West Texas and Home, May 12

May 12  Home again.

Eleven hours to home, through a west Texas that is greener than usual due to lots of recent rain.  It rains most of the way home.  We arrive about 5:45, shower and catch up with Chap for a while before we all go to our local sushi spot for dinner.

Our house seems huge and luxurious after living in the Trek for 6 weeks!

Overall a great trip.  What an amazing country we live in.  The variety of geography, geology and climate we saw on this trip is incredible.  From blooming desert to snow-capped mountains with lots in between!  And, perhaps even more amazing, the variety of people that make up this one, united states of america.  From poor navajos, to hispanic field workers, to those in gorgeous beach houses and sprawling cattle ranches and orchards, to the homeless...farmers, fishermen, loggers and city businessmen.  People living hand-to-mouth, those depending on earth's resources for their jobs, and people living in cities whose closest brush with nature is a 1/2 acre green space with playground equipment.

May 11, 2015 Chaco Canyon, NM

May 11  Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

41 degrees at 7 AM.  Expected it to be warmer as we are traveling south, but we are still at high elevations (6,000'+).  Today we are off to visit Chaco Culture National Historical Park, an important site for anyone interested in studying the people and Culture of the Southwest.

We had read that the road into the Park is long and rough.  Truth.  We began with a few paved miles, then changed to graded dirt road, still nice and wide with occasional rough patches.  THEN, we pass a sign that says "End of County Maintenance" and the road gets more narrow and rough with washboard sections!

 There are a few homesteads along the way, but largely scrubby pastureland with cattle guards now and then.

 
 A few more miles and we enter the national Park and voila - pavement for the last few miles!  Quite a drive!

We arrive at the Visitor's Center where we pick up a map and find out that a ranger-led tour of the largest Pueblo begins in 10 minutes, so we hop back in the Trek and drive to Pueblo Bonito. We join about a dozen other folks and walk to the remains of this once huge pueblo.
  Planned and then built in stages, it was lived in from the mid 800's to the 1200's and eventually was four stories high, with over 600 rooms and 40 kivas.  There are many pueblos in this area, but this is one of the more excavated.  It has not been restored, but has been stabilized in several areas with the addition of cement, mortar or wooden beams.  All the construction is stone and mortar, with wooden beams and the walls were covered with a stucco-like covering which is largely gone now (referred to as Core & Veneer).

 We were able to enter and go through several of the rooms. The structures had to withstand cold winter temps (recorded record is -38) and hot 100+ summers, so required some flexibility.

 Large plazas were incorporated into the Pueblos and many of today's Pueblos use a similar layout. It is generally thought that the area was abandoned due to an extensive drought, but many descendants, today's southwest Indians (Navajo, Hopi and more),  still live in the general area and consider this sacred ground.

Built from rock from the canyon, the structure blends in beautifully.

Inside a large kiva, round room

 This whole Chaco Canyon area was a meeting place, a trading post and home to many diverse groups.  By 1050 it was the ceremonial, administrative and economic center of the San Juan Basin. They estimate that nearly 20 different languages were spoken here.  And there is a lot that is not known, like why this area, with no water source, was chosen, what the permanent population of the Canyon was (estimates range from 600 to 6,000).

We next walked to Pueblo Kin Kletso which used a columnar construction in part - thought to be influenced from Mexico.  It had a huge elevated kiva and about 280 rooms.

large elevated kiva

We head back to the Visitor's Center and watch a 20-minute film which emphasizes the spirituality of the site and importance to today's natives.

One of the rangers tells us that the best speed to minimize the bumpiness of the road is around 35 and we find that this helps on our way out.  We see some prairie dogs on the way back to pavement and 550S.  Boring drive, we keep going till we reach Clovis.  Almost in Texas, and Greg plans to make the long drive home tomorrow - about 11-12 hours!  Subway for dinner.

May 10, Needles and Beyond

We get an early start towards The Needles part of Canyonland National Park, stopping briefly at Wilson Arch and Newspaper Rock. 

Wilson arch

Newspaper Rock

Newspaper Rock is an amalgamation of “art” and inscriptions over the past 2,000 years which includes some names from 1800’s travelers.

We stop at the Visitor’s Center and get some advice before setting off to Pothole Point Trail.  Nice views from this rocky area covered with pockmarks, some holding recent rainwater.  Trail marked by small piles of rock.

These formations look like iced cup cakes.

The needles in the distance.

Next is Big Spring Canyon Overlook where we walk another rocky trail.  Just can’t capture the immensity and grandeur of the area with a camera! Look closely for Greg in the first picture below.

When we go back to the Trek we are visited by this huge and apparently hungry raven.  He perches on Greg’s side mirror,  and after I get out to walk around and take his picture, he switches to my side.  I left the side door open and he perches there, craning his neck to look inside. 

I think he was very close to joining us and exploring the inside of the Trek!   He was dissuaded, however, and I threw him a part of a granola bar as compensation.  He continued to hope for more and even flew beside us for a few yards as we drove off.

We drove down by the campground for a better view of the Needles, and after talking with a ranger there, decided to take Elephant Hill Road, which a previous ranger had advised we not do.   The sign said no vehicles over 21’ and we are just a tad more with the bikes on the back.   No problems, and we stopped about a mile in for a great view and breakfast. 

Heavy cloud cover this morning,  but a few breaks now and then as the sunlight acts like a spotlight on various features.  We waited for some light over the needles, which came briefly.  It makes such a difference, as some of the rocks seem to glow in sunlight.

The Needles were formed by a series of rock fractures caused by movement along a deep underlying layer of salt, followed by erosion from rain and snow resulting in the long columnar rock.

We stopped at Wooden Shoe Arch, and then walked a short trail at another stop to see this granary (grain storage bin), well protected and preserved from the Puebloan peoples who lived in this area. 

We travel back to the main highway and continue south through Monticello.  There are many signs, some with flashing lights, warning to watch for deer on the road –“93  crashes involving deer”.  We saw none (deer or crashes), thankfully.

We cross into AZ briefly, before heading east into New Mexico.  We are in Navajo country (Tony Hillerman comes to mind).  We pass several small Navajo towns, and go by Ship Rock, a famous landmark for travelers. Most of the area looks poor, with trailer homes or small one-story box homes.

 

About 3:45 we reach Farmington, the first sizable town, where we do a little shopping and go to an Outback for a nice Mother’s Day Dinner.   Talked with both Matt and Bryan, as well as Greg’s Mom and Gwynne.  Happy Mother's Day!

 May 9 Canyonlands/Dead Horse Point/Looking Glass Arch

38 degrees this morning, and we pass this herd of deer and , a few miles down the road,

we are greeted by a herd of cattle in no hurry to cross the road. 

We have seen a lot of rabbits in this area too. We continue south to Green River.  Some areas are pretty desolate and we wonder how even the free range cattle can survive...

It becomes a little greener near the river and we see occasional herds of grazing antelope. There are many dry stream beds carved through the desert.  Since they get most of their rain in a few big gully-washers during the Summer, the beds are dry the rest of the year. It would no doubt be impressive to see them running full, but there are caution signs at low spots, warning drivers not to enter areas if there is running water.

We take 191 south and arrive at Deadhorse State Park, which has a gorgeous view of the surrounding canyonlands.  Lots of campers here, many with mountain bikes. We are at 6,000’ elevation.

After walking the rim trail, we head on down the road to the Island In The Sky part of Canyonlands National Park.  Established by LBJ in 1964.  Stewart Udall, Secretary of the Interior, was a key architect.  We stop at several overlooks including Grand View where we are at 6,080’ looking down into canyons and the lazy Colorado river far below.  Wow.

Lots of gnarly juniper.

and other evergreens.

Reflections in a pothole

More spectacular canyon land.

 Upheaval Dome is another amazing sight.  No one is exactly sure (meteor? Collapsed salt dome?) what caused this 2-mile wide depression with colorful cliffs and mounds.

We take a short drive into Arches National Park since it is on the way to the Needles section of Canyonlands.  We were here not long ago and enjoy seeing some of the same sights – Wall Street, Balancing Rock, the Windows – but it is crazy busy and we decide to move on.

 We stop for gas in Moab, and continue south looking for a boondocking spot.  There is a lot of BLM land here.  We take a long dirt side road to Looking Glass Arch and decide to spend the night there.   Two guys from Wyoming arrive and do some climbing for a bit (with gear) on the other side, but otherwise it is quiet.  We try to climb up to the arch but are defeated in the last few yards – better not to risk injury at this point.

 

 Instead, Greg does his exercises and I walk, spotting a few rabbits.  This pair took off but then the second one stopped and gave me a good look before continuing on. Perhaps he likes having his picture taken!

 Were hoping for a spectacular night sky over the arch, but clouds are thick, sunset is minimal  and we only see a few stars before drifting off to sleep.