Grand Canyon North Rim

Walkway to Bright Angel PointYoung Male Mule Deer eating breakfast behind the lodge

Lodge at the North Rim

The first time I saw the Grand Canyon, I was 25 years old. I remember it like it was yesterday. Kevin and I drove up from Flagstaff to the South Rim. We stopped at the first overlook that we came to. As I walked up to the rim of the canyon, I experienced an involuntary gasp for air. At the moment, I truly understood the meaning of “breathtaking”. My first view of the Grand Canyon literally took my breath away.

My first trip to the Grand Canyon was also the first time I ever experienced vertigo. I was amazed at how close you could get to the edge of sheer cliffs. It finally dawned on me that would be impossible to build a safety rail around the entire canyon.

This trip was the first time we visited the North Rim. I found the drive to the North Rim as interesting as the North Rim itself. Unlike the drive through the desert to the south rim, the drive to the North Rim was through pine forests and high altitude meadows. The colors on the North Rim were more brick reds and greens where as the colors on the south rim are more reds and oranges. It was interesting to see the North Rim, but even with respect to the Grand Canyon, I am a southerner at heart.

Driving through Arizona

Vermillion Cliffs outside of Page, Az

Pines at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon burned in 2003 due to lightening

High Meadows on the road to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon

I have received several comments on the beautiful photos we have taken of destinations on our trip. What I have realized is that we have not been able to describe the beautiful scenery we have experienced between destinations. This is a taste of the diverse scenery we have seen on drives out west. All of these photos were taken in the 120 mile drive from Page to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Antelope Canyon, Page, Az

Sunbeam in the canyon

Canyon wall

One of the sun beams - the guides throw sand to give it dimension

The Wolf

The Heart of the Canyon - taken by our guide

Entrace to Antelope Canyon...notice the heads of the tourists :(

Canyon Photo with Sony point and shoot camera

I am sure you have seen pictures of Antelope Canyon in travel literature. I know the first time I saw pictures of the canyon was in a Scandinavian Airline Magazine in an article by my favorite travel writer Doug Lansky. In the article, I read that Antelope Canyon is in Page, Arizona. I could not believe that I had been to Page and had not visited Antelope Canyon. Consequently, at the top of my “must do” list for this cross country trip was to visit Antelope Canyon.

As with any important travel decision I make, I consulted http://www.tripadvisor.com/ to find out the best way to see Antelope Canyon. According to TripAdvisor, Chief Tsosie photography tours (http://www.antelopeslotcanyon.com/) were rated the best thing to do while in Page. Based on the reviews and the pictures taken by the reviewers, I booked us on the 10:30 photography tour. The trip was better than expected.

Although the ¼ mile long canyon is very busy this time of day, all the other tour guides allow the photo tours first priority for picture taking. I am sure the folks on those tours were not happy about having to wait for a bunch of people to take pictures of a beam of light filtering into the canyon, but that was the difference in the price of admission.

The best thing about the photo tour is that the guides are not only knowledgeable about how the sunlight plays in the canyon, they are also knowledgeable about photography and how to get the most out of many different cameras (from high-end cameras to point-and-shoot cameras). Our guide often showed folks on the tour how to get the best pictures from their cameras by changing the settings. He even gave tips to knowledgeable photographers. More than once, he borrowed a camera from someone on the trip and took a magnificent photo.

Lake Powell, Page, Az

Meeting another boat in Antelope Canyon

Navajo Tapestery in Navajo Canyon

Lake Powell near Wahweap Marina

View of the Dam from the lake

In 2003 we rented a houseboat on Lake Powell with my folks. Kevin ended up being the pilot most of the trip. Being the pilot, he did not get to fully enjoy the scenery. Since we were in Page, we decided to take a cruise of Lake Powell so we could both enjoy the scenery.

We took a three hour cruise from Wahweap Marina. Wahweap was named after a spring that had bitter water. Since the canyon was flooded, the bitter spring is no more. The cruise went to the Navajo Tapestry which was in Navajo Canyon. The Navajo Tapestry is created from the weather on the cliff. On the cruise, the boat got so close to the tapestry that you felt like you could touch it.

The cruise also visited Antelope Canyon. From the lake, Antelope Canyon gets narrower as you continue through the canyon. In a smaller boat, you can go to the end of the lake in the canyon and then continue on by foot. Our boat had to turn around before the canyon got too narrow.
The cruise ended by going on the lake side of Glen Canyon Dam. After touring the dam in the morning, it was interesting to see the views from the lake side.

If you are ever in the area, I would recommend either renting a boat or taking a cruise on Lake Powell. It is very interesting to be cruising on a clear blue green lake in the middle of the desert.

Glen Canyon Dam, Page, Az

The Glen Canyon Dam was built in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s to create a water reservoir for the southwestern states. Glen Canyon Dam is 710 feet compared to its more famous neighbor, the Hoover Dam which is 726.4 feet high. The Glen Canyon Dam actually required more concrete than the Hoover Dam because the canyon where the Colorado River is dammed is over 300 feet wider than the canyon at Hoover Dam.

The tour of the Glen Canyon Dam is much cheaper than the tour of Hoover Dam (only $5.00) and well worth the money. On the tour you get to walk across the top of the dam, go down to the river level, and go to see the turbines. The interesting thing at the river level was the beautiful Bermuda grass putting green. It was not actually a putting green, but it looked as nice as any green I have ever seen. They actually put dirt on top of the spill pipes to baffle the vibration. To keep the erosion down, Bermuda was planted on top of the dirt. We saw drop spreaders next to the wall for fertilizing the grass. We also found out that mowing day is on Tuesday.

Monument Valley

If you are a fan of western movies, you have seen Monument Valley in the background as some famous cowboy like John Wayne rides a horse into the sunset after saving the day. After visiting Monument Valley, I will tell you it is more spectacular in person than it is on the big screen. Of course, in person you will see a group of average Joes on horseback instead of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood.

Since we had the Jeep, we drove ourselves around the 17 mile loop in the Navajo Tribal Park section of Monument Valley. Some folks were driving themselves in smaller two wheel drive cars. Hopefully they were rentals with good insurance. We thought the road was pretty rough even in 4 wheel drive. If you don't have a high clearance four wheel drive vehicle, there are plenty of Navajo guides with touring vehicles that will take you on the loop. You will probably get more information on the area and its history from a guide than we got from the maps that were given to us at the visitor center.

If you are in the area, you should definitely see Monument Valley. If you are coming from Four Corners Monument, I suggest you take the northern route through Colorado and Utah to get to Monument Valley. The drive to Monument Valley through Utah is as beautiful as Monument Valley itself.

Four Corners

Our trip from Chaco Canyon to Monument Valley brought us within 10 miles from the Four Corners Monument. Even though the recent news reports have said that the Four Corners Monument might be as much as 2 miles from where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah actually meet, we decided we could not miss the tourist trap opportunity. Well, a few miles and six dollars later, I have this cheesy photo of me in four states at once....maybe :)

Chaco Canyon - Why it is special

Kevin and I first visited Chaco Canyon in 1995. We were so impressed by the sites at Chaco Canyon that we spent many years talking about Chaco before returning in 2008. We were amazed by the size and complexity of the ruins, by the ancient roads found leading to Chaco, and by the architecture of the ruins. One of the the most amazing things to see at Chaco is the various styles of stone work.

If you ever get the opportunity to go the Chaco, please take it. If you are coming from Santa Fe, we recommend you stay at Jemez Springs. If you are coming from the north, Farmington and Bloomfield offer some good hotel options. Whatever it takes, it is well worth the visit.

If you only have part of a day, the park service has recommendations for 1/2 day and full day tours. I will offer my own recommendations. If you have only part of one day, I would recommend stopping at the Visitor Center and looking through the exhibits but skip the film. I would also skip the petroglyph trail because you can see the petroglyphs between Chetro Ketl and Pueblo Bonito. Definitely visit both Chetro Ketl and Pueblo Bonito...if time permits take the ranger tour of Pueblo Bonito. Hike up to the Pueblo Bonito overlook. From there, you will see Pueblo del Arroyo. End up at the Casa Rinconada Kiva.

If you have the opportunity to camp, try to camp on a Friday, Saturday, or Tuesday night so you can take part of the night sky program. Even if the sky is not good, the ranger presentations are fantastic.

Pueblo Bonito - Chaco Canyon

Path to Pueblo Bonito Overlook

Pueblo Bonito Overlook - Notice the D shape of the ruin

When visiting Chaco Canyon, at minimum you should visit Chetro Ketl and Pueblo Bonito. These two ruins are a short walk from each other. You can visit Chetro Ketl then walk along the canyon to see petroglyphs on the way to Pueblo Bonito.

Pueblo Bonito is one of the most studied ruins in the park. It was built from the 850's to the 1250's. In this ruins you will find T-shaped doors like in Myan ruins and many Kivas within square rooms. You will also find many chinking styles. Chinking is the term for how the stones were stacked to make the walls.

More is known on Pueblo Bonito than many of the other ruins. On our trip we learned that the timbers used to build Pueblo Bonito were from dozens of miles away. We also learned that in the escalation of Pueblo Bonito, very view human remains were found which means that the population is not necessarily reflective of its size. Also, many items were found in Pueblo Bonito the reflected there was a large trade route that included this site. Some of the items found included Macaw skeletons, shells from the west coast and the Gulf of Mexico, and turquoise.

One of the most interesting facts I learned on the tour of Pueblo Bonito was with regards to the charred timbers. Based on the research, some folks believed that when Chaco Canyon was abandoned , by the ancient Puebloens burned the ruins and filled it with dirt. The reason this was so interesting to me was that is similar to what we learned that tribes did in Scotland when they abandoned castles.

Plants in Chaco Canyon

When my folks lived in Australia, I learned that one person's weed is another person's flower. I learned this when the we saw folks growing Queen Anne's Lace in their flower gardens. This was always a weed on the side of the road that served as a home for chigger's to me. In Chaco Canyon, the spring rains brought out a lot of what I considered beautiful flowers. However, I am sure some natives of the area will get a kick about me posting pictures of weeds on this blog.


This flower was growing under our picnic table
This beautiful dark pink grass lines the roads in New Mexico and Arizona
Thanks to Joe, I know the name of this orange flower starts with an "m"
The bloom on the Apache Plume looked like feathers
This Rabbit Brush was covered with little white cotton tails
The blooms on this Claret Cactus had not opened
This Claret Cactus was in bloom

We also saw Cactus with yellow blooms and fuchsia blooms

Camping in Chaco Canyon

Our blue tent and canopy

View of the campground from AT&T Ridge

We planned the first month of our cross country trip around camping at Chaco Canyon. We wanted to camp at Chaco Canyon near the new moon because it is one of the few places left in the United States with very little light polution. We were looking forward to a dark night sky to see the milky way and many constellations. Although we did get a very dark sky, it was due to rain clouds so very few stars were visible.

The first two times we were at Chaco, there was not a single cloud in the sky. The contrast between the blue sky and the stone ruins and rock canyons was amazing. This time, we had mostly clouds and a lot of rain. The cloudy skies and rain actually brought out the beauty in the canyon even more. Although we missed seeing the stars, we were very happy watching the storms and sleeping with rain pelting the tent.

Of course one of the reasons we were able to embrace the rain is because we had a dry tent and a nice tarp to cover our cooking area and picnic table. Although our choice of blue may have clashed with the desert sand and would have been rejected by any well run neighborhood association, it keep us dry through high winds and heavy rains. It also gave our new ranger friend, Joe, a landmark to use when giving directions.

Although I was perfectly content being disconnected for three days, Kevin was curious about cell phone coverage in the area. Ranger Joe told us that after leaving the park when you see a blue house, you can get service. This area is known by the folks in the park as Verizon mountain. We found out if you hike to the top of the cliff near the campground, you can get 4 bars of coverage with AT&T. We passed the tip about AT&T ridge onto ranger Joe.

Although the weather was not what we would have wished for, our three nights camping at Chaco are one of the highlights of our trip.

Chaco Culture National Historic Park, New Mexico

Looking down into the canyon from the rim.

Fajada Butte

The great Kiva Casa Rinconada

Pueblo Alto - one of the smaller ruins in Chaco

Petroglyphs on a cliff behind the Visitor Center

We first visited Chaco Canyon in 1995 on the way from Durango to Albequerque. Back then, it was a long drive from the north on the dirt New Mexico highway 57 to get to Chaco Canyon. This road is now closed due to the number of folks who were taking artifacts from the monument. Now to get to Chaco from the north, you take a shorter and better maintained dirt road from Nageezi, New Mexico. If you are are really brave and have a really good suspension, you can take New Mexico highway 57 from the south. This road is brutal, even in a large four-wheel drive vehicle.

Because we were en route on our first trip, we only had part of the day to tour Chaco Canyon. With only a 9 mile loop drive, you would think part of the day would be enough. However, if you ever get the opportunity to visit Chaco Canyon, you will discover that no matter how long you have, you want to stay longer.

Chaco Culture National Historic Park not only has a large number of ruins compared to other historical sites we have visited, the ruins are also much larger and in better condition than the ruins you see at Wapatki, Hovenweep, Aztec, and even Mesa Verde. In addition to the ruins, there are a large number of petroglyphs you can view.

Since our first visit, we have been drawn to return to Chaco Canyon. This was our third visit to the park and we hope to return again.