 4am so we would beat the heat once the sun came up. Unfortunately we did move as fast as we should have and hit the switchbacks at the end of the hike just as the heat start to blaze down on us. By this time Jacob had fallen asleep in the backpack on my back and his head was right in my neck. He felt like a bag of cantelopes on my back, with one that kept bang against my neck. Once we made it to the top we hit the road to make the trip back to California. We hit an all you can eat buffett along the way and almost ate the place out of business (that and our hiking in the desert sweat stench cleared out most people from around us).
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