Postcard from Canyonlands

The journey continues...

I left the Farmington Wal-Mart parking lot in the early morning hours, got a cup of coffee and headed west. I didn't really have a specific destination in mind, but had a general idea where I was going. Sadly, I had no travel guides for New Mexico with me or I might have headed south a few miles to the Bitsy Badlands. I found out about them a few years after my trip. I would love to have spent a few days there with my camera as it is an amazing place. But perhaps sometime in the future. 

Anyway I headed west on 160 back into Arizona. Then just past the border, I took a short detour north to visit the Four Corners...the one spot in the US where 4 states (New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado) all converge in one spot. I am not sure why I did it as I had no one to photograph me with my arms and legs all in different states. 

When I got to the entrance, I found I was back on sacred Navajo Tribal land and a young lady in a shabbily build wooden shack wanted $7 for me to go in. Although a little  angry about this, I politely declined and turned around. Many months later I found out that a new survey showed that the Four Corners were actually in a different location. Now that made me laugh. 

Somewhere along the way, I stopped at a small Navajo town to get something to eat at the local McDonald's. It took 40 minutes to place my order and get my food, and the place was not very crowded. I was pretty exasperated and I am sure it showed. A nicely dressed Navajo gentlemen told me that bad service was normal at this place. Yet another point against the Navajo Nation.  

So I continued on...this time further west on 160. I wanted to see Monument Valley, where John Ford filmed all those fantastic westerns, some with John Wayne. It is quite a site to behold. But again, like Four Corners, it is on Sacred Navajo land. I had to pay $10 to get in, only to discover that I had to pay a whole lot more money to see anything else. All I got for my $10 was to visit the museum and gift store. Now I am really fuming.

Its an extra $25 to drive your car down into the valley...and you can not get out of your car to take photos. You know...sacred land and all that. So I decided to save my money and head out of the site along a 3 mile stretch of road to get back to the main highway. However, being still pissed off, I decided I needed some measure of revenge. So I stopped the car, got out, and took a piss on Sacred Navajo Land. I felt better in more than one way.

I headed north into Utah with no ultimate destination in mind. It was starting to get late and I was worried about where I would spend the night. I decided to skip Natural Bridges National Monument, much to my sadness, and continue north on Utah Highway 191. 

Eventually I came to Highway 211, the only road in and out of the The Needles Section of Canyonlands National Park. It was quite a long drive down into the canyons, but still quite spectacular. The photo here is just outside the park on the highway. 

Once in the park, I went directly to the Ranger Station and paid for a campsite. Being a senior citizen and having one of those Golden Pass cards, I don't ever have to pay entrance fees again and I camp for 1/2 of the regular price. When you reach 55, be sure and get one of those cards...one of the best bargains in America.  

I headed for a campsite and had little trouble getting a very nice one. There were hardly any people around. I set up camp, then took a short drive to see the canyons bathed in sunset light. I didn't get to see a whole lot... that came later. So I settled into my new home and looked forward to exploring this place tomorrow. The visitors guide gave me some good ideas where I would head in the morning.

To be continued...

Postcard from the Navajo Nation

The Journey Continues:

When last we spoke, I needed to leave Canyon de Chelly and get to Farmington, NM before the bank closed. A park ranger  showed me a route through the Navajo Nation on back roads. I struck out early in the morning as I knew it was a long drive.

To say the least, it was an interesting trip through small Navajo communities in the high desert…first north along Indian Route 12. Then east along Indian Route 13 through some beautiful red rock country, and eventually up into the high mountains where it had recently snowed.

From there I eventually descended down into New Mexico, still on Indian Route 13, passing the famous Ship Rock and eventually connecting up to New Mexico Highway 491, then on to Highway 64 and into Farmington.

The Indian Route roads were all just fine. If you want to see my route on Google Maps, you will have to really drill down as they are not on the big map. While I was in a bit of a hurry, I did stop here and there to take photos like the one you see above.

This country is little explored by tourists as it is way, way off the beaten path. But I am so glad I did it. I loved the views all along the way. On this day, I felt more like an explorer than a tourist…although I did feel like any moment I would be pulled over by Tribal Police and told I was trespassing on sacred ground.

When I finally got into Farmington, I found the bank easily as it was right on the main road. I conducted my business, then had to figure out what I would do the rest of the day. As it was late in the afternoon, my options for travel were limited as I really had no idea what was here.

Eventually I found a coffee shop with Internet and did some business and wrote a few e-mails…you know, all the things you do with a laptop while traveling. I also learned a little more about the city and tried to figure out what I might do in the evening to pass the time.

Farmington, while not big, has a population of over 45,000 people. It sits on the Colorado Plateau at an elevation of 5,400 feet. Its principle industries are the mining of petroleum, natural gas, and coal. I also learned that it has some movie theaters, so my plan that evening was to go to one of them and see a James Bond movie…which is precisely what I did.

As for sleeping accommodations, besides hotels, motels, or campgrounds, there is one other choice for weary travelers like myself…and that is a Wal-Mart parking lot. I learned before I even started this trip that Wal-Mart welcomes overnight RV parking for free. Now while my van is not exactly a full fledged RV, I spent several nights along my journey in a Wal-Mart lot with never a problem. 

Of course, I couldn’t use my camp stove for cooking, but I did not have to. Farmington has fine restaurants for dinner and breakfast as well as Starbucks for morning coffee. So I spent a peaceful night in Farmington and slept like a baby.

The next morning I had to decide where to go next. I got out my maps, guide books and computer to chose the direction…then took off.

More to come…  

Postcard from Canyon de Chelly

The Journey Continues:

After leaving Windows Rock, I went west, then North on Highway 191. My destination was Canyon de Chelly (pronounced “de Shay”) National Monument in Northeastern Arizona. It is a very unusual National Monument in that it lies within the Navajo Nation lands and is administered by both the National Park Service and the Navajo Tribal Trust.

It is a deep canyon (actually 3 distinct canyons surrounded on all sides by high cliffs). But when you approach the canyon from the west, there are no cliffs as the entrance to the main canyon and the mountains are at the same level. Then, at the entrance, there are two roads that follow the mountain’s rise and parallel the canyon walls on the north and south sides.

Tourists are not allowed into the canyon unless accompanied by a member of the tribe or a ranger. To take a tour of the canyon requires payment of a hefty fee to the Navajo Nation and a ride on flatbed truck with seats on it. I didn’t do the tour. While it would have been interesting to see the canyon from the bottom up, it didn’t go all the way to Spider Rock, the most famous landmark in the park.

Instead, I drove the roads up into the mountains and stopped at the many pullouts along the way, photographing down into the canyon. There is a great deal to see, even from above including Indian ruins, cliff dwellings, and fabulous rock formations. Spider Rock sits at the very end of the canyon and can be seen from above. If you would like to see it, check out the old 1960’s western, “McKenna’s Gold.”

Canyon de Chelly is actually one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America. For over 5,000 years, the canyon has been inhabited first by the Anasazi, then the Navajos. The ancient cliff dwellings were built by the Anasazi. Today, about 40 Navajo families live in the canyon.

The photograph above shows the remains of an old cliff dwelling that has long since disappeared. The black stuff you see on the canyon walls is called rock varnish or desert varnish, if you prefer.  The varnish is primarily composed of particles of clay along with iron and manganese oxides. To give you a better feeling of it’s size, if a man was standing among the ruins, you would barely be able to make him out.

For two days, I roamed the high cliffs of the park, taking pictures and enjoying the landscapes. For the most part, I had terrible light, so the few good photos I have of the park I did in black and white. Actually there isn’t that much color in the park and because of the lighting, the colored images were all too harsh. Thank God for black and white.

I camped for two nights in the park. And one of the things I noticed were how many dogs roamed the campground all unattended. One day, while out touring, the dogs attacked my campsite and tore up all my dry goods. The food was locked up in the van, but I guess that didn’t stop them. A neighbor told me they attacked in a pack. They left quite a mess behind. These dogs were all standard variety of breeds that you see in homes all across America. I guess their owners didn’t feed them or just let them roam free.

On the third day, I realized I needed to find a city with a Bank of America so I could pay a credit card bill on the due date. A park ranger informed me that the nearest bank was in Farmington, New Mexico…quite a distance away. But she showed me shortcuts through the Navajo Nation that would get me there much faster. So off I went through the heart of the Navajo Nation where few white men travel.

To be Continued…

 

(To see a larger version of this image, just click on it)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page

Postcard from Window Rock

The Journey Continues:

As I left the Petrified Forest National Park, I continued east on I-40. But before I got to the New Mexico border, I took a left on Highway 191…my goal being the Canyon de Chelly National Monument, deep in the Navajo Nation Reservation. 

But before I got there, I decided to take a detour to a small community called Window Rock (In Navajo: Tségháhoodzání). This small city of 3,000 people serves as the seat of government and capital of the Navajo Nation, the largest territory of a sovereign Native American nation in North America.

Window Rock hosts the Navajo Nation governmental campus which contains the Navajo Nation Council, Navajo Nation Supreme Court, the offices of the Navajo Nation President and Vice President, and many Navajo government buildings.

Just north of the governmental buildings sits a beautiful city park at the base of the actual Window Rocks, as seen in the above photo. It is also known as the rock-with-a-hole-though-it, if you translate the Navajo name literally.

In the park you will also find World War 2 memorial dedicated to all the Navajo men who served in the US Military during the war. There is also a statue of a Navajo Code Talker, commemorating  the brave men who served in the marines in the Pacific war against the Japanese.

Briefly, these men facilitated battlefield communications by speaking in their own language (with some modifications since the Navajo language had no words for military terms). 420 Navajo men served as Code Talkers during the war…and the Japanese never broke the code. Their work was critical in the battle for the Pacific.

I took several photos of Windows Rock, hoping to catch a bird flying through it…and I did. I was very glad I took the detour to see this beautiful place and learn more about the Navajo Nation. But now it was time to get back on the road to my next destination…Canyon de Chelly.

To be continued…

(To see a larger version of this image, just click on it)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page