Matt and Carol's Travels: 2020

I guess I should have waited to post our stay in Monument Valley. They say you can run, but you cannot hide... from snow.

The weather people guessed that the area might have snow during the Sunday evening hours, although it was not going to be much more than a 1/4 inch.

Here was our Monday morning:

It's ok not to run once in awhile. Even though this was pretty much only a dusting, we can still say we were caught in snow before making it south.

Our last day in Monument Valley we debated about picking up groceries then driving down to Kayenta AZ. Last minute we decided to drive to Kayenta first. On the the way we picked up a hitch hiker. He was an older gentleman trying to get to Kayenta, and the weather was not good for walking 20 miles to town. The gentleman's name was Harold Centers... his given Sioux name was "Black Bear Going to Center". He told us the story about his grandfather shortening the family name to Centers because the original name was too long to sign on checks. He was living in Utah because his wife is Navajo, and has family in the Monument Valley area. We made it to Kayenta and said our farewells.

After we dropped Harold off at Mc Donald's we took a drive to see what else was around the area. There were opportunities for a few photos... this time they are in black and white.

After our little drive we went back home and finished our preps for departure.

Well, we headed south, it wasn't to Winslow though. The campground we had reservations for e-mailed informing us that they had cancelled our reservation... one of the employees at the park tested positive for COVIDS. We did some calling around and made reservations at a K.O.A. in Flagstaff AZ.

The weather was still cold, but clear. The temperature stayed in the middle 30s most of the drive. We arrived at our new bivwac in Flagstaff. We got most things set up, the only thing we had to do was run the Livingroom slide out, so I tried before we went to find food. The slide would not extend... after the third try I forced it... and broke the TV. We left to lunch, and brought it back home.

After lunch we made a run to Best Buy to purchase a new TV so I could go back home and mount it. It was a bargain, we bought the new TV for $200.00, and paid $25.00 to turn in the broken one. While I was mounting the new TV I noticed that the audio visual cable from the TV to the entertainment system had a broken pin... so off to Best Buy again to buy a new cable. It all worked out after the work was done.

When we pulled into the site here, the bushes made for a tight entry. I decided to do a little a bit of landscaping. The first item that got caught under my saw was the pine tree limb hanging over the trailer, and next was the bushes at the entrance to the site. I'm good, but they may not be thrilled with me once they find out.

Now that most of our responsibilities were accomplished, we turned to tourist mode, 'cause Home Depot and Safeway aren't really considered touristy. Our first day out was a drive to Williams AZ which is about an hour from Flagstaff.

Williams is located on a portion of the legendary "Route 66". In Williams Route 66 is two one way streets downtown.

Driving the loop there are a couple of historic sites, but not a big deal. We did drive the loop and stopped at the Route 66 Museum and Gift Shop, which was more gift shop than museum.

Who remembers the days of these prices?

The bigger deal is the train that leaves daily for the Grand Canyon. The train excursion will need to be a planned activity.

We stopped in a the Visitor Center which could be considered visitor center/museum/gift shop. The biggest display was a miniature model of downtown days gone by.

This model was done by one of the local residents. It was amazing the detail he put into all aspects of this town.

We made it back home for lunch and nap time (that was for me). Later we discussed our next outing and figured to head in the opposite direction.

The opposite direction took us to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, and Wupatki National Monument. Both places can be found at: wnpa.org. Western National Parks Association partners with the National Park Service (NPS). Unfortunately the NPS has not opened the Visitors Centers to look at displays, however the gift shops are open.

Our first stop was Sunset Crater Volcano. Visitors are prohibited from climbing the the volcano itself. Sunset Crater volcano has religious significants for the Native American Indians. Visitors can hike trails through the lava flow at the base of the crater. For a nominal fee visitors can purchase a self guided booklet explaining the history of the volcano.

I'm going to beat you up with facts before I go any further:

Last Eruption: sometime between 1040 and 1100 AD

Height: 1,000 feet

Elevation at summit: 8,029 feet

Diameter at base: 1 mile

Diameter at top: 2,250 feet from rim to rim

Depth of crater: 300 feet

Extruded material: approximately 1 billion tons

Extent of ashfall: approximately 800 square miles

What is amazing walking the lava flows is all the trees and shrubs. There isn't really any topsoil, it's cinder from the eruption. Some of the ponderosa pines in the park are over 400 years old. One of the challenges they face is anchoring themselves in the shifting cinder. Another challenge is grabbing the rain water that is drained through the unstable, shifting cinders.

These two are youngsters, but beautiful.

These ponderosa pines are spectacular because they are straight growing, some grow with a righthand spiral twist. A straight growing tree is not as strong as the trees that have spiral growth. A damaged straight growth, wind-damaged branches, or damaged roots will deprive water to above branches and below roots. A spiral growth can provide even distribution of water, because they are better adapted to the stress of the environment. The draw back to a spiral growth tree is their lack of overall strength, however they are more flexible. Just a short lesson... lets move on.

The upper portion of the trail is a concrete path so folks with disabilities can savor their experience. The lower portion is mostly compressed cinder with a few rocks strewn about.

The booklet I mentioned earlier provides general information about areas of the lava flow.

This part of the flow is lava that formed jagged blocks, known as aa (ah-ah), others areas in the flow may be smooth, ropey surfaces of pahoehoe (pa-hoy-hoy). The above area may have started out as pahoehoe, and as it cooled became aa. Aa are sometimes called "clinkers". They are called that because as they are cooling, forming hardened blocks, they are being rafted across the hot flowing lava, making clinking noises as they tumbled into each other.

Strolling farther along the lava flow we came across spatter cone.

These guys are like that thick sauce you're cooking on the stove. At some point the heat at the bottom of the pan sends some of the sauce to the cooler surface and... plpht from a bubble, you now have sauce over the pan edge and on your stove.

The lava crust we were walking on was probably covering over lava tubes. It was cool when we arrived at the end of a lava tube.

We enjoyed the hike, there were only a couple of sections were short uphill climbs. The end was fairly level... and there was someone at the end to welcome you back.

I think its a ranger in costume. We got back to the truck and had lunch before we headed to Wupatki National Monument.

Its not easy getting from one place to another when there is so much beauty in front of the windshield.

We stopped at an overlook and this is only a part of the view. The painted desert was so full of color... red, brown, white, green, and a blue sky. Well, back on the road.

Whoa, we pulled to the right this time to take in the Wukoki Pueblo.

This place was constructed back in the 1100s, its engineering and meticulous attention to detail was evident just looking at how corners came together, for example. This structure was three stories, and can be seen from far distances, looking like a castle.

I was impressed by the architectural engineering of the walls.

We asked ourselves, why did they choose the sites they did? In their journey this was only a pause to farm, where they went from here I have no idea. From here we packed ourselves back in the truck and headed for that ultimate destination, Wupatki Pueblo just up the road.

Wupatki Pueblo was a fine example of communal living, with 100 rooms, sports center, and community structure.

This photo is just a piece of these phenomenal ruins. The ruins are maintained to ensure future visitors will have the opportunity to see how cultures lived in the 1100s. I know I mentioned their engineering feats earlier, but this pueblo is another fine example of how they worked around the environment they chose to live in. Here are couple of examples:

We like to think that we are all that, and them some... but we aren't. They designed an innovative air circulation system for cooking. There was an opening in the cliffside, channel for incoming air, and a deflector slab. The fire would have been behind the deflector slab, and the smoke would exit a hole in the roof.

This drawing is from the self guided tour booklet.

As the visitor continues down the trail they would notice a section not excavated, this is because the National Forestry Service wants to preserve the site, and excavating is a last resort. Before we left the main portion it should be understood that the site was used in the late 1800s by Basque sheepherders briefly. In 1924 the site became a national monument to protect it from further looting.

On the downhill walk the visitor will pass the community structure, unfortunately we could not walk down there.

At first they thought this might have been a kiva (a covered structure used for rituals and ceremonies), but during excavation no evidence was found of a roof or roof structure.

Beyond the community structure there was a ballcourt (reconstructed). It isn't really known what the true purpose was for this structure. Some archeologists think valuable from around the region were traded here, rituals and ceremonies were conducted, even competitive sporting events. Whatever it was didn't matter because the shear magnificents of this site outweighed any specific structure purpose. The whole region around this site is filled with other dwellings not accessible to the average person, but I understand there are hundreds of other family dwellings.

With the day coming to an end we headed for one last set of ruins for the day, Citadel and Nalakihu pueblos.

We started a new day finishing our tour of the ruins in Wupatki National Monument. The last sets of ruins were Lomaki Pueblo and Box Canyon Dwellings. These ruins were much the same as previous. It still amazed us why they chose the areas they did.

Like other communities, the inhabitants used local sandstone and limestone to build the wall of their buildings, cementing stones together with the local soil. The roofs were made of timbers laid side by side, smaller branches on top, and finally plastered with mud. Smoke was vented out the roof through a square hole, which was often used as the entry access into the room. Windows and doors were very rare, if ever seen in a room.

In this dwelling there were outside windows. If you look at the first of the two photos you will notice that the inner wall has a hole... its presumed that it was for ventilation to the inner rooms. The two pueblos above are on either side of this "box canyon".

The next photo is of the accessible pueblos in the area. The farthest pueblo is our next stop.

Welcome to Lomaki Pueblo.

Through the door is another room which has an opening that led to a lower level where they appeared to have cooked and gone to the river to retrieve water.

All these ruins were worth the hike out to them. On our way out I found a couple of other ruins that are not accessible to the public. They are located in an area labeled Middle Mesa.

I figure they still have archeological work to do before the public can visit them.

Now its time to go visit the upper class folks in Walnut Canyon. Walnut Canyon is about 8 miles outside of Flagstaff, unlike the 30 miles for these parks. The difference between the ruins is ground floor and penthouse.

The starting point for Walnut Canyon is the Visitor Center:

If you are viewing this blog on a phone, it will be hard to see the start point and beginning of the loop. In the upper right is the Visitor Center which is where the 300 steps down begins; the beginning of the loop is about the middle of the photo.

This is the start of the interactive adventure with the past residents of the mountains. I mentioned earlier moving from the lower floor to the penthouse... here we go:

The folks that lived in these homes didn't have elevators to ride after a hard days work... there wasn't even stairs... it was ladders, and it may have taken more than one to get home.

It just amazed us, the fact that they made their homes under out croppings. I wonder what it was like to haul all the rocks necessary for building the inner walls. Imagine the women carrying water jugs from the canyon floor up the ladders for cooking. Some of the ruins show just how much they were a social community.

This was one of the rooms in the first dwelling in the loop.

No, the walkway was not built by the original habitants, they happened sometime later (1900s) by workers of a government program.

The loop are the only accessible dwellings on the hike. These were just some of the dwellings:

Like this dwelling, they generally had a separate cooking, storage, communal, and sleeping areas.

Typical Cooking Area

The dwellings weren't the only unique sight to see. Wind, rain, and time carved the rocks on the mountainsides.

We made the ups and downs of the loop and started back up to the Visitor Center.

There's stairs in those two photos. We tried the elevator, but it was down for maintenance...NOT, there is no elevator. Once we made it back to the visitor center, we could proudly say we completed the 736 steps round trip. After we recuperated we took a short walk on the Rim Trail. The days outing brought us back home to relax.

We took a break and did some running around, and back home. Our next adventure was back to Williams so we could ride the train to the Grand Canyon. That was an enjoyable experience.

This was our starting point. We decided to ride the cheap seats to the Grand Canyon. Our car was the first car behind the engines, and there were about 12 people in the whole car. Yes, we were required to wear our masks the entire two hour trip.

The scenery was mostly prairie ranch land, however there were several points of interest. On the way to the canyon we had a singing minstrel part of the way. Our Passenger Service Agent (PSA) was fun, pointing out the various points of interest.

One point of interest was the "North Pole"... that's right the North Pole. The Grand Canyon Railway runs a Polar Express to the North Pole 'til Christmas.

We didn't get to see much because it was daytime, But I bet it looked really nice at night. Our PSA pointed out a building called a "section house" which housed the train workers during work on the railroad. From there he pointed out a boulder that was struck by lightning, they call it "Starburst".

We finally pulled into the Grand Canyon station.

You can't see our car, down around the curve. Anyway, it is a short walk to the hotel and canyon rim. Tourist that are going to return the same day need to manage their time, it is only a three hour layover on the rim. The Grand Canyon Railway folks have several package deals that allow for more time on the rim. For us RVers there is an RV park in close proximity of the hotel and rim. Ok, off to the rim. I'm going to just show pictures.

This one is my favorite:

Let us continue the hike.

Looked like there was a way to this cave, or opening.

There is still more.

At this point we needed to turn around to ensure we didn't miss the train back to Williams.

The very end of the trail stops at the Geology Museum, which was too far out for us day trippers. What is neat is that the rim trail is also called the "Trail of Time". What they did was mount medallions in the walking path; each medallion represented a 10 million year span in the evolution of the Grand Canyon. Also along the hike they had rock exhibits of the material that makes up the canyon.

Folded Vishu Basement Rock

Bass Limestone

There are many more exhibits, but these two really caught our eyes. As we made our way back to the hotel/train station this tree caught Carol's eye:

Old Juniper (retired)

For me it was about living on the edge:

Then it came time to climb on the train again and head back to Williams. On the way back we were robbed by the "Cataract Gang".

The gang ended up being locked up on the train... and their horses trailered back home. We made it back to the station without any injuries or deaths, robberies can be so nerve racking.

Carol drove home, but before we got there we stopped at Texas Roadhouse for a BIG ribeye steak... and it was GOOOOD.

Our next stop will be boondocking (dry camping) in southern Arizona, then our winter home in Congress AZ.

Matt and Carol's Travels

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Final Nesting Place for the Winter

Monday, November 23, 2020

Can Run but Can't Hide

Blog Archive