Monument Valley: Annular Eclipse

“Once upon a time I was falling in love.  But now I’m only falling apart…”  Somehow “annular eclipse of the heart” just doesn’t sound right, does it?

Today was a relaxing day.  When on vacation, we usually want to “see it all” and then wind up exhausting ourselves by the end.  But we can’t do that on a long trip like this, so we are planning a day every week or so where we relax a little and don’t do a full day of sightseeing or driving.  Today we went for a morning hike through a box canyon near the campground, then came back to get caught up with email and internet stuff.

Around 5 pm, we drove the van over to the Monument Valley visitor’s center to set up for viewing the solar eclipse.  It’s an annular eclipse, which means that the moon is far enough from the earth so that it doesn’t block out the sun completely (a total eclipse), instead leaving just a ring of sunlight silhouetting the moon.  The “ring” is only visible from certain parts of the world, and Monument Valley happens to be right on the path.  From here it was the tiniest bit off-center, but still had a full ring around it.

Before we left Phoenix, we bought a few of these eclipse viewers.  They don’t look like much, but they did the trick of allowing us to view and photograph the eclipse as it happened.  We didn’t see anything like this on sale in any of the gift shops here, so we were glad we’d brought along our own.  We saw several people taking photos of it and viewing it from behind their iPads.  I guess that might’ve worked, too – if we had an iPad.  We’d be curious to see how their pictures turned out, though.  When we took photos without the filter it was just a wash of bright light with no detail discernable.

The eclipse lasted about two hours, but there were only a few minutes where the ring was fully visible.  We set up camp so we could watch the whole show, beginning to end.  We put out our table and chairs, ate dinner, and periodically checked on the eclipse and took photos right up until the end.  In order to take photos, Kevin had to hold the camera steady behind the eclipse viewer, so getting some good shots took a lot of trial and error.  Kevin sorted through the 250 or so photos to put together this cool collage of images.

As I said, we were there for the whole show and were still watching it well after most people had packed up and gone home.  Our diligence was rewarded with this awesome sunset while it was still eclipsing – now, there’s something you don’t see everyday!

Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah

The iconic Monument Valley straddles the border of Arizona and Utah.  The park is on Navajo tribal land and actually it isn’t part of the National Parks System. Instead it is maintained as a Navajo Tribal Park.  Kevin had been to this area before, years back, and he thought he’d seen what there was to see.  But as we found out today, there is much more to Monument Valley than what you can see from the highway.  In fact some of the park’s best views aren’t visible from the highway, or even from the visitor’s center.

 Most of the Valley’s monuments are best seen by car from a 17-mile rough dirt road.  The road is open to the public, but we really weren’t too keen to take the van off-roading.  So instead we called Navajo Spirit Tours (ranked #1 on Trip Advisor, for good reason) and booked an afternoon tour.  It turned out to be the best thing we could have done.

Garry Holiday, a Navajo guide who grew up in this area, runs the tour outfit with his wife Michelle.  They picked us up in their 4x4 truck – they had several rows of shaded seats fitted into the back of the truck bed.  It turned out to be a private tour, since no one else had booked for the afternoon.  Which was great for us, especially when we saw how some of the other tour companies really packed them in.

Once we saw the dirt road, we were especially glad we hadn’t brought the van out there.  The road was pitted in some places and steep in others, with rocks and ruts that could take out the undercarriage of your car if you weren’t careful.  We did see a few gutsy people driving it in Cameros, Mustangs – even a Prius.  So it can be done on your own, but you get so much more out of it with a guide.  Garry made it a point to pull off in the less crowded spots, where we would all get out of the truck and he would explain the significance of the formations to the Navajo people.  Since so many movies and commercials have been filmed here (Stagecoach, The Searchers, Wind Talkers, National Lampoon’s Vacation, to name a few), he also made sure to point out where certain shots were filmed.

Totem Pole Formation, a thin spire of rock 450 feet high

Garry and Michelle took us through the public part of the road, as well as a restricted road through the valley that you can only access with a guide.  We saw several settlements along the way – most of the park is private land and there are traditional homesteads here where Navajo families farm and graze sheep.  We stopped at the hogan of Susie Yazzie, a skilled Navajo weaver who has been living here for more than 100 years.  She showed us first how she carded the raw wool, then how she spun it into yarn that would be dyed and used to weave rugs.  She had a gracious spirit and a contagious laugh.  She was joking about something but since she was speaking Navajo, we didn’t catch the punchline.

Garry told us that the Navajo people believe that Monument Valley is like a body, with hands (the mitten rock formations) and other body parts.  This natural arch is called the Ear of the Wind.

And this enormous arch is called the Sun’s Eye.  We were the only people there at first.  While Kevin and I gazed up at it, Garry sang a traditional song and played the drum for us.  Shortly afterward, one of the other tour company’s trucks brought a larger group of people.  You can see their group at the base of the rock, to give you an idea of the scale of the Sun’s Eye formation.

One of the best parts of the tour was when our truck met up with another tour being guided by Garry and Michelle’s daughter, Miesha.  They took us to a natural amphitheater and performed four songs, the three of them playing drums, guitar, and the Navajo flute.  At the end Miesha sang the National Anthem, only she sang it in Navajo.  She sang beautifully and her clear voice was amplified by the curvature of the rock behind us.  As I stood there with my hand on my heart, there were tears in my eyes.  So needless to say, if you are ever in Monument Valley, I cannot recommend Navajo Spirit Tours highly enough! 

Garry has given his permission for us to include an mp3 of one of the songs he played.  Here he is playing the drone flute, which can play two notes at the same time.  If you listen, it sounds like two flutes but really it is just one instrument.  The acoustics in the natural amphitheater were fantastic, not sure if this recording does justice to the hauntingly beautiful sound.



After the tour, Kevin and I checked in at the campground and had a snack before heading back over to capture a photo of the Mittens at sunset.  Gorgeous, isn’t it?  I swear, each day of this road trip seems to be better than the last.

From left: West Mitten Butte, East Mitten Butte, Merrick Butte

Great Alaskan Road Trip: Week 1 Roundup

Our campsite at the Cottonwood Campground in Canyon de Chelly

For those of you who are into that sort of thing, I’ll track a few statistics each Friday.  Here’s what we have so far:

• Miles driven: 541
• Days on the road: 4
• Fuel stops: 1 (diesel: $3.91/gallon in Joseph, AZ)
• National Park Service sites visited: 2 (Petrified Forest, Canyon de Chelly)
• National Forests driven through: 2 (Tonto and Coconino)
• Bears sighted: 0 (we fully expect this number to increase)
• Dogs riding in motorcycle sidecars while wearing goggles: 1 (for real! Couldn’t get to the camera in time for a photo, though.)
• Mule-driven covered wagons: 1

I will be sure to add other categories as events warrant.

So far, camping in the van has been pretty great.  It is nice to have everything you need with you as you drive around.  The only drawback is worrying about theft (there have been signs at every Canyon de Chelly viewpoint warning you not to leave valuables in the car).  But Kevin has rigged up an alarm system so hopefully that is a deterrent.

Something else we have learned along the way is that we need to take advantage of electricity hookups to charge all of our gear.  We forgot to top off our cell phones at the last KOA and our laptops are real power hogs.  And God forbid if one of our electric toothbrushes runs out of power!  So we need to remember to keep everything fully charged so we can run the generator as little as possible (it guzzles propane like you wouldn’t believe, plus you try not to run it too often out of courtesy to the other campers around you).

We made several attempts to find a wi-fi signal to get these past few posts uploaded for you, but to no avail.  Either the signals we found were too weak, or required a password, or the network was too slow to upload the post.  So bear with us when we are in remote locations, uploads to the blog might be sporadic.  There might be a few days with no posts, but then several posts all at once when we find a location with internet access.  

As I type this we are still at the Cottonwood campground in Canyon de Chelly, hiding out inside the van because it is too windy and dusty to sit outside and enjoy the outdoors.  Hopefully the wind will die down when we head to Monument Valley tomorrow.

We are glad we aren’t camping in a tent in this wind – most of our neighbors’ sites look something like this:

Canyon de Chelly: North Rim

Thanks again to Daylight Savings Time we got a late start – thanks to losing an hour we weren’t even on the road until 11 am today.  Last night we had thought of maybe reserving a jeep tour with a Navajo guide that would take us down in the canyon, but in the end we didn’t.  When we saw the weather today, we were actually glad we didn’t.  It was ridiculously windy (gusting to 50 mph) and dust was blowing everywhere.  Not the day to be in a jeep or open truck bed!

We still drove along the north rim of Canyon de Chelly, though, and we got some decent photos before the dust storm made us call it a day.  Here is one of Antelope Vista:

Many of the viewpoints have very sheer drop-offs.  At one viewpoint, photographer Kevin dared me to stand as close to the edge as I could without freaking out or falling off.  Just as he took this shot, the wind kicked up, blowing in the direction of the canyon.  Kevin was frantically gesturing for me to come back.  Disaster averted.

All the viewpoints along the North Rim contain Anasazi cliff dwelling ruins.  The ones at Mummy Cave were particularly well-preserved.  Two mummies were found here in the 1880’s, hence the name.

By a little after noon, we were getting pummeled by the wind and dust so we decided to call it a day and go back to the campground.  We definitely enjoyed coming up here to see the canyon, though.  Kevin said it reminded him of Yosemite valley, only in technicolor.  Here’s the “Where’s Waldo” shot of the day:

Canyon de Chelly, Arizona

First off, I want to thank everyone who has been visiting the blog and commenting on the posts.  It is very encouraging, and we hope you are enjoying our posts (almost as much as we are enjoying the trip itself).

Secondly, you can now stalk us in near real-time.  We have added a new feature: on the right-hand side there is now a map showing “Where We Are Now”.  We will update this daily with our current location (cell phone signal permitting).  We had a widget like this on the old Solstice blog, but keeping that up-to-date was a complicated process involving a sextant and a ham radio.  Cell phone apps make everything so easy.

We took the scenic route instead of the I-40 today (I was again driving) – up AZ Highway 77 to AZ 264, then north on AZ 191 to Chinle.  We had planned for an early arrival at Canyon de Chelly National Monument.  But but hadn’t planned for the time zone change (the Navajo reservation follows Daylight Savings Time, unlike the rest of Arizona).  So it wasn’t until afternoon that we started exploring the park.

Most of the canyon part of Canyon de Chelly is off-limits to anyone hiking without a guide.  But there are two roads that follow the rim of the canyon.  The park ranger told us that the South Rim was best seen in the afternoon, so that’s the one we chose.  There were pull-outs all along the road with overlooks down into the canyon.  I know I use this word a lot but it really was breathtaking.

There is one trail down into the canyon where you are permitted to hike without a guide – White House Trail.  It’s a 2-hour hike down into the canyon (550 ft elevation change) leading to some Anasazi ruins.  You can see the ruins from the overlook by the road, but we wanted to get down there and see them up close.  Here’s the view from up top.

Luckily for us, we are driving around in our house, so we were able to throw on some hiking clothes and fill up our water bottles and go!  We got a really good view of one of the Navajo farms as we passed it down in the valley.  When I saw an authentic hogan, I had to take a photo.  Dad, if you’re reading this, remember when you helped me build that Navajo hogan diorama for that fifth grade project?  (I say “helped” but really I mean “remember that time you spent two days sawing branches and stucco-ing them together with mud while I watched cartoons?”.  My contribution was making some tiny pots out of modeling clay.)  Anyway, here’s a real-life version:

We made it to the bottom easily (going back up is always the hard part!).  We were rewarded with a close-up view of the White House ruins.  The ruins aren’t Navajo in origin; they were built by Puebloans around 1,000 years ago.  The people who built them were long gone by the time the Navajo settled here.

We were pretty tired after the hike, but that didn’t stop us from continuing down the road to the Spider Rock viewpoint.  This is probably the most famous shot of Canyon de Chelly – it’s the one we see in all the guidebooks anyway.  Spider Rock is an 800 foot spire that rises up from the canyon floor.

We are now in the Cottonwood campground just outside the visitor’s center.  We plan to stay here another night so that we can explore the North Rim tomorrow morning.

Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, Arizona

Today was my day to drive, and the I-40 was really a test of my skills.  The surrounding land up here is flat with virtually no trees, and at highway speeds the gusting wind tries to knock us over like a bowling pin.  It isn’t that different from when we were sailing, really.  The speed limit on I-40 is 75 mph, but with me driving we were averaging maybe 61.  It was a relief to finally turn off onto Arizona highway 180 and drive at a leisurely 55 mph.  Again, we had the road almost all to ourselves.

We entered the Petrified Forest National Park through the south entrance, and got our first glimpse of some of the logs up close.  Eons have passed since these trees were alive (225 million years, approximately).  When they fell, they were buried in silt and volcanic ash that prevented them from decaying.  Over time the wood tissue was replaced with silica, which crystalized into quartz.  Some of the logs are a literal rainbow of colors.

We had originally planned on just spending an hour or so driving through the park and then continuing on to Canyon de Chelly.  But the day was so gorgeous, and every pull-out seemed to have a walking trail that opened up on something stunning.  So we changed our plans and decided to spend the whole day here.

There are petrified logs scattered nearly everywhere – and that’s just what you can see on the surface (there are more buried underground in the layers of rock).

Native Americans lived in this area in the 1200’s.  All that remains of their settlements are a few ruins and these cool petroglyphs.

This little lizard scared the bejeezus out of us as it crossed the trail right in front of us.  It looked like a dragon or something – the colors were so vivid (we haven’t messed with the saturation in photoshop or anything).  And since it’s the tail end of springtime, all the cactus are in bloom as well.  So pretty!

As we approached the north end of the park, the view opened up on the Painted Desert.  Over the millennia, wind erosion has rounded the hills into beautiful formations – all the colors were just breathtaking.

We are now at a KOA in Holbrook.  We are glad to have power and internet for one more night before we head out to boondock (no electric/no water) in Canyon de Chelly for a couple days.  As we pulled up to the office we noticed a large sign advertising the campground’s all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast for only $1.99.  Kevin will be one happy kamper.

Meteor Crater, Arizona

Today was a fantastic day to start a long road trip!  In the middle of the week, you practically own the road!

We took Arizona highway 87 (“the Beeline”) up north because we thought it would be more scenic than Interstate 17 and have less traffic (we were right on both counts).  We were worried that the Sunflower wildfire would delay us as we approached Payson, but it was actually well off the road.  It has burned something like 5,000 acres and is only 5% contained.

We stopped briefly in the town of Pine to buy some delicious local honey from a roadside stand.  While we were parked, we noticed this mule-drawn wagon coming down the road.  I could hear the driver calling out encouragement to the mule team as they approached us.

We were totally humbled by it.  Here we were, all proud of ourselves for embarking on this epic Alaskan road trip in a small van, while these folks are doing a trip from Kentucky to California in a 100-year-old covered wagon.  They started in May of 2010.  Two years!  (So far!)  They have a website, too.  We totally understand if you guys want to bail on Saltscape and follow them instead.

After lunch we made a point to stop in Winslow, where Kevin humored me and stood on a corner.  He’d better not have seven women on his mind!

From Winslow, it wasn’t much further to Meteor Crater.  It’s funny because lots of cynics call the Grand Canyon a big hole in the ground.  And it’s not – it’s more of a ditch, really.  (A very pretty one, though).  But Meteor Crater is literally a huge hole in the ground – 4000 feet across and 700 feet deep.  About 50,000 years ago a meteor about 150 feet across hit the Earth going 26,000 mph, creating the massive crater.  It’s definitely something to see if you are at all into astronomy and space related stuff.

We were a little disappointed that you can’t hike down into the crater; you can only view it from a multi-tiered observation deck at the rim.  The Apollo astronauts trained here before venturing to the Moon, and NASA will use the crater as a training site again if we ever decide to head to Mars.  So if we were astronauts maybe we could’ve gotten permission to go down there.  Instead we had to content ourselves with viewing it from above and schlepping through the museum.

We are now plugged in at a nearby RV park with the AC cranked – can’t wait to get up north!