Southwest 2003 Week 3

Grand Canyon Sunrise at Bright Angel	Grand Canyon Sunrise at Bright Angel	Grand Canyon South Rim View	Grand Canyon South Rim View	Grand Canyon South Rim View
Grand Canyon South Rim View	Grand Canyon - us at Yaki Point	Grand Canyon South Rim View	Grand Canyon - Bright Angel Trail passage	Grand Canyon Bright Angel Trail
Grand Canyon Bright Angel Trail	Grand Canyon - South Rim Sunset	Grand Canyon - South Rim Sunset	Grand Canyon - South Rim Sunset - there is a forest fire in the north	Grand Canyon Sunset Sky

Day 16 - Tuesday, October 21, 2003, Grand Canyon, AZ, 0 miles driven

Today we explored the western loop of the south rim by taking the Herman's Rest Shuttle route. The loop is only accessible by the shuttle and  that is OK with us. The loop has eight stops but not counting the last stop there are only two stops that pick up passengers on the return trip. The driver explained that it took about 75 minutes for him to complete the loop. We decided to stop on all of the one way only stops on the way out and then stop at the two way stops on the way back. This worked out very well. The shuttles ran on an approximate 15 minute intervals and that worked out well. You could walk out to the observation platform take in the view and then come back and pick up the next shuttle. We were able to maintain this schedule most of the time but there were occasions when we missed the next shuttle and had to wait again. In pleasant surroundings and with the cooler temperatures this was no problem.

At the Powell Memorial stop there is a plaque commemorating John Wesley Powell who is reputed to be the first person to traverse the Colorado River through the canyon. Powell was a Civil War Veteran who had lost an arm in the war was able to complete this journey twice. From this observation point you can see the remains of the Orphan Mine which first started out as a copper mine in the late 1800's early 1900's. The mine was abandoned until about 1950 when the mine was found to have the richest uranium ore in the US. The uranium started to peter out in the late 1960's and now it is dead again.

Before getting to Hermits Rest we stopped at The Abyss where the view is directly down a 2000 foot cliff and also at Pima Point which is very picturesque as you can get a 280 degree panorama at this point. At the Abyss we got our first view of the Colorado River. It was way out in the distance. Hermit's Rest was build as a rest stop for the hikers of Hermit's trail which is the steepest of all in the park and not recommended for non-seasoned hikers. The rest area is a stone structure with a beautiful fireplace, a small snack bar and the required gift shop. We did our part to help support this institution by having an ice cream snack and also purchasing three bottles of water. The gift shop also got some attention and the earrings look very good on mom. On the return trip we stopped at the two stops we missed on the way out, Mohave Point and Hopi Point. At these sites we could get good views of the Colorado River and some rapids and if you listened closely you could hear the rapids roar from over 2000 feet below. From our viewpoint, the Hermits Rest Loop observation areas are more scenic than the Kaibab Trail Loop.

We returned to Rim Lodge area around 2:30 PM so about 5 hours had been spent on this journey. At one of the park information displays the theme dealt with the donkeys used to transport people down the trails. The display explained why donkeys are used on the trails rather than horses with a question "Why not ride a Cadillac rather than a washing machine" Obviously donkeys give smoother ride. While we were reading this a hiker advised that he had seen a fallen donkey on the South Kaibab trail in the morning. This is supposed to be a very rare occurrence.  After lunch we headed up to the El Tovar lodge to see how the upper shelf lives at the canyon. This lodge has a fancier lobby than the complex we are staying at, the restaurant requires reservations for the evening meal and the items in the gift shop are priced higher and from the looks of the jewelry are also higher quality than the other gift shops. The reservation clerks at this hotel wore suits and ties while at the other lodges the dress was casual. We did not loose any money here. From the El Tovar we went up to the Hopi House which is the mother of all gift shops in the Rim Lodge area. It has two floors and the upper floor has the high priced sand art as well as wood carvings, stone carvings and high priced jewelry. Two glass cases contained Navajo jewelry which had gone dead in  pawn shops and thus were now available for re-sale. Interesting product line for an up scale shop. However the items in the case were also up scale.

We returned to the room in time to get going to the PM entertainment, sunset at Hopi Point. The troops start to gather at around 5:00 PM to take the shuttle up to this scenic spot for the sunset. If there would have been jugglers, and other street entertainment there we would have thought we were in Key West. There was a sizeable crowd there already and we were within 15 minutes of the sunset. The fire on the north rim was pushing out considerable smoke which again created a haze in the air. We found out that this fire has been burning for 30 days. After the beautiful sunset we returned to the lodge to relax for the evening and the mornings departure.

The Grand Canyon is the most visited National Park in the US. I believe it gets in excess of 5 million visitors a year. We learned from a bus driver that in the summer tourist months an average of 6000 vehicles enter the park every day. The driver explained that the park has approximately 3000 legal parking spaces so in the summer months things are a lot hectic. It is hard for me to imagine 6000 vehicles being allowed to enter with such a lack of parking. Perhaps he was stretching the numbers but I can see that in the summer months this place would be crazy. The park was very busy while we were here. The shuttle busses would start to fill up after 12:00 noon and fill up to standing room only on the return trip from Hermits Rest. I would definitely recommend a visit to this phenomenal park to anybody but come in the early spring or late fall. There are a lot of bus trips here which keep this place hopping.   

Lost Orphan Mine	View from Maricopa Point	Powell Memorial Point - They were never seen again	From the Abyss Point
View of Colorado Rapids in distance	Hermits Rest Firepalce	My Friend at Mohave Point	Mom at Hopi Point
Hopi House - mother of all gift shops	At the Hopi House - beautiful and only $1500	Sunset at Hopi Point	Sunset at Hopi Point

Day 17 - Wednesday, October 22, 2003, Grand Canyon, AZ, to Las Vegas, NV, 300 miles driven

I must add some other notes on the Grand Canyon. Yesterday we were close to our lodge and the rim of the canyon, maybe 10 feet from the edge. Two women stopped us and asked where they could see the canyon. I said if they went 10 feet to the left they could be at the bottom in seconds. We have also never seen so many gift shops in a national park. In others we had been to, each lodge would have a shop but here, there were numerous other shops. While the product line in each was similar in type, it was not identical. For example, T shirts in one were not in another.

After breakfast at the Bright Angel I asked the hostess if they actually use any coffee in the coffee. When we told the waiter about how bad the coffee is he said that he knew but wasn't allowed to do anything about it. The hostess also agreed about the quality and I filled in the ratings sheet of the restaurant. A stop at the post office and we were off to Vegas.

The ride was pretty non-descriptive. The landscape was the same mountainous desert. By the time we had gotten west of Williams, AZ on I-40 we had dropped to 4000 feet above sea level from 7000 at the canyon. The temperatures had also risen. It was close to 90. The Phoenix area in the middle of the state has had over 100 temps for the past 6 days. Hopefully by the time we get down that way, the temperature will drop as promised. As we approached the Nevada border and the Hoover Dam the landscape changed to a rugged mountainous scene that had been chewed like the Grand Canyon by the Colorado River. Because of 911, no trucks are allowed on route 93 which crosses the top of the dam. Approximately 5 miles south east of the dam all the north bound traffic had to pull thru a police check point. It is sad to see that "Check Point Charlie" has been moved to the US. We were waved thru. We also noted that there is considerable construction in the dam area which will re-route all traffic off the top of the dam by 2007. Until then truckers will have to use a much longer detour. We could see people at the new visitors center and no doubt there are tours of the dam but from what I have read, the tours after 911 are not like the tours before 911. When we took a tour in the early 90's we got down into the generating room, across the bottom of the dam to the intake pipes. We took some pictures of the dam and continued on to Vegas.

We had made reservations two days earlier for the Excalibur and arrived at the hotel at around 3:30 PM. The hotel rooms were not expensive but we can see that the hotel nickel and dimes you for the most they can get. You get a surcharge of 1.00 per day for unlimited local phone calls. On toll free numbers they bang you for $1.00 for the first 30 minutes and then 10c a minute after that. If you are using a phone card you get double dipped in a big way. Luckily ATT has a local number for the internet and I don't have to use the 800 number. I am surprised they let you use cell phones inside the hotel.

After a buffet dinner at the Excalibur we headed by the bus with a very entertaining driver to the downtown casino area in "Old Las Vegas" to see the laser light show on Freemont Street. Freemont Street has been covered by a domed roof which is used at night for the laser show. The show is nightly on the hour. It was interesting and entertaining. We were in the 4 Queens casino and mom took $5.00 from me and parlayed that on a nickel machine to $50.00. We had left the Excalibur with $220 in our pockets and returned with $240.00. Not bad considering that we spent $8.00 on transportation.

Lookout Gift Shop - Grand Canyon	My last look at the Canyon	Boulder Dam	Lake Mead behind Boulder Dam	The Coloradeo below the Dam
The Excalibur at night	Looking at New York, New York from Excalibur	Fremont Street	Laser Light Show on Freemont Street- music plays with the lights	Used to be a Casino now a half show all club.

Day 18 - Thursday, October 23, 2003, Las Vegas, NV, 15 miles driven

Another day in Fantasy land began with a visit to 3 thrift stores on our hunt for tins and mugs for a friend in Charlotte. After having moderate success we headed over to the Liberace Museum. The museum occupies two buildings which are separated by a parking lot. The first building contains the picture and text narration of Liberace's life as well as a partial collection of his fancy rhinestone and mirror encrusted automobiles and also part of his piano collection. The other building contained a partial collection of Liberace's costumes, jewelry  and some of the furniture from his Palm Springs home. One of the interesting items was a desk reported to have been a gift to Czar Nicholas which had been sold after the Bolshevik Revolution. During World War II, the not so nice Germans of the time (Nazis) had drilled holes in it searching for hidden jewels and other valuables. No indication was made if any were found. The museum charged 12.00 for adults and we got a dollar off from AAA. Seniors at this museum are classified as 65 and over. If you wanted earphones for an audio tour then it was another $3.00. The attendants kept pushing a 12:30 pm show by a Liberace impersonator. We were at the gift shop buying some cards and the clerk asked all the people in front of me if they wanted tickets for the show. I was waiting for her to ask me as I had my answer ready. I was going to say that I had no time as I had to go to a Salvation Army Thrift Store across town. She must have sensed trouble and never asked me.

After the Salvation Army store we returned to the Excalibur and decided to take the tram over to Mandalay Bay for the 2:30 pm bird show. We were there but the 2:30 show was not. After waiting around we walked through the casino and decided that the Mandalay Bay was a real upscale casino. Looked real fancy and spacious. We also wanted to visit the Luxor which is shaped like a glass pyramid but the tram for that broke down and we were not going to walk the distance. We returned by tram to Excalibur and decided to take in the lion habitat at the MGM Grand. Luckily we decided to take the bridge over to the Tropicana and the MGM rather than the bridge to New York, New York and the MGM. The Tropicana had a free pull machine right where the road overpass from Excalibur landed. Mom insisted on taking the free pull and I won two tickets to the Rick Thomas Magic show which was going to start at 4:00 PM. We went to the promo booth to pick up our tickets and found out that the show costs about $23.00 each. The magician put on a real good show. It was entertaining. He started out with disappearing and appearing doves and cockatoo's and then moved up to his own version of Siegfried and Roy. He also made tigers appear and disappear. We are glad that we won the seats.

From the magic show we walked over to the MGM and took in the Lion Habitat. Two lionesses were behind thick glass doing their thing. The lions are raised locally and are used to being with humans. A handler without any visible means of protection was in the enclosure with the lions. From MGM deciding that $22.00 was too much for a buffet supper, we visited New York, New York and decided that this was a very entertaining and well laid out casino. Parts of the interior replicated street scenes from years ago in NY. Very entertaining. We returned to the Excalibur and took in the $13.00 buffet. It is excellent with a wide variety of foods and deserts.

After dinner we walked down to the Mirage to take in the white tiger display and also the volcano eruption simulation in the front waterfall display. The eruption was entertaining. On the way down we also stopped at the Bellagio to take in the water fountain display which takes place every 20 minutes. We took the bus back as both of us had been on our feet all day and needed a little break from all the walking. A very entertaining day indeed. We will not talk about the casino donations today other than to say they were not sizeable.

Liberace Museum	Puffer Fish at Mandalay Bay	New York, New York Casino - its got panache	Lion in the Habitat at MGM
Bellagio at night	Bellagio fountain display	White tiger at the Mirage	Volcano simulation at the Mirage

Day 19 - Friday, October 24, 2003, Las Vegas, NV, to Zion/Bryce Canyons, UT 268 miles driven

Las Vegas was a nice break from the routine we had established but it was time to leave fantasy land and get on with reality. We were on the road by 8:30 AM headed for Utah and Zion or Bryce Canyon National Parks. We thought of stopping for breakfast once we got out of the Las Vegas downtown but before we knew it we were in the middle of nowhere with no restaurants in sight. I was able to get coffee at a turnoff which isn't even marked on the map but the restaurant there did not look too good. We continued until we got to Mesquite, NV which is just on the border with Arizona. Mesquite is about 80 miles out of Las Vegas and the signs advertise homes for sale here from between 89k to 1 million. There were 4 casinos here at this spot on the map and there were green lawned golf courses out in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

After crossing into the northwest corner of Arizona we entered the Virgin River Gorge on I-15. The canyon we passed thru was spectacular with steep walls. What we saw of the river was a very shallow and narrow stream. It was hard to believe that that was responsible for that much erosion. Later we were to learn that the Virgin River also carved the canyon at Zion. We passed thru St. George, Utah and this was a substantial town with a few large malls. Civilization at last. Pretty soon we hit Utah route 9 which led us to Springdale which is the tourist town in front of the south entrance to Zion National Park. The park has an advisory radio station which broadcasts on AM about the traffic conditions in the park and the use of the shuttle system from Springdale to the park visitors center and the shuttle from the visitors center to various points on the scenic road thru the park. It is obvious that Zion is a very popular park and that in the summer time the visitors center fills up. The overflow then parks in Springdale or Rockville and is bussed into the park. We were able to drive to the visitors center and find a parking space although the lot was pretty crowded.

The shuttle system at Zion is organized very well and is run from April to the date of the time change in October. The shuttles start running around 7:30 AM with a 15 minute schedule and after about 9:00 AM the shuttles are on a 7 minute schedule. The last shuttle out of the depths of the canyon leaves the most distant stop at 10:00 PM. Hard to imagine what one can see after 7:30 PM at this time of year when it is pitch black in there.

We got into the shuttle and decided that since we were at Zion with no immediate plans to return in the future, we would make all the stops on the route, from the visitors center out to the Temple of Sinawawa. At the museum stop there was a 25 minute video of the history of Zion. Other notable stops were the Court of the Patriarchs, Weeping Rock, the Grotto, Big Bend, and the Temple. The Weeping Rock is an interesting site as there is a curtain wall of water dripping through the limestone which is carving a cave/arch into the cliff side. The Grotto stop is the trailhead for the Angels Landing cliff  top and also the Emerald Pools. We did not make either of these walks as they were too long and the Angels Landing was quite strenuous. The Big Bend stop is very scenic with views of the "Cathedral" and "Organ" rock formations. The Temple stop takes you to the Riverwalk trail which is a mile long and leads you to the Narrows where the canyon walls are no more than 20 feet wide and in places 1000 feet high. I took this hike only to find that the narrows actually starts about 200 yards beyond the end of the trail and the only way to get there was to wade up the river. I did not want to do this in my shoes and barefoot over the rocks was out of the question. I had to take the guides word for it.

From what we saw of Zion we must say that it is awesome. I really liked the Grand Canyon but have a feeling that if i would have come to Zion first I might have been disappointed with the Grand. I guess it is a matter of perspective. At Zion you get into the bowels of the canyon and are awestruck with the cliffs around you. At the Grand you don't get this awesome feeling unless you take the very strenuous trails to the bottom of the canyon. Something Mom or I were not physically equipped to do. One sideline form the Grand which also applies very much to Zion. During a ranger talk at the Grand, one of the people asked how much of an influence did God have on the creation of the canyon. The ranger answered that religion is really a matter of personal belief and that each individual has to formulate his own interpretation. Science can explain what happened and why something specific happened. Science can not explain what set it all in motion. This is so obvious at bot the Grand and Zion. Probably at Bryce also.

After returning to the visitors center we drove the Zion - Mount Carmel Highway with its steep switchbacks and a mile long tunnel which follows the faces of the canyon with plenty of curves inside the tunnel. This road leads you past the Checkerboard Mesa which is a series of rockfaces which have been carved into checkerboard and swirling patterns by the wind. This road is spectacular. We arrived in the vicinity of Bryce Canyon National Park at around 6:00 PM local time. We stayed at Ruby's Best Western a huge motel with over 500 rooms just outside the entrance to the park. People running the stores said that in the summer all of the rooms are booked every night. 

Virgin River Gorge I-15 in Arizona	Zion - Court of the Patriarchs	Zion - on the way to Weeping Rock	Zion - Weeping Rock	Zion - Big Bend View - Cathedral and Organ
Zion - Where the Narrows begins	Zion - Riverwalk - Its the Virgin River again	Zion - Temple area	Zion - Temple area	Zion - Temple area
Zion - View at Visitors Center	Zion - Zion-Mt.Carmel Road	Zion - Checkerboard Mesa - Zion-Mt. Carmel Rd.	Zion - Zion-Mt. Carmel Rd	Red Canyon at entrance to Dixie Forrest near Bryce Canyon

 Day 20 - Saturday, October 25, 2003, Bryce Canyon NP to Page AZ, 207 miles driven

Today we got an early start into the Bryce Canyon National Park. Part of the reason for the early start is that Utah observes DST while Arizona doesn't. Nevada does but they are on Pacific time so we really didn't know what time it was when we arrived in Utah and made no adjustments to our watches. Now we are in Arizona again and I think we will be OK now. We are also blessed with Arizona not observing DST. We will not have to do anything with switching clock time tonight and I think we would have gone over the edge if we did. It was 25 degrees when we entered the park and very breezy. We needed jackets today and a hood was great to protect the ears.

All we can say is that Bryce Canyon National Park is a wonder to behold. The color of the sun bouncing of the red, yellow and brown sandstone hoodoos paint a great picture. The Indian legend is that coyote turned bad and evil people to stone. If this is so Bryce Canyon must have been the Sodom and Gomorrah of the New World. Bryce also runs a shuttle system but theirs is already shut down for the winter season. The altitude is around 7700 above sea level at the park entrance and by the time you get to Rainbow Point, the last view point you are up to 9300 feet. It was still cold there at 11:00 AM.  I did get to take a little stroll down the steep Navajo Loop at the Sunset Point view area but did not take the whole 1.5 hour trip.

We visited the Bryce Lodge to find out that this is the last week of operation but they were still booked for this weekend. They only have 114 rooms at this lodge so it is no wonder that Ruby's Best Western with its 500+ rooms does so well. We then left Bryce and headed thru the beautiful Red Canyon in the Dixie National Forrest. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are reputed to have hidden in this canyon on one of their getaway's from a money liberation operation. At the town of Mt. Carmel we stopped at the historic Little Stone Church which once was a schoolhouse and a church but now is neither of those. The plaque on the door says it was a LDS(Mormon) church at one time. There was a craft sale going on and mom bought some items from the nice Mormon Ladies.

With the exception of Kanab - a town of many motels, the road between Mt. Carmel and Page was among the most desolate that we had seen on this trip. The scenery was pretty around the Vermillion Cliffs area of Utah and also Grand Staircase Escalante area with high buttes on the horizon. Not the kind of country though that I would like to take a hike without a water truck behind me.

We arrived at the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona at 4:30 PM Utah time or 3:30 PM Arizona time. Another one of those whirlwind time changes within the past 4 days. Glen Canyon Dam is another of those security sites and I had to walk back to the car to leave my pocket knife just like I did last year at Grand Coulee Dam. We had missed the last guided tour by about 5 minutes and decided that we probably would not come back in the morning to do it. The view of the Glen Canyon Bridge from the visitors center is interesting. It looks like the bridge is wedged between the vertical walls of the canyon. We checked into the Best Western in time to find out that we could make the 5:00 PM Arizona time Mass. One interesting thing about Page is that all the churches seem to be on the same street and then all in a row. I would call it a spiritual fast food restaurant row.

Two related incidents occurred today in reference to the earrings I bought mom at the Grand Canyon. While at one of the viewpoints at Bryce a lady from Las Vegas complimented mom on the earrings. When we entered the church we were greeted by a man who turned out to be a deacon of the church. He also noticed mom's earrings and said they were very flashy and asked if they were native made. We don't know if "flashy" was good or bad in the eyes of the deacon. All I know is that the earrings look good on mom.

Bryce Canyon NP - Sunset Point	Bryce Canyon NP - Navajo Loop Trail	Bryce Canyon NP - Navajo Trail Loop	Bryce Canyon NP	Bryce Canyon NP
Bryce Canyon NP	Bryce Canyon NP	Bryce Canyon NP	Bryce Canyon NP - Natural Bridge	Us at Bryce Canyon NP
Even ravens enjoy the view at Bryce	Manmade arch in Red Canyon	Red Canyon in Dixie National Forrest	Glen Canyon Bridge, Page AZ	Glen Canyon Dam and Bridge at Page, AZ

Day 21 - Sunday, October 26, 2003, Page AZ to Sedona AZ, 240 miles driven

While studying the map for the drive to Sedona I was toying with the idea of driving from Page AZ to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. A distance of some 120 miles. I noticed that on the way to the North Rim there was another bridged called the Navajo Bridge which crossed the Colorado and that there was a historical spot called Lee's Ferry not too far from the bridge. I decided to abort the North Rim attempt and just drive to see Lee's Ferry. What an interesting ride. First of all, the Navajo Bridge was an interesting stop in itself. The bridge was finished in 1929 with a bridge similar to the one shown on my Glen Canyon Bridge yesterday. The bridge was started in 1928 and from the video shown at the bridge visitors site it was a difficult task. All the material for the bridge had to be hauled from Flagstaff AZ about 130 miles over desert and muddy roads. To get material to the other side, the bridge contractor was using the ferry which was still in operation. In the fall of 1928 the ferry capsized while hauling a Model T and three passengers across. The ferry sank, and the passengers drowned. Since the bridge was under construction, the ferry was not replaced. Some material could be cabled across the chasm but for the real big stuff after the ferry sinking the contractor had to undertake a 600 to 700 mile journey to get around the Grand Canyon when the real objective of the trip was only 800 yards away. The 1929 bridge has been replaced with a wider span a 150 feet away and the old span is now a foot bridge and a historical monument.

Lee's Ferry was established by the Mormons as the road for expansion into Arizona and New Mexico. John D. Lee and his two wives arrived on the site in December of 1871 to operate the ferry. John's wife Emma became the driving force behind the ranch and ferry as John himself was absent many times. You see John had been involved in the Mountain Meadow Massacre in 1857 where 120 non-Mormon settlers on their way west were killed by some Piute Indians led by prominent Mormons. John was being sought as one of the participants and thus was a fugitive at the time the ferry started. John was arrested in 1874 tried and executed in 1878. From the Lee's the ferry operation passed to a Johnson family - another polygamous group. Johnson with his several wives raised 20 children at this site. Several other families ran the ferry until it's operations came to a tragic end in 1928. The site of the ranch for the Lee's was given the name Lonely Dell Ranch and from looking at the site it is a proper name. Several of the buildings are still standing while others have gone up in smoke. In the cemetery there is one stone indicating that 4 of the Johnson children died of diphtheria in a seven week period in 1891. The disease had been transmitted by a family passing through. Another interesting item about Lee's Ferry was the fact that it was labeled as part of the Honeymoon Trail by the Mormons. Mormons who had their marriages performed by civil services used Lee's Ferry as a means of getting to St. Georges, Utah where the temple marriage ceremony could be performed. We did see a large temple in St. Georges when we passed by a few days ago.

While we were examining the Lee's Ferry site we noticed some rubber boats starting their way down the Colorado. Lee's Ferry is one of the main launching points. Another set of boats came in from upstream and we learned that they had floated down from Glen Canyon Dam in the morning and were being picked up by a tour bus. We also learned that Lee's Ferry is the beginning of the Grand Canyon. So we did get to the bottom of it all. While there are no rapids here at Lee's Ferry, there is a riffle which is classified as the beginning stage of a rapid. There were some fishermen in the water looking for trout and even from a distance you could hear the rushing water.

We stopped at Cameron for lunch after passing thru the Tuba City highway intersection without any of the troubles we experienced last week. The restaurant at the trading post is really a jewelry and souvenir store with a restaurant attached. They should concentrate on the jewelry. We then continued on our way with a stop at the Wupatki National Monument. You guessed it - another set of ruins from abandoned Pueblos. The interesting point here was that at Wupatki, the Anasazi had imported the Mexican practice of building a open ballcourt for sporting events. The ballcourt is thought to have facilitated trade between the peoples of the region and beyond. Sort of like golf does in our day. The ruins are just as found with only stabilization work done by the park service. The park service runs into trouble with the local Indians over restoration work. According to the Indians everything is supposed to pass back to nature in order to make room for new people. Restoration and upkeep defeats this purpose. Wupatki is also a site of a volcanic eruption in 1050AD. The park is segregated into two areas, the ruins and the lava flows. The ruins area is about 20 miles from the volcano crater and yet there is volcanic cinders all over the ground here. At the volcanic area, you see lava flows similar to the landscape in Craters of the Moon in Idaho and also the older lava flows in Hawaii. There is a tall cinder cone which is not open for hiking.

We arrived in Sedona at 6:30 PM in the dark after driving down the Oak Canyon road which is a steep descent with lots and lots of switchbacks and hairpin turns. Should try it again in daylight as the cliffs near Sedona looked awesome against the sky.

Navajo Mall along rt 89. Mom is the last person at the far table	Colorado River from the Navajo Bridge	Navajo Bridges - new on left, old on right	Colorado River slightly below Lee's Ferry	At Lee's Ferry getting ready to go downstream
Remnants of a gold mining operation at Lee's Ferry	Peaches and Appricots in the desert at Lee's Ferry	Johnson Cabins at Lee's Ferry	Wupatki Pueblo	Ballcourt at Wupatki Pueblo

 

2003 Southwest Adventure    

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